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How about "the community is better here than Reddit's default subreddits", then? Reddit has exactly the same problems as the ones you describe HN has, even in

How about "the community is better here than Reddit's default subreddits", then? Reddit has exactly the same problems as the ones you describe HN has, even in specialty subreddits populated with experts. People always think expertise in one field extends to expertise in others.

gorkonsine 9y ago
>How about "the community is better here than Reddit's default subreddits", then? Well how about, "the community here is better than the community on Twitter"? That makes about as much sense. Who cares what Reddit's defaults are? How is that relevant to anything at all? If you want to see discussion of, say, bluegrass music, you're not going to find it on Reddit's defaults. But there's probably a subreddit for it. > shallot_router 25 minutes ago | parent | on: Ask HN: Are there sites that are like HN, but for ... How about "the community is better here than Reddit's default subreddits", then? >Reddit has exactly the same problems as the ones you describe HN has, even in specialty subreddits populated with experts. People always think expertise in one field extends to expertise in others. That's not true. Subreddits are narrowly focused on specific topics. Go to a genetics subreddit and you're not going to see any discussion of civil engineering, because it's irrelevant and off-topic. HN and similar programmer forums are different: they have all kinds of science/tech articles thrown together in one place. So the only time you'll see experts making ill-informed comments on Reddit is when some side discussion pops up, which just isn't nearly as frequent as on here where non-programming topics are discussed all the time as prime topics, or when non-experts (e.g. programmers with a side interest in that topic) join that group and join discussions. The fundamental problem with HN (as well as similar sites like Slashdot and Soylent) is that they're general-interest forums, so they'll always have this problem. But I contend it's worse here (and those other two sites) precisely because programmers, due to their autistic nature, have a much worse problem than people in other fields in thinking they're experts in everything.
- joenot443 9y ago
  >due to their autistic nature, have a much worse problem than people in other fields in thinking they're experts in everything. If you're as unimpressed with the community as it would seem, what's keeping you here at all? At the risk of sounding rude, I'd say your presence wouldn't be missed too much.
  - gorkonsine 9y ago
    You are being rude. It's normal to complain about things without wanting to give up on them altogether. Do you have any small complaints about your spouse? Why don't you just get a divorce? Do you have any complaints about your kids? Why don't you just disown them and give them up to the state? I'm here because 1) the programming discussions are generally excellent. (i.e., this site works very well for its audience's primary interest) And 2) even for the non-programming articles, this is a good place to see such articles (articles being separate from the HN discussion about them) in one place, where I might not see them otherwise if I don't have a big enough interest to join such a group on Reddit (for instance, various history articles). The discussion can also be interesting, because the people here are generally intelligent, but you have to take things with a grain of salt because of the tendency I complained of earlier. However, that's no different from many other sites like Slashdot.
- Powerofmene 9y ago
  Due to their autistic nature.... Maybe you are confusing a direct communication approach in the responses with a know it all nature. My experience with individuals who are autistic is there is no fluff or filler in conversations. The tendency is to recite the facts as they know them, no more and no less. As such responding to things they have no level of expertise in just does not happen. At least that is my experience, yours may be different.
godelski 9y ago
I thought the subreddit part was implied in my opening statement lol. And your second point is on key to how I feel. And it isn't that HN doesn't have armchairs, but that I feel reddit is more publicly driven that informed driven. Yes, HN has problems with topics that aren't CS, but even in the engineering you can usually find someone that does work in the field. And they tend to be higher up in comments than the armchairs.

gorkonsine 9y ago

>How about "the community is better here than Reddit's default subreddits", then? Well how about, "the community here is better than the community on Twitter"? That makes about as much sense. Who cares what Reddit's defaults are? How is that relevant to anything at all? If you want to see discussion of, say, bluegrass music, you're not going to find it on Reddit's defaults. But there's probably a subreddit for it. > shallot_router 25 minutes ago | parent | on: Ask HN: Are there sites that are like HN, but for ... How about "the community is better here than Reddit's default subreddits", then? >Reddit has exactly the same problems as the ones you describe HN has, even in specialty subreddits populated with experts. People always think expertise in one field extends to expertise in others. That's not true. Subreddits are narrowly focused on specific topics. Go to a genetics subreddit and you're not going to see any discussion of civil engineering, because it's irrelevant and off-topic. HN and similar programmer forums are different: they have all kinds of science/tech articles thrown together in one place. So the only time you'll see experts making ill-informed comments on Reddit is when some side discussion pops up, which just isn't nearly as frequent as on here where non-programming topics are discussed all the time as prime topics, or when non-experts (e.g. programmers with a side interest in that topic) join that group and join discussions. The fundamental problem with HN (as well as similar sites like Slashdot and Soylent) is that they're general-interest forums, so they'll always have this problem. But I contend it's worse here (and those other two sites) precisely because programmers, due to their autistic nature, have a much worse problem than people in other fields in thinking they're experts in everything.

joenot443 9y ago
>due to their autistic nature, have a much worse problem than people in other fields in thinking they're experts in everything. If you're as unimpressed with the community as it would seem, what's keeping you here at all? At the risk of sounding rude, I'd say your presence wouldn't be missed too much.
- gorkonsine 9y ago
  You are being rude. It's normal to complain about things without wanting to give up on them altogether. Do you have any small complaints about your spouse? Why don't you just get a divorce? Do you have any complaints about your kids? Why don't you just disown them and give them up to the state? I'm here because 1) the programming discussions are generally excellent. (i.e., this site works very well for its audience's primary interest) And 2) even for the non-programming articles, this is a good place to see such articles (articles being separate from the HN discussion about them) in one place, where I might not see them otherwise if I don't have a big enough interest to join such a group on Reddit (for instance, various history articles). The discussion can also be interesting, because the people here are generally intelligent, but you have to take things with a grain of salt because of the tendency I complained of earlier. However, that's no different from many other sites like Slashdot.
Powerofmene 9y ago
Due to their autistic nature.... Maybe you are confusing a direct communication approach in the responses with a know it all nature. My experience with individuals who are autistic is there is no fluff or filler in conversations. The tendency is to recite the facts as they know them, no more and no less. As such responding to things they have no level of expertise in just does not happen. At least that is my experience, yours may be different.

godelski 9y ago

I thought the subreddit part was implied in my opening statement lol. And your second point is on key to how I feel. And it isn't that HN doesn't have armchairs, but that I feel reddit is more publicly driven that informed driven. Yes, HN has problems with topics that aren't CS, but even in the engineering you can usually find someone that does work in the field. And they tend to be higher up in comments than the armchairs.