The idea that discussion of a company is mutually exclusive with criticism of a company is strange. The comment which prompted that reply by pmarca was
> Every time I read about this company I get a feeling everyone involved is completely insane
This is a bad comment in my opinion, but it's not a bad comment because it's particularly mean-spirited or because it's false. (I don't think that comment is either of those things.) It's a bad comment because it's not particularly germane to the discussion, any more so than the so common variation of "I knew [Employee related to YC Company] way back when [personal anecdote]! [Generic congratulation]!"
That's a roundabout way of saying the following: optimizing for signal vs. noise is not incompatible with optimizing for 'nice' vs. 'mean', but I'd prefer a forum filled with substantive criticism to one filled with hollow praise.
> Every time I read about this company I get a feeling everyone involved is completely insane
This is a bad comment in my opinion, but it's not a bad comment because it's particularly mean-spirited or because it's false. (I don't think that comment is either of those things.) It's a bad comment because it's not particularly germane to the discussion, any more so than the so common variation of "I knew [Employee related to YC Company] way back when [personal anecdote]! [Generic congratulation]!"
That's a roundabout way of saying the following: optimizing for signal vs. noise is not incompatible with optimizing for 'nice' vs. 'mean', but I'd prefer a forum filled with substantive criticism to one filled with hollow praise.