Now, one might think that it seems weird for one person to be able to derail a comment thread.
This does not seem weird to me at all. LW is a scary place for many newcomers, and many posts get 0–1 comments, and one comment that makes someone feel dumb seems likely to result in their never posting again.
I strongly agree that it’s important to avoid the LinkedIn attractor; I simultaneously think that we should value newcomers and err at least a little bit on the side of being gentle with them.
This does not seem weird to me at all. LW is a scary place for many newcomers, and many posts get 0–1 comments, and one comment that makes someone feel dumb seems likely to result in their never posting again.
I strongly agree that it’s important to avoid the LinkedIn attractor; I simultaneously think that we should value newcomers and err at least a little bit on the side of being gentle with them.