It's very intriguing indeed... I always thought the HN demographic is a pretty smart bunch, because I often learn quite a bit from the comment section.
I don't get all of the anti-Tesla vitriol, I'm honestly curious what fuels it. It's like all objectivity get's thrown out the window.
> It's like all objectivity get's thrown out the window.
Welcome to the internet? Tesla is just a divisive topic around here and only a small percentage of that concerns their products.
As somebody usually only watching these threads it's quite amusing to be honest. On one side you have the people that just don't like Musk, or those with legit concerns like the right to repair folks. On the other hand you have a mix of satisfied owners and people that for some reason to into full "somebody is wrong on the internet" mode. There rarely ever seems to be any constructive discussion in these threads, any praise devolves into mud swinging, every criticism is jumped upon or dismissed.
I think the people that read HN is a different demographic from those that submit, and again different from those that comment. If you look at people's profiles you can quite starkly see some are uploaders, some don't upload or comment, some only comment. Having said that, HN is more obnoxious nowadays to me than earlier.
Suprisingly, Reddit is cool if you choose your subreddits wisely. But apart from that, tbh I think it's probably better to read actual books on topics you find stimulating or maybe something like the Economist.
I used to be "anti Tesla", then I tried one, and now I own one.
Teslas are disruptive - they're not what you expect of cars. I will never look the same at a car again. Tell this to anyone who doesn't understand, and they simply won't understand what you're going on about.
Over a year in; driving my Model X still makes me smile.
Tesla has been discussed here for a very long time. And on HN contrarian opinions appear to get more votes than mainstream ones. Back when it wasn't clear that electric cars would have a chance at becoming mainstream talking positively about Tesla was a lot more popular than now (where Tesla seems to be the benchmark for electric cars). At least that's how I remember it, the HN search doesn't seem to go back further than 5 years.
It goes both ways. Tesla, just like Apple, has kind of a hype around which polarizes discussions in both ways. While some people criticize them too much I don't understand how they get away with the $6000 scam the FSD kit is. I don't think a less hyped brand would get away that.
> I don't understand how they get away with the $6000 scam the FSD kit is. I don't think a less hyped brand would get away that.
This is exactly the kind of vitriol I was talking about... "FSD" now has Navigate on Autopilot, Smart Summon (with v10 it now comes to YOU! https://youtu.be/9cuJATedvDk a Tesla exclusive feature?) Autopark and Auto Lane Change.
If you option these on other similarly priced cars, the bundle will be priced either the same or probably even more.
If you option these on other cars they don't promise you a full self driving car, you get exactly what you pay for. Smart summon and friends are, to me, nothing more than fun gimmicks. The promise of FSD is well... full self driving, to which they have missed every deadline so far and they will very likely not reach it within the lifetime of the current generation teslas. So if you pay $6000 on the promise of getting a full self driving car and you never get it, how is that not a scam?
I don't get all of the anti-Tesla vitriol, I'm honestly curious what fuels it. It's like all objectivity get's thrown out the window.