I am sure this is way far too late for most people on HN, but there is some useful advice that tends to work.<p>Usually, the most popular people can pick on a wide range of people and don&#x27;t focus on any one person.  It is the people in the lower middle that have fewer targets below them that get really mean.  As strange as this sounds moving slightly up the hierarchy, but not to high is the best way to avoid lots of negative attention from any one person.  Granted, this assumes there is nothing specifically unusual about someone.<p>PS: Sorry, if this comes off as victim baiting, but thinking of high school as a pack of chimps works surprisingly well.