** RSS Club ** | Reply Guys and the Orange Site

I got "reply-guyed" so hard after posting Leaving GitHub despite doing everything in my power to anticipate every objection (short of just not writing it at all - which I certainly contemplated).

Specifically, I made sure to write this:

(This was also bold in the original. Can’t miss it even if you’re skimming, right? I honestly thought it was overkill.)

But so many dudes (always dudes) felt the need to question my rejection of 2FA. Because obviously…​wait…​what?

Yeah, and somehow this was also construed as a desperate plea for explanations about all of the wonderful types of 2FA available these days. Because clearly I was not familiar with 2FA and needed to be told of its many-faceted glories. Obviously, if I had only known about all of these options, I would be luxuriating in the warm GitHub bosom at that very moment rather than making silly proclamations on my website, right?

"Friend, have you yet accepted your 2FA duty to the software supply chain in your heart?"

If you read my page and then feel the need to stand up for GitHub (or the concept of 2FA) against my…​bullying?, then you might want to search your mind for the source of your motivation.

At the risk of playing armchair psychologist, I suspect what I was seeing was actually two separate phenomena:

1. Pedantry: I made an offhand comment about phone numbers in my article and that triggered the pedants into making standard "explainer" and "well, actually" replies. These guys were like snipers who had been waiting in the grass all day for a glimpse of the terms phone and 2FA within in some pre-determined proximity of each other and BANG, they took that shot. (No doubt the impulse and even the very act of writing was completely instinctual at that point.)

2. Affront: Some of the most vociferous responses can only be explained as having been written by gentlemen who felt somehow personally attacked by what I wrote.

The first one requires no explanation, but the second one surely does.

If you think about it, to take what I wrote even slightly personally, you would either need to be GitHub itself (in which case, by all means do cry yourself to sleep on your bed of money, you big lunk), or you are an individual developer who feels a little uneasy about your own relationship with GitHub. That unease makes you want to justify that relationship to yourself and others in a somewhat boisterous manner:

"Who is this cad who speaks ill of the 'Hub? I myself partake in the pleasures of 'Forking it on GitHub' regularly and recommend it to others. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that and I demand satisfaction for your hurtful words!"

You don’t have to justify it to me. I’ve made my choice, but I completely respect and understand anyone wanting to stay on GH for a variety of perfectly valid reasons. I’m also not avoiding GH in the foreseeable future. I’ll happily visit repos and websites hosted on GH domains. Be at peace.

Firstly, I am genuinely grateful to be given such a blatant dose of this. It is an unforgettable reminder to not be that guy myself. It pains me to think that I might have inadvertently been that guy in the past.

I’m also going to make an extra effort to carefully read things before I comment on them. There’s always room for improvement.

Secondly, this has been the final push for me to not visit Hacker News (or "HN" or "The Orange Site") anymore, even when something I wrote is featured. I’m not the first person to abandon HN for less toxic pastures.

As a matter of fact, I had already cut way down on my visits this last summer, so the only difference now is that I’m dropping it completely.

HN was as about as addictive as anything on the Web: genuinely interesting tech links and occasional expert commentary mixed with just the right amount of hot-takes and drama. Between that and FOMO, I was refreshing that main page multiple times per day. I’ve saved countless hours by avoiding it already and will save even more now.

Thankfully, I know from hearing other voices around the Internet that I’m not crazy - HN really is a nastier, dumber place than it used to be. And I’m probably a gentler soul than I used to be as well. We’re moving apart.

Thirdly, I’m confident I’m just playing the part of the kid who dared to say that the Emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. Of course I’m not the only one who’s noticed what’s plain to be seen. So there have been plenty of very nice replies to my Leaving GitHub page, many in private. There is always a comfort in knowing we’re not alone.