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HN Principle of Charity

Comments repeatedly quoting and invoking Hacker News guidelines urging users to respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of others' statements and assume good faith to avoid strawman arguments.

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Keywords

OP GP HN BS lander.edu HackerNews newsguidelines.html charity.html ycombinator.com wikipedia.org assume good strongest good faith criticize weaker interpretation faith plausible respond assume

Sample Comments

greenyoda • Apr 12, 2020 • View on HN

This principle is actually part of HN's Guidelines:"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Shared404 • Feb 20, 2022 • View on HN

From https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html :> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

lurk2 • Apr 27, 2025 • View on HN

Review the site guidelines:> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang • Jan 26, 2024 • View on HN

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang • Dec 18, 2025 • View on HN

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang • Sep 27, 2023 • View on HN

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang • Oct 7, 2024 • View on HN

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang • Sep 30, 2025 • View on HN

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang • Oct 13, 2024 • View on HN

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang • Jan 23, 2025 • View on HN

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html