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It is so sad that Startups category is getting less and less prominence over time. Is HN becoming reddit? Considering the quality of articles, I would not say

by niyazpk 17y ago

It is so sad that Startups category is getting less and less prominence over time. Is HN becoming reddit? Considering the quality of articles, I would not say so. The high quality of discussions may have stayed the same too. At the same time, the graphs suggest that the topics discussed here seem to have changed a bit.

jacquesm 17y ago
As Paul Graham already explained in the first installment of this analysis the biggest part of the change is due to a repositioning of the site early on. The more recent change can not be attributed to that though. Another important thing to note is that since these are all relative sizes it does not say that in an absolute sense there is less startup stuff, in an absolute sense it is most likely more due to the increased posting volume. This just documents the change of the 'mix'.
nailer 17y ago
"Is HN becoming reddit? " A post with a badly rhyming version of 'The Real Slim Shady' about single founders (OK startup related, but not really insightful) was sent to the front page a few days ago. Right now there's an article from Boingboing about putting a gun in your carry-on luggage so the TSA secure it (which is very much Reddit) and the Haiti earthquake, and genocide of natives in America (general interest yes, 'Hacker News'? No). I've gotten into the habit of flagging non-tech related posts in the hope that will fix things.
- pxlpshr 17y ago
  I do think there has been a noticeable change but I don't think it's entirely bad. For example, a discussion around Haiti with a bunch of technologists on HN - as oppose to on Reddit - could manifest a new challenge and opportunity for another hacker that impacts the world in a meaningful way as oppose to yet-another-photo-sharing-site. I think it's pretty inevitable that as a site grows its core focus will become diluted. I'm not entirely happy to see less startup/tech news either, and I believe there are only two solutions for that: 1. growth with it and deal or 2. convert to a private community with limited invite-only (or application based).
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    It's not that there is less of it, it's just that the attention is divided over many other subjects. The more people frequent HN the more submissions there will be on any subject, startups included. But those articles have to compete for attention with all the other ones.

by niyazpk 17y ago

jacquesm 17y ago

As Paul Graham already explained in the first installment of this analysis the biggest part of the change is due to a repositioning of the site early on. The more recent change can not be attributed to that though. Another important thing to note is that since these are all relative sizes it does not say that in an absolute sense there is less startup stuff, in an absolute sense it is most likely more due to the increased posting volume. This just documents the change of the 'mix'.

nailer 17y ago

"Is HN becoming reddit? " A post with a badly rhyming version of 'The Real Slim Shady' about single founders (OK startup related, but not really insightful) was sent to the front page a few days ago. Right now there's an article from Boingboing about putting a gun in your carry-on luggage so the TSA secure it (which is very much Reddit) and the Haiti earthquake, and genocide of natives in America (general interest yes, 'Hacker News'? No). I've gotten into the habit of flagging non-tech related posts in the hope that will fix things.

pxlpshr 17y ago
I do think there has been a noticeable change but I don't think it's entirely bad. For example, a discussion around Haiti with a bunch of technologists on HN - as oppose to on Reddit - could manifest a new challenge and opportunity for another hacker that impacts the world in a meaningful way as oppose to yet-another-photo-sharing-site. I think it's pretty inevitable that as a site grows its core focus will become diluted. I'm not entirely happy to see less startup/tech news either, and I believe there are only two solutions for that: 1. growth with it and deal or 2. convert to a private community with limited invite-only (or application based).
- jacquesm 17y ago
  It's not that there is less of it, it's just that the attention is divided over many other subjects. The more people frequent HN the more submissions there will be on any subject, startups included. But those articles have to compete for attention with all the other ones.