Top all-time · #248
John Scalzi
Personal blog · whatever.scalzi.comwritingculture
John Scalzi writes Whatever, a personal blog at whatever.scalzi.com about writing and culture. Since 2009, 194 different Hacker News readers have linked it 305 times, most often “Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 14 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Scalzi's blog mostly for 'Being Poor' (2005), a widely recommended essay on poverty, and for essays called masterful, thoughtful and illuminating.
- Recommended for · 14 comments
- Called masterful, awesome, classic, illuminating and thoughtful; 'Being Poor' and 'required reading' recommended.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
DIGITAL CONTENT FROM ANALOG PEOPLE
Most-linked posts?
- Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is22 people · 30 mentions · first linked 2012-05-15
- John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)15 people · 18 mentions · first linked 2009-05-20
- Being Poor (2005)12 people · 20 mentions · first linked 2017-12-04
- The Failure Mode of Clever (2010)10 people · 12 mentions · first linked 2018-07-28
- Amazon's Latest Volley6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2014-07-30
- When the Yogurt Took Over5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2019-10-18
- Why Publishing Won't Go Away Anytime Soon: A Deeply Slanted Play in Three Acts5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2010-02-04
- Amazon Gets Increasingly Nervous3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-08-09
- Pictures, Not Photos: What's Going on with the Pixel 10 Pro "Pro-Res Zoom"3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-08-29
- Yog’s Law and Self-Publishing3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-03-30
What Hacker News says?
It seems fairly obvious? Your seems-obvious meter went off when you ran it over the screen? Own your opinions. Cloaking them in false objectivity makes you look ridiculous and removes the opportunity for discussion. You think it's obvious. I don't. I do think it's obvious that you're playing the game on easy [1], though, which is why your seems-obvious meter is poorly calibrated. [1] http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/…
Comment linking /2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
on “Tim Cook Speaks Up”Submitted The Church FAQ as a story · 323 points
HN discussionhttps://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/06/16/the-failure-state-of-... Required reading for internet comedians.
Comment linking /2010/06/16/the-failure-state-of-clever/
on “Fast”Submitted John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005) as a story · 262 points
HN discussionI'm not sure if you have any perspective what being poor means. This link : http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/ Seems quite appropriate and - I hope - illuminating.
Comment linking /2005/09/03/being-poor/
on “That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people”Submitted Being Poor by John Scalzi as a story · 257 points
HN discussionSciFi author John Scalzi did a couple blog posts on being poor. (His readership added some he'd missed.) https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/ https://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/09/03/being-poor-ten-years-...
Comment linking /2015/09/03/being-poor-ten-years-on/
on “On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't”Submitted Thoughts on cameras in the age of excellent cell phone photos as a story · 243 points
HN discussionBeing poor is reading HN commentary about auto finance. [0] [0] https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
Comment linking /2005/09/03/being-poor/
on “$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now”Submitted A Self-Made Man Looks At How He Made It as a story · 240 points
HN discussionSee also Scalzi's "Being Poor" (2005): https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/ An essay to drive home some aspects of living in poverty. Sample: "Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house. Being poor is knowing you can’t leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around. Being poor is hoping your kids don’t have a growth spurt."
Comment linking /2005/09/03/being-poor/
on “How poverty changes your mindset”Submitted Being Poor (2005) as a story · 187 points
HN discussionReminds me of John Scalzi's masterful Being Poor (written as a rejoinder to those who were asking why the poor in New Orleans didn't just up and leave when Hurricane Katrina arrived): https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
Comment linking /2005/09/03/being-poor/
on “Poor in Tech”Submitted Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick as a story · 184 points
HN discussionDon't make jokes unless you're 100% damn sure people will react the right way. To quote J Scalzi: "The failure mode of clever is 'asshole'". https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/06/16/the-failure-state-of-...
Comment linking /2010/06/16/the-failure-state-of-clever/
on “Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people”Submitted My 300 Mile Lyft Ride From Chicago to Bradford as a story · 176 points
HN discussion> It costs more to be poor. That's definitely true. Time to reintroduce Scalzi's take on the subject: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
Comment linking /2005/09/03/being-poor/
on “Experian’s credit freeze security is still a joke”Submitted Thoughts On a Year of Exercise as a story · 166 points
HN discussionI am a man. I am definitely privileged because of it. Many men make similar observations: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-t...
Comment linking /2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
on “If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools”Submitted GeForce Now: A Review as a story · 133 points
HN discussionFrom the [FAQ]: 4.I’m a straight white male and my life isn’t easy! My life sucks! Your “lowest difficulty setting” doesn’t account for that! That’s actually fully accounted for in the entry. Go back and read it again. This one’s a stand-in for all the complaints about the entry that come primarily either from not reading the entry, or not reading what was actually written in the entry in preference to a version of…
Comment linking /2012/05/17/lowest-difficulty-setting-follow-up/
on “Female Founders”Submitted The Failure Mode of Clever (2010) as a story · 105 points
HN discussionAnd as long as guys are still acting in ignorance of their privilege, I'll keep posting that and similar resources. But as long as we're talking about it, you might benefit by reading his FAQ in response to the post: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/17/lowest-difficulty-sett... He's mainly addressing the straight white males of the Internet who thought the piece was crap, so it's basically for you.
Comment linking /2012/05/17/lowest-difficulty-setting-follow-up/
on “Female Founders”Submitted The Failure Mode of Clever (2010) as a story · 89 points
HN discussionThanks for the link to scalzi [1] - "Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is". It was a really good read. [1]: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-th...
Comment linking /2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
on “Female Founders”Submitted Shut Up and Listen as a story · 89 points
HN discussionIt's such a shame then that they promote themselves as only caring for the part of their community that has a particular colour of skin. I honestly can't tell if you're trolling here. In case you aren't: that is not what they are doing, and it also isn't a shame. Helping out people who are historically disadvantaged and face current discrimination is nothing to be ashamed about. The goal is to level the playing fiel…
Comment linking /2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
on “Female Founders”Submitted How Translation Works, Book Title Edition as a story · 61 points
HN discussionYes, I am certainly going to believe your hazy handwaving over his direct statements: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/#comment-64... Of course, I didn't need that to know where he went wrong: I know actual poor people in the US. Maybe you should go meet some.
Comment linking /2005/09/03/being-poor/
on “Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich”Submitted Not getting a new computer as a story · 59 points
HN discussion
