The first posts in a thread are usually negative because negative reactions are the easiest to feel and fastest to write. Also, most internet comments are objections to something, and when the thread is blank, the only thing there to object to is the article.
After that, other comments show up to object to the objections. These tend to get upvoted, and that explains the paradox of why so often the top comment says something like "I don't understand why everyone here is so negative".
The main thing to understand is that this has nothing to do with the topic! It's a generic effect of the forum mechanism and group psychology.
In one comment you said that the contrarian dynamic works on HN threads and to internet comments in general.
I just went and opened 10 random Reddit threads on the front page to read the top comments, and found only 2 where this was true, and 8 where this was totally false, most notably [1].
The main reason for negative comments here on HN (IMO) is a self-fulfilling prophecy. People have learned that usually the #1 comment is a negative one, so you have a bunch of people "competing" to be #1 by trying to nitpick whatever is wrong with the original article (even if there is none) in hope to win the popularity contest.
This is why I've seen some friends recently leave HN (their exact words: "couldn't hand the toxicity"). I hope that you, as a Head of Growth, can actively work to break this cycle.
This is the contrarian dynamic at work: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
The first posts in a thread are usually negative because negative reactions are the easiest to feel and fastest to write. Also, most internet comments are objections to something, and when the thread is blank, the only thing there to object to is the article.
After that, other comments show up to object to the objections. These tend to get upvoted, and that explains the paradox of why so often the top comment says something like "I don't understand why everyone here is so negative".
The main thing to understand is that this has nothing to do with the topic! It's a generic effect of the forum mechanism and group psychology.