3 ms·

I'm not really addressing this to you, I just have a lot of thoughts on this. I feel bad about the downvotes in individual cases, but the culture of easy, repe

I'm not really addressing this to you, I just have a lot of thoughts on this. I feel bad about the downvotes in individual cases, but the culture of easy, repetitive, or just plain bad jokes is a big part of what turned Slashdot from my favorite site into a cesspit that wasn't worth visiting, so I think they're a necessary mechanism. The trick for this site is to make a good joke. If the topic is well-worn, it has to be a great joke. If you're not sure if it's a good joke, it probably isn't. I base this on the fact that most people simply aren't funny. There's no shame in that, it's just true. I'm assuming the OP joke is a reference of some sort since I don't get it. A good rule of thumb is that references aren't jokes at all, they're references, so posting them here will probably get you a downvote. This is also true of puns and memes, both from broader culture and more traditional nerd quarters. And just to be clear, I didn't downvote the OP, but I would have if it weren't already grey by the time I saw it.

minipci1321 10y ago
Of course I understand all the good reasons you are giving, but I'd think you are taking it all too seriously. People sometimes post bad jokes on HN for the same reason they tell them in face -- feeling lonely, sometimes desperately lonely, maybe even feeling rejected, trying to be part of it, knowing the joke is not so great but trying anyway. And you know, if I can somehow help those people, even at risk of being biased in the wrong direction, I couldn't care less if HN becomes Shashdot. Every forum lives its life and then dies, and we all move on. But that's me, others are entitled to other opinions.
alphapapa 10y ago
> I feel bad about the downvotes in individual cases, but the culture of easy, repetitive, or just plain bad jokes is a big part of what turned Slashdot from my favorite site into a cesspit that wasn't worth visiting, so I think they're a necessary mechanism. I think it was around 2000 or so that I set my Slashdot reading preferences to automod Funny posts -1. That turns +5, Funny "insensitive clod" jokes into +4s, allowing the +5 Everything-besides-Funny posts to bubble up to the top. It's features like that that make the original Slashdot discussion system still the best ever invented (well, back when the meta-moderation worked like it originally did, where you randomly approve or reject moderations, rather than re-moderating comments out-of-context, which isn't meta-moderation at all).

minipci1321 10y ago

Of course I understand all the good reasons you are giving, but I'd think you are taking it all too seriously. People sometimes post bad jokes on HN for the same reason they tell them in face -- feeling lonely, sometimes desperately lonely, maybe even feeling rejected, trying to be part of it, knowing the joke is not so great but trying anyway. And you know, if I can somehow help those people, even at risk of being biased in the wrong direction, I couldn't care less if HN becomes Shashdot. Every forum lives its life and then dies, and we all move on. But that's me, others are entitled to other opinions.

alphapapa 10y ago

> I feel bad about the downvotes in individual cases, but the culture of easy, repetitive, or just plain bad jokes is a big part of what turned Slashdot from my favorite site into a cesspit that wasn't worth visiting, so I think they're a necessary mechanism. I think it was around 2000 or so that I set my Slashdot reading preferences to automod Funny posts -1. That turns +5, Funny "insensitive clod" jokes into +4s, allowing the +5 Everything-besides-Funny posts to bubble up to the top. It's features like that that make the original Slashdot discussion system still the best ever invented (well, back when the meta-moderation worked like it originally did, where you randomly approve or reject moderations, rather than re-moderating comments out-of-context, which isn't meta-moderation at all).