Stop Acting Like You're Famous

Scope and intent of the advice

• Several highlight the subtitle (“advice for myself around leisure activities”) as crucial context: this is about hobbies, not prescriptions for work or careers.
• Others still find the tone condescending or anti‑aspirational, reading it as “you aren’t having fun the right way” or “don’t try.”

Enjoyment vs audience, validation, and fame

• Many resonate with the idea that optimizing for fame, likes, or monetization quickly drains joy; they’ve seen hobbies die once turned into content or side hustles.
• Others say their main satisfaction comes from others using or enjoying what they make; audience feedback drives improvement and persistence.
• Some distinguish between “acting like you’re famous” (performing for an imaginary mass audience) and sharing with a small, real niche that energizes you.

Design, polish, and quality

• Large debate over “just make it ugly” and “design is for an audience and you don’t have one.”
• One side: if you want adoption, UI/UX, branding, and accessibility matter; design isn’t just aesthetics, it’s utility.
• Counter‑side: default design systems are now “good enough,” polish often doesn’t affect B2B uptake, and over‑focusing on brand is a distraction.
• Many reconcile this as: pursue quality and personal style if you enjoy it; don’t let hypothetical critics stop you from shipping.

Money and hobbies

• Strong pushback on “the most egregious thing is daydreaming about making money.”
• Some successfully monetize hobbies (miniatures, terrain, collecting) to fund costs and space; for them, profit and passion reinforce each other.
• Others report that monetization turns hobbies into stressful work, introduces non‑fun tasks, and is rarely financially worthwhile.

Perfectionism, plateaus, and mediocrity

• Several describe a pattern: start a hobby → get “pretty good” fast → hit plateau → quit because top‑tier skill feels unattainable.
• Suggestions include iterative self‑improvement focused only on your last result, accepting long‑term mediocrity in some pursuits, and choosing variants (e.g., analog vs digital photography) that feel less judged.

Reputation, anonymity, and online behavior

• Some argue you should act online as if posts were tied to your real name and permanently reviewable (jobs, dating).
• Others note that anonymity is fragile (metadata, future de‑anonymization), but also that most of us are “anonymous by obscurity” in practice.

Meta: HN culture and language tangents

• Mixed reactions to the post itself: some find it validating and therapeutic; others see it as banal, hypocritical, or “LinkedIn‑ish.”
• There’s extended side discussion about Grammarly, typos, and whether language change via “mistakes” is good or bad.
• Meta‑comments lament HN’s drift toward self‑help content, while others defend occasional reflective pieces as meeting real emotional needs.