I wonder how many of the negative comments are by people who are actually living or have actually lived in SF? And not, say, down in SV.

I wonder the same about Seattle. How many commenters are speaking from Redmond or Kirkland or Bellevue etc instead of the city?

I'm coming up on 6 years in Seattle. Lived in SLU or Denny Triangle (parts some people consider "downtown") the entire time. I've learned to just largely ignore the incredibly negative comments because my experience and the experience of all the people I know who live here are vastly different. While the city still has its problems I would like for people to approach solving them from a realistic point of view.

I lived in Seattle proper for over two years (2012-2015) and it absolutely was awful, at least in many parts of the city. Anywhere near Pioneer Square, for example.

It completely depends on where you live in SF. The people in the wealthy hyper gentrified areas are baffled that people would think the city is unsafe.

Meanwhile people with less income are exposed daily to an epidemic of drug addiction, homeless, theft, mental illness, all problems with straightforward solutions that the residents are screaming for.

Its not one or the other, its both. Just because you live in a safe neighborhood does not mean that everyone that doesn’t isn’t being “data driven” or “logical” enough.

So the Outer Richmond is a "wealthy hyper-gentrifed neighborhood" now? Or the Mission? The Sunset? SOMA? Dogpatch?

Sure, I mean if you're able to afford to live in those neighborhoods, then you're doing OK. But it's a bit rich to call them "hyper-gentrifed".

Not so. I've mostly lived in a comparatively high crime neighborhoods in SF, though I live in Oakland now. I'm married to someone who grew up in the Tenderloin. Your argument that attitudes are correlated with residential wealth rather than experience may accurately capture a general trend but it is far from the cast-iron rule you suggest.

straightforward solutions

Hmm

What are the unsafe neighborhoods in SF?

A lot of people on HN came to SF from elsewhere for money/career reasons, and were upset to discover that the city is not an extension of the Moscone Center (ironically enough named after a former mayor who was murdered - by one of the city supervisors who thought he was too 'woke': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Moscone).

He absolutely did, although I think this is one of those things that looks way worse with hindsight.

There is def a vendetta but you see the same things in r/sanfrancisco and other places as well so it's not limited to HN

A lot of city (and country) subs on reddit are overrun with people who don't live in the place commenting on what a hell-hole it is. We see this in New Zealand every time something gets international attention, and it's very obvious given time zones and posting volumes.

There is very little incentive for someone to believe that there is a better place to live than the one they're in and all the ego stroking to believe otherwise.