Tell HN: The 2 best things I love about HN
46 comments
I'll chip in with the "2 worst things I hate about HN", since I enjoy being contrary.
1) The groupthink that arises in certain political/scientific/social debates. I find that the nontech debates here are more uniform and less varied than they are on sites with similar quality.
2) While the site's filtration is good, the fact that its only two lenses are "news" and "jobs" makes the community less flexible and, frequently, less engaging.
It's still easily a top three social news site, though, so I'll resume my lurking and quit being a pest.
1) The groupthink that arises in certain political/scientific/social debates. I find that the nontech debates here are more uniform and less varied than they are on sites with similar quality.
2) While the site's filtration is good, the fact that its only two lenses are "news" and "jobs" makes the community less flexible and, frequently, less engaging.
It's still easily a top three social news site, though, so I'll resume my lurking and quit being a pest.
I agree with the groupthink thing, there are some pretty well defined no-fly-zones for ideas and opinions, but given that the charter is more "be nice" than "get to the bottom of every issue", I'm happy to let things slide when I don't agree with the dominant line of thought.
I so far gravitate toward other sites to balance my conversational diet.
I so far gravitate toward other sites to balance my conversational diet.
I think point 2 is a bit off. Normally the items that hit the front page are indeed news, but a largish percentage of the content is not new, just interesting to hackers and accepted because it hasn't been posted to HN in a while.
I meant "news" in the "social news" sense, where if it's new to me I'm fine with it. That said, it's a category that gets clogged with trivial announcements from YC companies, a lot of tech gossip that I don't care for, and articles on subjects I'm not interested in that other people really dig. I wish there was some system that would let me see what I wanted and remove the rest.
I would add
3) generally very thoughtful discussion in the comments.
3) generally very thoughtful discussion in the comments.
Yeah, news.yc has changed my expectations forever about the way people interact with each other online. I can't look at any other forums these days without being appalled at how casually rude everybody is.
This is the #1 for me. There are other ways to filter content and block ads, but finding quality conversations is difficult.
Honestly, if they removed the URLs from the front page and just kept the conversation topics and community, I'd still get 98% of the value from the site.
(Ads are value-neutral for me, incidentally.)
(Ads are value-neutral for me, incidentally.)
ur gay, lol
die in a fire, rtard.
:)
Hacker News — Where pun threads are not even tolerated in meta-discussions.
But threads that point out the intolerance of pun-threads are well-tolerated. I feel like The Collective has saved me time! Or something...
(More interesting is how these things fluctuate. At one point, the "ur gay" comment was around +8, and my "die in a fire, rtard" was pretty close. Now they are both -4.)
(More interesting is how these things fluctuate. At one point, the "ur gay" comment was around +8, and my "die in a fire, rtard" was pretty close. Now they are both -4.)
Heh. I'll pay a few karma to crack necessary wise. What else can you buy with it, right? It is interesting that so much info is lost by only displaying the net, though. A comment with zero activity is indistinguishable from one with 100+ and 100-. I'd be more interested in "most controversial" than "most net upvotes" given the choice. Not a big deal, though. Simpler is probably better.
Edit: added 2nd "net"
Edit: added 2nd "net"
1. HN is one of the few places where I constantly bump into people who are simultaneously more knowledgeable, more intelligent, and more accomplished than I am. Humbling, challenging, and rewarding.
2. I love that this is a community where smart people help other smart people navigate life, from deciding what to major in, to picking a database server, to dealing with an unruly roommate.
2. I love that this is a community where smart people help other smart people navigate life, from deciding what to major in, to picking a database server, to dealing with an unruly roommate.
For me its:
1) Subject Matter of the articles. for the most part the articles on here are right on target in what I am interested in.I know lately there has been talk of some cruft getting through, but for the most part the quality of articles to make it to front page is high.
2) Community I find that the community here is respectful and the members tend(and their comments) to be quite knowledgeable and highly focused. The community in general is a positive one.
1) Subject Matter of the articles. for the most part the articles on here are right on target in what I am interested in.I know lately there has been talk of some cruft getting through, but for the most part the quality of articles to make it to front page is high.
2) Community I find that the community here is respectful and the members tend(and their comments) to be quite knowledgeable and highly focused. The community in general is a positive one.
News aggregators are useful if they convince me to read something useful that I otherwise wouldn't have seen.
A few seconds before I saw this question, I saw the link to "The Economics of Suicide". Surely a recipe for content-free emoting, that I would usually ignore ... but with 20 up-votes on a Saturday night. And I'm better off for having read it.
I still skim Slashdot, too. That's just a different selection of things I wouldn't have otherwise seen, but sometimes enjoy.
A few seconds before I saw this question, I saw the link to "The Economics of Suicide". Surely a recipe for content-free emoting, that I would usually ignore ... but with 20 up-votes on a Saturday night. And I'm better off for having read it.
I still skim Slashdot, too. That's just a different selection of things I wouldn't have otherwise seen, but sometimes enjoy.
A community of doers and thinkers.
I'm not even a programmer but I come on here every day because when the submissions are relevant to my interests they're very good quality.
For me it's:
1. I don't have to be in a vacuum anymore. If I read something on the internet and form an opinion about it, I can post it here and see what others think. I can also comment on any discussion, and soon enough I'll probably get feedback. I simply don't have that many people in my life with whom I can have this interaction about things I care about.
2. I don't have to be alone. I usually work from home alone for long hours. Some days, being one alt-click away from like minded people keeps me going.
1. I don't have to be in a vacuum anymore. If I read something on the internet and form an opinion about it, I can post it here and see what others think. I can also comment on any discussion, and soon enough I'll probably get feedback. I simply don't have that many people in my life with whom I can have this interaction about things I care about.
2. I don't have to be alone. I usually work from home alone for long hours. Some days, being one alt-click away from like minded people keeps me going.
I like that when I see a comment that I'm tempted to downvote (if I could), several people have already taken care of that for me.
Also, the amount of cross-disciplinary knowledge the community brings to bear on most issues is pleasantly humbling.
Also, the amount of cross-disciplinary knowledge the community brings to bear on most issues is pleasantly humbling.
1. Interesting content.
2. Good quality, helpful, useful comments with very few idiots.
2. Good quality, helpful, useful comments with very few idiots.
I had never even visited techcrunch, venturebeat, mashable or engadget before stumbling upon HN. There are a ton of links to these sites.
But the thoughtful and insightful discussion by like-minded developers is a breath of fresh air.
But the thoughtful and insightful discussion by like-minded developers is a breath of fresh air.
I disagree. Techmeme is better for quick news scans.
And the level of discourse here is better than most places, but the time decay of stories (and comments) leads to quick bursts of discussion near the top, followed by dead silence.
And the level of discourse here is better than most places, but the time decay of stories (and comments) leads to quick bursts of discussion near the top, followed by dead silence.
1. High quality discussions.
2. Any BS gets called out with relevant evidence
2. Any BS gets called out with relevant evidence
There could still be more improvement in this, but the current baseline is not bad.
There could still be more improvement in this, but the current baseline is not bad.
The articles posted here are always interesting and of good quality. The comments are well-mannered without a bunch of idiots ruining the posts (most of the time anyway).
1. Meeting people! (Whether through the comments here or through #startups)
2. People help each other! (Ask HN, website feedback, participating in betas, etc)
2. People help each other! (Ask HN, website feedback, participating in betas, etc)
1. Ask HN feature.
2. Comments and discussion.
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I love the lack of leftist politics that have taken over reddit.
Compared to, for example Programming Reddit, HN has:
1. Good quality links (less fluff, and good links are often more visible here) 2. Good quality comments.
1. Good quality links (less fluff, and good links are often more visible here) 2. Good quality comments.
I tend to filter information also using www.postrank.com for high volume sites such as the ones mentioned by OP.
1) Fast turnover of stories
2) the 250ish limit means I can actually run out of reading and get back to working
* Community
* Quality of CommentsPeople probably shouldn't be up-voting meta discussions.
people in here give motivation start my own startup
I used to waste so much time on techcrunch, venturebeat, techmeme, slashdot, google news, mashable, engadget and the likes. But, thanks to HN, not anymore. :)