Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

No offense to you personally, jellicle, but why is this the top comment and why can't I downvote it? This is more of a tangential provocative comment than a response.

This is a rather extreme argument. You really think the impulse to share is universally stronger than the impulse to be secretive, the exact inverse, for example? Specifically, what about private data?

How far does this ethical obligation to share go? How much effort is one ethically obligated to expend to share? Before I knew what I was doing with HTML and CSS, some stuff I did didn't work due to what I am now quite sure were browser bugs. Was it unethical for me not to share that knowledge? Is it unethical now for me not to be trying to figure out how to reproduce those bugs again to share?

Is it unethical for artists, writers, coders, even mathematicians not to share unfinished works, code and proofs?



> No offense to you personally, jellicle, but why is this the top comment and why can't I downvote it?

It's the top comment because HN's formula(votes, time lapsed) ranked it highest; and you can't downvotte replies to your comments.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2026 batch! Applications are open till July 27.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: