Disliking the Drama in the Frontend Community
Categories: Thought
Personally, I really dislike the “drama” atmosphere in the frontend community. Recently, the “Twelve Zodiac Animals of Frontend” even appeared on Twitter. For a moment, I couldn’t tell if it was self-deprecation or entertainment.
I believe the tech community should focus on genuine technical discussions, sparring over ideas, and open sharing, rather than chasing clicks or manufacturing petty drama. When drama dominates, the space begins to feel like cheap tabloid entertainment. All too often, senseless controversy draws the most attention and traffic, dragging the whole community culture down with it.
I think frontend is one of the most exciting disciplines in programming — a rare blend of creative ideas, engineering craftsmanship, and visual aesthetics. Hackers & Painters captures this perfectly. Reading that book in my university library was what convinced me to switch from backend to frontend. Back then, I actually enjoyed writing CSS, Canvas, and WebGL even more than JavaScript, because you could create stunning visual effects with code and obsessively polish something until it was pixel-perfect. That process was pure fun.
Ten years ago, the domestic tech culture here was genuinely great. Experienced developers eagerly shared how they built things, and community forums buzzed with real technical depth. CNode was an enormous help to me at the time. So many people gave their time generously with zero expectation of return. It was those mentors who inspired many students to explore frontend, master it, and eventually land jobs they loved.
I very much hope that the current tech atmosphere can improve in terms of open source, sharing, and technical exchanges. Of course, there are also many tech friends whom I deeply admire on Twitter, sharing AI developments, technical ideas, and good products they’ve recently built—guarding this space that tech people love.
Finally, I want to conclude with Brother Chen Hao’s words from his article “Talking about My ‘Three Views’” regarding society:
“Spend more time on ideas that are meaningful to yourself and society. Spending time gossiping about others or spreading rumors will neither improve your life nor help you grow, nor will it enhance your influence. Remember, your influence is not your ability to gossip about others, but how many people trust you and seek your help. Therefore, make more friends with ideas, and put your ideas into practice more often. Even if you don’t succeed, your life will be more meaningful than others.”