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Irregardless | 12 years ago

Oh, you're so awesome it hurts? Sorry to hear about your rich people problems.

> the greatest motor race in the world: 24 hours of Le Mans

The entire southern half of the U.S. begs to differ. Personally, I'd go with the Monaco Grand Prix if we're talking cars. If we're talking about "motor races" in general, it'd definitely be the Isle of Man TT. Hell, any one of the 18 yearly Moto GP races is probably better than Le Mans.

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pg|12 years ago

It's mortifying that this mixture of insult and irrelevance has so many upvotes. I know everyone's been worried about the amount of politics on the frontpage lately, but I'm much more worried about this comment. Political storms pass eventually, but comments like this rising to the top of HN threads is a sign of real decay.

Whatever you think of DHH, there is an important point in this article, and thanks to the people who upvoted this comment, the people talking about it are relegated to the bottom of the thread.

vl|12 years ago

Well, a lot of discussions in the last few months have top comment which a) was made early and b) disputes some minor technical point in the original article, while not being relevant to discussion.

Maybe making younger low scored/recently upvoted comments sink even slower could fix that?

In the meantime I use Chrome extension to fold those.

clarky07|12 years ago

The talk about the race is irrelevant, but I think the insult is relevant, if not nice. Perhaps you're still right that this comment shouldn't be at the top, but I have no problem with the sentiment it espouses being at the top. The story reeked of "humble brag" and "first world problems" and there are a lot of comments on this page saying as much. Clearly it was an impression that a lot of people agreed with.

dustingetz|12 years ago

comment is likely at the top because user has high average karma, not due to upvotes, so in this case the problem is likely in software

corin_|12 years ago

Is it not possible that he would have ended at the bottom of the page not the top, and if so wouldn't it have been better for you to stay away to find out, since your comment likely adds many more downvotes to your parent comment?

Blockhead|12 years ago

Please, don't act like this is anything more than feigned humility poorly disguised as a tidbit of wisdom. Even calling it that is generous since he doesn't offer any real insight or solution.

The fact that you fail to understand why so many people agreed with that comment is equally mortifying. Is your blind sympathy for "rich guy problems" overpowering your ability to read between the lines?

mberning|12 years ago

24 Hours of Le Mans is generally regarded as one of the greatest motor races in the world. It is considered part of the 'triple crown' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Crown_of_Motorsport).

If you think Le Mans is not one of the most competitive and prestigious races in the world you are sorely mistaken. To say it is any more or less prestigious than winning Monaco is a purely subjective manner. The idea that the opinion of motorsport fans in the southern US has any weight is laughable. They are generally the most ignorant of other forms of motorsport and least well informed motorsport fans.

It is worth pointing out however that DHH does not compete at the highest level in Le Mans. He is one class below.

Irregardless|12 years ago

> To say it is any more or less prestigious than winning Monaco is a purely subjective manner.

Of course it's subjective, and anyone who would declare a particular race "the greatest in the world" is obviously full of it. Someone just couldn't resist stroking his own ego a little more. I know DHH has a reputation for being arrogant and opinionated, but this post was over the top.

> The idea that the opinion of motorsport fans in the southern US has any weight is laughable. They are generally the most ignorant of other forms of motorsport and least well informed motorsport fans.

I bet you couldn't walk 10 feet at a NASCAR event without tripping over someone who could fix your car. I'd be amazed if you could find a single person like that sitting in the stands of a Formula 1 Grand Prix event.

jamesaguilar|12 years ago

I think you are missing the point of the article when you focus on who is having the problems, not the nature of the problems being addressed. Anyone who is trying to be the best can benefit from considering this advice.

Likewise, you are off base both on whether Le Mans is one of the greatest motorsport races, and in focusing in on that seriously non-central part of the article.

alex_doom|12 years ago

That article is weirdest humble brag I've seen in a while. Then again I'm not ultra competitive.

socrates1998|12 years ago

> Oh, you're so awesome it hurts? Sorry to hear about your rich people problems.

Haha, that's exactly what I was thinking.

It's the humble brag.

He talks about ambition like everyone thinks it's great.

I don't know him personally, but if all of his projects get in the way of being a decent father, then it ain't worth it, in my opinion.

larrys|12 years ago

What I like is that writing like dhh has done is a good example of how to brag without appearing to brag.

You wrap the bragging around a larger point which acts like the red herring to distract from the bragging. So you get to mention your "fastest and most reliable car, the best-prepared team, and two of the fastest team mates in the business" appearing almost sheepish and incidental.

Or here is another of the same, saying something like this while making a point about anything:

"This experience has been a painful realization of everything that Alfie Kohn wrote about in Punished by Rewards and a reminder of the wisdom of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow."

I have no clue who that is. But it sounds impressive which most things you have never heard of tend to do.

sporkologist|12 years ago

That's how I read it. "I and my millions of dollars and world class team only came in second in an extremely competitive race, and I want everyone to know how that was a wake up call for me to not be so ambitious, because ambition can be poisonous. So here are some other philosophical writings about how to be happy with what you have and not be ambitious."

bitwize|12 years ago

The entire southern half of the U.S. begs to differ.

The entire southern half of the U.S. also begs to differ with the rest of the world on when the Earth was formed, whether homosexuals deserve marriage rights, and other things. Hint: they're usually wrong.

Xcelerate|12 years ago

Wow! As someone who has lived in the southeast my whole life, I resent that. We have Georgia Tech, Oak Ridge National Labs, and plenty of intelligent people here. Some great innovations have come out of all parts of the south: from Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Ashville, etc... I can't believe you would make such a sweeping generalization.

awj|12 years ago

As someone who grew up in the southern half of the U.S.: a) you're wrong, b) you're really not helping.

Judging the entire region by the loudmouths just gives them an even louder voice than they had. There are plenty of great people in the south, maybe if you'd shut up with your generalizations and stereotypes they'd engage the rest of the world and drown out the bigots.

heartbreak|12 years ago

Another southerner here... Your comment is pretty narrow-minded, don't you think? Isn't that the same ineptitude you're accusing me of having?

mehwoot|12 years ago

Eh, each to their own. In terms of endurance racing, 24 hours of Le Mans is the race. Whether you think endurance racing is the greatest of the types of motor racing.. entirely subjective.