I also find the "bad PR" notions of PG and his rah-rah crowd on HN as deluded self-importance. The world at large does not care about such things. HN has become a self-selecting fish-bowl. In context of bad PR and PG's musings about 'me don't know if patents help or hurt innovation in history of tech', again I could not but think of that Edison and his desperate resort to "PR" -- electrocuted elephants and other large mammals -- when faced with robust patents of our very dear Nicola Tesla.
Q for Hubski: Do you think Edison would need to kill helpless animals if he didn't have to do a run around of Tesla's patents? He did, in fact, ultimately license the very same ...