5 ms·

Could it be that culture chooses to exists offline and out of the boundaries of HN?

dang 10y ago
Quite likely, though we may also be talking about different cultures? The one that Alan Kay mostly discusses in his talks is the ARPA culture of the 1960s, which bore fruit in the creation of the Internet and personal computing. The reason that culture exists out of the boundaries of HN is probably generational—most of its surviving members are either retired (though as Kay says, "still vital") or don't spend time on internet forums. It would be a huuuuge benefit to all of us if we could figure out a way to either get more of them onto HN or at least to make more of their work and experience accessible here.
- asimuvPR 10y ago
  Good points. I certainly see HN as something too business focused (understandable given its roots as Startup News). For example, the community around Hackaday seems to be more to what the past generation had (personal opinion). Computer/Internet culture without hardware is missing a fairly big part. Hardware in HN is not common. There are golden bits here are be there but it does not seem to be part of the core subjects. Still, the value in this community comes from its business driven attitude. A sort of hacker 2.0 if you will. Where money is also important and a motivator. I still enjoy the place and feel it has blossomed into an unique mix of views. That itself means there is an HN culture. Not like the one you mention but borrowing from it.
  - geerlingguy 10y ago
    There are comparatively few hardware stories posted. And when you do post something hardware related, you'll have a better chance of exposure on HN; load up some keywords like IoT, Raspberry Pi, etc., and you'll see what I mean :)
    - asimuvPR 10y ago
      Yes,that seems to be correct. I do wish the business talk would die a little so other stuff would blossom. This forum makes people money so its actively gamed. Though that might be in sync with its origins. Dunno, just an old fart speaking.
      - dang 10y ago
        It's a good thing on HN that when "old farts" a.k.a. elders speak, the community tends to listen. The differing subcommunities here have divergent opinions about what the front page should consist of. For example, we hear laments from other corners that the amount of business stuff has gone down (where you might think it has gone up, or at least stayed too high). The obvious 'solution' would be to factor HN into silos, subreddit-style, but we're not going to do that (long, other story), even though the result is that the front page is guaranteed to be optimal for nobody. By far the best way to influence it is to post stuff of the kind you personally consider highly interesting. And if it doesn't get noticed, fire us an email (hn@ycombinator.com) because we've built systems to give exceptionally good stuff multiple cracks at the bat here.
        asimuvPR 10y ago
        Is there a public policy that defines how many new items may be posted at once?
        dang 10y ago
        The closest to that is in the site guidelines: "Please don't submit so many links at once that the new page is dominated by your submissions." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        asimuvPR 10y ago
        Thank you. I read that but was still a bit unsure. :)

dang 10y ago

Quite likely, though we may also be talking about different cultures? The one that Alan Kay mostly discusses in his talks is the ARPA culture of the 1960s, which bore fruit in the creation of the Internet and personal computing. The reason that culture exists out of the boundaries of HN is probably generational—most of its surviving members are either retired (though as Kay says, "still vital") or don't spend time on internet forums. It would be a huuuuge benefit to all of us if we could figure out a way to either get more of them onto HN or at least to make more of their work and experience accessible here.

asimuvPR 10y ago
Good points. I certainly see HN as something too business focused (understandable given its roots as Startup News). For example, the community around Hackaday seems to be more to what the past generation had (personal opinion). Computer/Internet culture without hardware is missing a fairly big part. Hardware in HN is not common. There are golden bits here are be there but it does not seem to be part of the core subjects. Still, the value in this community comes from its business driven attitude. A sort of hacker 2.0 if you will. Where money is also important and a motivator. I still enjoy the place and feel it has blossomed into an unique mix of views. That itself means there is an HN culture. Not like the one you mention but borrowing from it.
- geerlingguy 10y ago
  There are comparatively few hardware stories posted. And when you do post something hardware related, you'll have a better chance of exposure on HN; load up some keywords like IoT, Raspberry Pi, etc., and you'll see what I mean :)
  - asimuvPR 10y ago
    Yes,that seems to be correct. I do wish the business talk would die a little so other stuff would blossom. This forum makes people money so its actively gamed. Though that might be in sync with its origins. Dunno, just an old fart speaking.
    - dang 10y ago
      It's a good thing on HN that when "old farts" a.k.a. elders speak, the community tends to listen. The differing subcommunities here have divergent opinions about what the front page should consist of. For example, we hear laments from other corners that the amount of business stuff has gone down (where you might think it has gone up, or at least stayed too high). The obvious 'solution' would be to factor HN into silos, subreddit-style, but we're not going to do that (long, other story), even though the result is that the front page is guaranteed to be optimal for nobody. By far the best way to influence it is to post stuff of the kind you personally consider highly interesting. And if it doesn't get noticed, fire us an email (hn@ycombinator.com) because we've built systems to give exceptionally good stuff multiple cracks at the bat here.
      - asimuvPR 10y ago
        Is there a public policy that defines how many new items may be posted at once?
        dang 10y ago
        The closest to that is in the site guidelines: "Please don't submit so many links at once that the new page is dominated by your submissions." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        asimuvPR 10y ago
        Thank you. I read that but was still a bit unsure. :)