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Just curious, how long have you been around? Your current username is less than a year old. Because based on my impressions as someone commenting or lurking h

by jnbiche 11y ago

Just curious, how long have you been around? Your current username is less than a year old. Because based on my impressions as someone commenting or lurking here 5+ years, HN has experienced a significant uptick in quality over the past year or so. I see many older commenters making the same type of observations. And Reddit-like comments are consistently downvoted here. EDIT: Removed "Of that there's no question." from my statement about comments being consistently downvoted, since clearly that's not true.

gareim 11y ago
I've noticed the opposite. I see more jokes than before and they don't seem to be downvoted when I'm around. The jokes aren't even clever; just low reaching ones just like on reddit.
- jnbiche 11y ago
  Can you cite one, please? I'd like to see an example of a comment considered to be Reddit-like that isn't downvoted on HN to diminished visibility.
  - Jach 11y ago
    They are all over, I think it's easy to spot them. Here's one I saw earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10433865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10433865 While HN has with exceptional moderation effort made this place "nice", as opposed to the generally "mean" Reddit, it's optimized for a certain kind of niceness that doesn't necessarily align with the hacker aesthetic, and reddit's brand of rudeness is just one characteristic of reddit, general low quality comments are the problem. Quality has been declinining since at least https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696 and on the aesthetic side I think this thread sums up what's good and bad about the site: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8214343 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8214343 (The bad: complaining about the name, political correctness in general.)
- BinaryIdiot 11y ago
  Jokes seem inconsistent on HN. Sometimes I'll see a good, quick one and it'll be upvoted (which honestly I'm fine with; jokes are fun) and sometimes they'll be downvoted immediately. But the common theme I always noticed with jokes and HN is that, even when they're upvoted, they don't turn into mega pun threads like Reddit's do. I rarely see a joke just keep going on HN. In the end I think the HN and Reddit audiences are different. Yeah there is overlap but I don't think there is a ton of overlap.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
abritinthebay 11y ago
Mostly a lurker. I've checked the articles here since.. I dunno.. sometime in 2007-8, at least regularly anyhow. I remember when it was called "Startup News".. heh. Much like my Reddit experience - was a long-time lurker, but have a more recent account. Both sites have gone downhill in terms of community quality. > HN has experienced a significant uptick in quality over the past year or so In the news articles I'd agree. In the comments? Drastically the opposite as far as I've read. > Reddit-like comments are consistently downvoted here. I wish. The worst meme-crap sure, I agree with that, and it's a good thing. However it's not that that's the problem: it's the community attitude and outlook; just seems to have got a lot worse - especially in the last year or two. Case in point: down-votes for disagreement rather than lack of content. See my comment above for a great example of that.
- jnbiche 11y ago
  > down-votes for disagreement rather than lack of content The debate about downvotes for disagreement rather than lack of content has been going on here for years. For me, it's as clear as day that this is getting much, much better. From about 2012 to early 2014, there was some type of either bot or some very, very eager HNers who would rapidly downvote topics they didn't like, 3-4 downvotes within the first 5 minutes, even if it was a quality comment. I would regularly upvote comments even though I vehemently disagreed with the commenter just to offset those downvotes. I find myself having to do that much, much less now. It is clear that HN is getting more "traditionally" polite as well as what many would consider politically correct, so if that pisses you off then I can definitely see how the site would seem to be worse. But I strongly, strongly disagree with the Reddit thing. By the way, take a look at the HN guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html It says: "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a common semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills." If I'm not mistaken, that guideline has been in place since I got here back in 2010-2011 or so, so that should tell you something. People have been complaining about Reddit-like comments on HN since at least back then. (As as you will have noted, people are quick to downvote comments saying HN is becoming Reddit for this very reason)

by jnbiche 11y ago

gareim 11y ago

I've noticed the opposite. I see more jokes than before and they don't seem to be downvoted when I'm around. The jokes aren't even clever; just low reaching ones just like on reddit.

jnbiche 11y ago
Can you cite one, please? I'd like to see an example of a comment considered to be Reddit-like that isn't downvoted on HN to diminished visibility.
- Jach 11y ago
  They are all over, I think it's easy to spot them. Here's one I saw earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10433865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10433865 While HN has with exceptional moderation effort made this place "nice", as opposed to the generally "mean" Reddit, it's optimized for a certain kind of niceness that doesn't necessarily align with the hacker aesthetic, and reddit's brand of rudeness is just one characteristic of reddit, general low quality comments are the problem. Quality has been declinining since at least https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696 and on the aesthetic side I think this thread sums up what's good and bad about the site: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8214343 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8214343 (The bad: complaining about the name, political correctness in general.)
BinaryIdiot 11y ago
Jokes seem inconsistent on HN. Sometimes I'll see a good, quick one and it'll be upvoted (which honestly I'm fine with; jokes are fun) and sometimes they'll be downvoted immediately. But the common theme I always noticed with jokes and HN is that, even when they're upvoted, they don't turn into mega pun threads like Reddit's do. I rarely see a joke just keep going on HN. In the end I think the HN and Reddit audiences are different. Yeah there is overlap but I don't think there is a ton of overlap.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

abritinthebay 11y ago

Mostly a lurker. I've checked the articles here since.. I dunno.. sometime in 2007-8, at least regularly anyhow. I remember when it was called "Startup News".. heh. Much like my Reddit experience - was a long-time lurker, but have a more recent account. Both sites have gone downhill in terms of community quality. > HN has experienced a significant uptick in quality over the past year or so In the news articles I'd agree. In the comments? Drastically the opposite as far as I've read. > Reddit-like comments are consistently downvoted here. I wish. The worst meme-crap sure, I agree with that, and it's a good thing. However it's not that that's the problem: it's the community attitude and outlook; just seems to have got a lot worse - especially in the last year or two. Case in point: down-votes for disagreement rather than lack of content. See my comment above for a great example of that.

jnbiche 11y ago
> down-votes for disagreement rather than lack of content The debate about downvotes for disagreement rather than lack of content has been going on here for years. For me, it's as clear as day that this is getting much, much better. From about 2012 to early 2014, there was some type of either bot or some very, very eager HNers who would rapidly downvote topics they didn't like, 3-4 downvotes within the first 5 minutes, even if it was a quality comment. I would regularly upvote comments even though I vehemently disagreed with the commenter just to offset those downvotes. I find myself having to do that much, much less now. It is clear that HN is getting more "traditionally" polite as well as what many would consider politically correct, so if that pisses you off then I can definitely see how the site would seem to be worse. But I strongly, strongly disagree with the Reddit thing. By the way, take a look at the HN guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html It says: "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a common semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills." If I'm not mistaken, that guideline has been in place since I got here back in 2010-2011 or so, so that should tell you something. People have been complaining about Reddit-like comments on HN since at least back then. (As as you will have noted, people are quick to downvote comments saying HN is becoming Reddit for this very reason)