I've decided to put your theory to the test: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id...

kingkongrevenge · on Aug 18, 2009

That's false advertising. The original story was about whether Taleb is a crank. It also offered a useful and interesting definition of a crank.

You're annoyed that sharp rather than nice fluffy headlines work. You know what I'm annoyed about? How pointless meta-whining like this floats to the top. I was looking forward to hearing from some finance savvy types.

jacquesm · on Aug 18, 2009

No, I'm annoyed at the "is X a Y ?" format that seems to be the new headline 'meme'.

To call people names in order to attract attention to your 'prose' (I use the word lightly) is a pretty low tactic.

It's false advertising just the same, because X really isn't a crank or X would be spending his time in an institution with rubber walls.

Disagreement does not have to be expressed in such terms.

potatolicious · on Aug 19, 2009

> No, I'm annoyed at the "is X a Y ?" format that seems to be the new headline 'meme'.

It's been the "meme" in far more than HN headlines for years, though.

Coming up, are swing sets potentially hazardous for your children? That and more, after the break.

Even though we all know what the "answer" is, the fact that it's phrased as a question activates some stupid part of our lizard brains that will keep us glued to the tube.

jacquesm · on Aug 19, 2009

> It's been the "meme" in far more than HN headlines for years, though.

That is true.

But I'd hope for HN to be populated by people that have a larger part of their brain switched on than the 'lizards' portion of it and a glut in this type of titles in the last week or so is what prompted my post.

joe_the_user · on Aug 18, 2009

I did up moderate your post but I'd mention that there are other posts in the thread that deal with the substance of the argument. I don't know if they're "savy" but if you comment on them, it might move them closer to the top.