I don't know if you mean that you are an outsider to HN or an outsider to functional programming.
The problem in this thread is not that monads are controversial or poorly understood. The problem is that there is a strong selection effect: the thread is populated by people for whom the topic of monads is relatively new, and who think that this discussion is worth having in this context. People who are "productive" with monads already know exactly what the structure is (it's not complicated) and they're unlikely to want to enter this discussion. They just have better things to do than engage with the misconceptions of "learners" on the Internet.
HN in general suffers from posters who write confidently about things they don't fully understand. This tends to drive genuinely competent people away from the site. It affects politics as well as tech discussions.
The problem isn't monads, it's the denizens of HN.
The problem in this thread is not that monads are controversial or poorly understood. The problem is that there is a strong selection effect: the thread is populated by people for whom the topic of monads is relatively new, and who think that this discussion is worth having in this context. People who are "productive" with monads already know exactly what the structure is (it's not complicated) and they're unlikely to want to enter this discussion. They just have better things to do than engage with the misconceptions of "learners" on the Internet.
HN in general suffers from posters who write confidently about things they don't fully understand. This tends to drive genuinely competent people away from the site. It affects politics as well as tech discussions.
The problem isn't monads, it's the denizens of HN.