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HackerNews is full of these kind of people
Contributor: Hey guys, I wrote this proof of concept in a fortnight that does something fun!
HackerNews: Why the fuck would you do that, you nincompoop?
Contributor: I... thought it would be fun after shitty days at work
HackerNews: You could be spending your time making money or contributing to $subjectivelyMoreImportantProject. Be ashamed
People who can't accept that some people just want to have fun and do what they like.
Judging by the name alone, you'd think that HackerNews of all places would understand doing things for shits and giggles.
Hacker News is the least 'hacker' any webpage has ever been...
Ah, sorta like how Newsmax has a minimum of actual news?
Well, I'd actually even go so far as that it's actively non-hacker. The original meaning of 'hacker' is someone who's good at problem solving, but often especially used in the context of free/open-source software, so always with an air of anti-capitalism.
Well, Hacker News is hosted by a Venture Capital firm. They also inject their own "news" onto the Hot page.
Well, and that's also then reflected in the kind of users that hang out there. As it turns out, they should have called it "Techbro News"...
"I get all my crypto pump and dump news from TechBro News MINUTES after my virtual wallet becomes worthless again!"
This was nothing like your interaction though. Asking why doesn't mean they don't acknowledge the other person doing it for fun, it's just that they are curious if there's a reason.
-Haha, why?
+Found it cool and felt like it.
-That's cool, I used to play X when I was younger but....
It can also just be a conversation starter, nothing wrong with asking why.
Some people read "why?" as incredulity rather than curiosity.
You don't think there's a difference between "Why the fuck would you do that, you nincompoop?" and "Haha, why"?
I do, which is why I said that your example is not like the one of the comic.
I think the face in the comic convey quite well that "haha why" was not a "wow, I'm interested" but "the fuck you doing, bro?". Especially since it's literally prefixed with "what the hell are you doing?".
Fun thing about that video: laughter is a social signal.
Most people when they watch or read funny things alone will not laugh nearly as much (if at all) as when they see the same thing in a social setting, even if they are just as amused by it.
Because laughter is a signal that we get the joke (In a social setting where the laughter reaction is appropriate).
That’s why there are more nuanced labels, like “this caused a sharp exhalation through my nose” or “I chuckled in public and people are looking at me”. And we mostly all recognize the significance of that, because it’s rare we bust a gut solo in inappropriate settings, too.
But you can’t say “that’s really amusing” or similar, even when it is, because that’s hurtful to people as it’s phrasing often used derisively. So we pretend to have extreme reactions for hyperbolic reasons, I guess, and this is what happens.
Humans are really fascinating context dependent entities.