I really think you are in the woods on this one. I think the comparison is particularly weak to the point that there isn't any comparison or that the comparison is so broad it could be applied to anyone and therefore isn't particularly applicable to Vidly.

Micro-Soft solved problems that nobody else was solving. And the problems they were solving where enormous. Vidly solves a small problem in a very narrow market. The two just don't add up, regardless of how broadly you want to paint it.

I'm curious if we're trolls because we have an opinion, or because we don't share yours? What would be the point of this community if nobody had an opinion? And regardless of the means by which these opinions are phrased, you might want to consider that a community of startup focused people whom are having an unfavorable reaction to a business idea really means. If HN is trolling an idea doesn't mean we are becoming techcrunch, it might mean there is something fundamental about the business idea that isn't jiving.

One of the clearest signs of trolling is setting up false dichotomies like "because we have an opinion, or because we don't share yours?"

The distinctive quality of TechCrunch comment trolls is that they shit all over an idea that is just the first thing launched by a company that will morph dramatically in time. They act as if what the company launches with is the only thing it will ever do.

The worst you can honestly say about the initial launch of a startup using the launch-fast-and-iterate model is that this initial product doesn't appeal to you. To pursue the company itself as eagerly as you have done shows malice.

pursue company itself? malice? insulting?

Are we in the same thread? The feedback was on the original idea. Because that's the only information we have on the company/founders.

Between this thread and the Dustin Curtis mob lyching, I think the larger problem is that of tone, and not of content.

It's fine to provide constructive criticism, but these threads are not constructive. They're wholesale character assassination and haughty dismissal of entire business strategies.

This isn't going to make me very popular, but I think you have a key point here.

This is a "your baby is ugly" situation. Sometimes the baby is ugly. Don't mean it won't turn out to cure cancer, don't mean it ain't a great thing, just it ain't hitting on much with us so far.

In these situations quite naturally the parents have tendency to be overly-touchy. Internet posters, and this group especially, have a tendency to be arrogant jerks (myself included). I'll just say it: some folks need to get a thicker skin. Some others learn to be more democratic. Lots of blame to go around everywhere.

Internet text, whether posting, email, tweets, or whatever, is just really tough to do well.

But for this board to work like it is supposed to -- providing help and assistance to startups -- it's critical to be able to provide negative feedback, even if we screw it up from time to time.

This isn't "your baby is ugly." This is "your caterpillar is ugly."

I'm not saying the Vidly guys are not going to be successful at all. I'm just skeptical that "HD video for twitter" is a good idea, or a profitable one (Unless twitter aquire to pump the bubble some more).

I'm sure they'll likely iterate on the idea, but I think feedback is always useful. I really don't see how you can claim it's "trolling" to give feedback on an idea. That's what makes HN useful IMHO.

If we want "That's nice dear, what a great idea" we go to our parents... surely?

This

  If there's a sign of a bubble, it's companies building
  things that already exist, on top of companies that 
  have no business model.

is not simply feedback on an idea, is it?

In my own way it was supposed to be. It translates as:

* I think this idea is risky (building on another startup with no clear business model)

* I don't see the value add (already exists)

I expected a reply saying why it's not as risky as it seems, and how they're doing something fundamentally different from all the other video sharing sites out there.

Sometimes we all take shortcuts when giving feedback. Sorry if it was taken as a snipe, insulting or a trollish comment.

Not defending the attitude, but wrt fostering a better attitude on HN towards YC-startups, maybe some "Meet the founders" threads would help? Purpose: provide HN readers a chance to offer constructive criticism to YC-startups early on, and give those startups some crowd-sourced wisdom from a lot of smart HN readers (there's an example below where Vidly got a valuable nugget on video compression).

In other words, get the "Review my startup" thread going a lot earlier than Demo Day.

Maybe these threads could be invite-only, or accessible only to readers over a certain karma threshold?

(Another epic stretch: from a community-management standpoint, this may also help bandage the "I got rejected"/"I got accepted" divide.)