On the Hacker News front page on 21 October 2026: an essay arguing that most advice is right for the person giving it. It worked in their soil. Does it grow in yours?
Will this advice grow in your soil?
Write down one piece of advice - from a friend, a mentor, a book or a podcast. Rate the soil it grew in against your own plot on six growing conditions, and the page prints it as a seed packet. One run explains what it was rooted in and gives you the plain version and a small trial; another makes the strongest case for the opposite.
1 The seed
2 The soil test
For each condition: how much of it did the giver have when the advice worked for them, and how much do you have now?
3 The seed packet
- The giver had
- You have
- Match
- Small gap
- Big gap
- ?Giver's side not known
4 Does it grow here?
The verdict follows a fixed rule, checked in order: compost if 2 or more conditions are big gaps; graft if 1 is, or 3 or more are small gaps; pot first if 3 or more are unknown, or it would cost you a lot, or you could not easily undo it; plant otherwise. The opposite leans the same way: compost - lean to the opposite, graft - a bit of both, pot first - let a trial decide, plant - keep the original.
5 The seed tin
How the soil test is worked out
Each of the six conditions has three levels - little, some, plenty - and the giver's side can be "not known". The same level on both sides is a match; one step apart is a small gap; little against plenty is a big gap; a giver's side you do not know is unknown. The page counts these and applies the rule above, so the verdict is the same every time for the same soil. Sweeping words ("always", "never", "everyone", "the only way" and a few more) are a plain word list, not a judgement. All of this is your own rating, a rough rule of thumb and an estimate - not a verdict on the advice, the giver or your life.