4 ms·

This description of the old days is actually a fairly accurate description of HN now.

• zbentley 9y ago
  Kinda, except HN exists and is popular largely due to YC's popularity, which is very closely tied to the new style of ad-financed, VC-linked, revenue oriented social networks. For the record, I don't think that's a good or bad thing. Just a reality of this community.
• klez 9y ago
  On old forums (at least the ones I was part of) the community was usually small, and you knew most users and what they thought. Instead on hn most of the comments I see are from people I don't think I ever read from before. Also, here we don't officially have PMs or an official IRC channel, both of which were major parts of the communities I remember (most of the stuff actually happened on IRC, not on the forums).
  • Goladus 9y ago
    Even the visual design of HN (grey usernames in a smaller font) minimizes identity in favor of the content. Also, for whatever reason, convention seems to favor all-lowercase names.
  • veddox 9y ago
    Absolutely. HN isn't about meeting people, it's about discussing ideas. A very worthwhile objective in its own right, but the two shouldn't be confused.
• archagon 9y ago
  I personally find that threaded discussion substantially worsens the social aspects. When the “best” comments float to the top, any topic turns into soapbox vs. soapbox and actual conversation rapidly breaks down. Social norms are also reinforced and very little change happens in practice. In a linear discussion, topics don’t die when they reach the width of the page. People can go back and forth on an idea for days or weeks. I believe this property is very important for fostering bonds and maintaining a community spirit. Otherwise, everyone just becomes a collection of their pet ideas.