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I would say that from my memory, HN has a far above average number of climate change deniers who post regularly. It frequently distracts and drowns otherwise us

I would say that from my memory, HN has a far above average number of climate change deniers who post regularly. It frequently distracts and drowns otherwise useful and productive conversation on the topic. It is hard to quantify of course, I'd be interested in doing a study of that some day. HN is the most environment-hostile and climate change denying community I have regularly participated in, and I say this as a personal experience.

seanmcdirmid 8y ago
Above average compared to what? In real life climate change denial is very common. What other online communities are you participating in that are much better? Surely not reddit.
asfasgasg 8y ago
It's hard to get a read on the politics of the "typical" HNer. As people are always quick to point out, HN is not a single person, but a group of people, each of whom may have ideosyncratic positions. All the same, people are not special snowflakes, and in the general population you can normally say that X will be associated with Y. In my experience, HN seems very: - Liberal/socialist on economic politics. - Liberal on privacy/digital freedom. - Conservative/leaning regressive on gender politics. - Conservative on climate change. I model the "typical" HNer as a young white male techie, and this set of positions does not seem particularly surprising in that context.
justincormack 8y ago
Climate change (and general science) denial is largely a US thing, although it exists elsewhere, but it is largely confined to far right fringes. The US is the main nation where it is a partisan issue see http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/18/what-the-world-thinks-about-climate-change-in-7-charts/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/18/what-the-wor...
blattimwind 8y ago
Outside English forums climate change deniers seem rather thinly spread to me. They certainly do exist, but, for example, I've never met/seen/read a German climate change denier who also wasn't a nutjob otherwise (e.g. far right wing, Reichsbürger/Seerechtler, Hohlerder, Reptiloidenverschwörung, Geheime Jüdische Weltherrschaft and all that fringe shit). So this might not be due to HN being HN, but rather due to HN being very American.

seanmcdirmid 8y ago

Above average compared to what? In real life climate change denial is very common. What other online communities are you participating in that are much better? Surely not reddit.

asfasgasg 8y ago

It's hard to get a read on the politics of the "typical" HNer. As people are always quick to point out, HN is not a single person, but a group of people, each of whom may have ideosyncratic positions. All the same, people are not special snowflakes, and in the general population you can normally say that X will be associated with Y. In my experience, HN seems very: - Liberal/socialist on economic politics. - Liberal on privacy/digital freedom. - Conservative/leaning regressive on gender politics. - Conservative on climate change. I model the "typical" HNer as a young white male techie, and this set of positions does not seem particularly surprising in that context.

justincormack 8y ago

Climate change (and general science) denial is largely a US thing, although it exists elsewhere, but it is largely confined to far right fringes. The US is the main nation where it is a partisan issue see http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/18/what-the-world-thinks-about-climate-change-in-7-charts/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/18/what-the-wor...

blattimwind 8y ago

Outside English forums climate change deniers seem rather thinly spread to me. They certainly do exist, but, for example, I've never met/seen/read a German climate change denier who also wasn't a nutjob otherwise (e.g. far right wing, Reichsbürger/Seerechtler, Hohlerder, Reptiloidenverschwörung, Geheime Jüdische Weltherrschaft and all that fringe shit). So this might not be due to HN being HN, but rather due to HN being very American.