> it's a community full of nice, smart, interesting people
Isn't everyone describing the community they belong as such? I have yet to meet someone advertising his programming language of choice with “the community is full of morons, join us!”…
> The community tends to have smarter on average people in it. Simply because all the less smart people are put off. Sounds elitist? Maybe.
Have you thought about the possibility that it's actually a community of people who first and foremost _consider_ themselves as being smarter than the rest? Maybe this is what's really off-putting to equally smart, but more humble developers?
> People seem to think everyone being a programmer is needed otherwise humanity will fall.
Programming is truly fun for a very select group of people. (I count myself as one of those( But even then, as a job it is almost always miserable in some form.
I encourage people to check it out if its for them, I dont think they should be gaslit into becoming programmers.
> I notice a lot of posters seek out tech communities. While I get why a nerd would want to do that, I have a different tendency.
Absolutely! I genuinely enjoy writing code at work, but I literally never do it in my spare time. I already spend a greater number of waking hours in front of my computer than I do with my friends and family (or playing music, or mountain biking, or...).
>It attracts people too stupid to realize that their own level of knowledge should make them avoid teaching others.
There are many very, very smart people that try to teach others as a form of their own expression and learning. People coming from other programming languages that are extremely talented in that language, often take on this role as they are confident in their abilities. That doesn't make them stupid, nor should it disqualify them from attempting to teach or help others.
> As soon as someone points out an issue they almost immediately switch to "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!".
I don't think that's a fair assessment at all. In my experience dealing with precisely that situation, I find that most are actually very willing to accept and admit to their fault. Even in the chat room, over the many years I've been there, there are far more people willing to accept their incorrectness over people who take offense.
Many people in the singular are brilliant. You are hand-waving away the fact that the most highly experienced and skilled developers in the world, have in the majority, chosen to develop their software using object-oriented programming. And that software is what we use the most every day.
>the meanness of programming communities is a the biggest problem we have
Or maybe it's our biggest asset. In a world filled with bullshit (how many people you think really empathize with you - vs. just going through the motions?), it's refreshing to have a little corner where they honestly tell you why your ideas suck and your background is deficient. It kind of comes with the profession, yes. Only a relentlessly critical kind of person can effectively hunt down bugs and deal with dozens of other frustrating problems everyday.
> Just because you think you're the smartest person in the room doesn't make it true.
According to one (or more) of the annual Stack Overflow Developer Surveys, didn't something like over 90% of developers think they were better than the average developer?
My point is that I agree with you. What one thinks isn't always the reality.
> I fear the separation between coders and users is creating parallel worlds of echo-chamber wizards and ignorant commoners.
Isn't that how a society works? The vast number of diverse human activities are only possible because of the echo-camber, of people who specialise in one area while remaining ignorant in almost all the others.
Also computing, and programming, is much much more than a unix prompt.
Isn't everyone describing the community they belong as such? I have yet to meet someone advertising his programming language of choice with “the community is full of morons, join us!”…
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