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This interests me. I find HN to be one of the least toxic places on the internet. I mean, I left Twitter because the outrage constantly made me angry, I never j

This interests me. I find HN to be one of the least toxic places on the internet. I mean, I left Twitter because the outrage constantly made me angry, I never joined Facebook or Instagram. I have a low tolerance for toxic. Yet HN, here I am, and have been for years. I truly wonder, without judgment, why the author thinks that HN is toxic. I doubt he reads this but maybe some people who don't share my impression can guess?

curiousgal 8y ago
>I find HN to be one of the least toxic places on the internet I love it here but sometimes it can be very negative. Any discussion of Bitcoin for instance used to bring out the worst of people.
- reitanqild 8y ago
  > Any discussion of Bitcoin for instance used to bring out the worst of people. Same goes for messaging networks (surprised me) and politics (not all that surprising after all.)
reitanqild 8y ago
I agree. I find toxic subthreads from time to time but they are mostly flagged or already dead.
badcede 8y ago
It's status signaling, a way of saying that you're better than other people. Same as acting superior to the masses who like a popular band.
DanBC 8y ago
HN can be pretty horrible if it's talking about anything connected with diversity.
- skrebbel 8y ago
  Good one! That said I don't know any place that I don't find horrible when that topic is on. Except places where everybody agrees of course.
- madeofpalk 8y ago
  I think the internet is a horrible place to talk about diversity.
devcpp 8y ago
You say that like verbal toxicity is bad. I like a good civil argument, there's nothing better for insight that thought-provoking discourse. And nothing worse than everybody repeating how much they agree with each other (nothing wrong with agreeing, it's just pointless in this context).
- y4mi 8y ago
  toxicity is bad in all forms. discussing different opinions doesn't need to become toxic however, so a civil discourse is possible even on polarizing topics. But having said discourse be civil is important, as otherwise both sides of the argument just get frustrated with no real progress in sight.
paulddraper 8y ago
Another HN hater is jwz. Perhaps partly because Peter Thield is a "fascist"? https://refererhider.com/?https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/02/noted-fascist-collaborator-peter-thiel-has-managed-to-compromise-the-aclu/ https://refererhider.com/?https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/02/n... (An argument that holds very little water. Fascism/national socialism promotes mixed economies and is very far from libertarianism, which is Thiel's actual political ideology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Definitions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Definitions )

curiousgal 8y ago

>I find HN to be one of the least toxic places on the internet I love it here but sometimes it can be very negative. Any discussion of Bitcoin for instance used to bring out the worst of people.

reitanqild 8y ago
> Any discussion of Bitcoin for instance used to bring out the worst of people. Same goes for messaging networks (surprised me) and politics (not all that surprising after all.)

reitanqild 8y ago

I agree. I find toxic subthreads from time to time but they are mostly flagged or already dead.

badcede 8y ago

It's status signaling, a way of saying that you're better than other people. Same as acting superior to the masses who like a popular band.

DanBC 8y ago

HN can be pretty horrible if it's talking about anything connected with diversity.

skrebbel 8y ago
Good one! That said I don't know any place that I don't find horrible when that topic is on. Except places where everybody agrees of course.
madeofpalk 8y ago
I think the internet is a horrible place to talk about diversity.

devcpp 8y ago

You say that like verbal toxicity is bad. I like a good civil argument, there's nothing better for insight that thought-provoking discourse. And nothing worse than everybody repeating how much they agree with each other (nothing wrong with agreeing, it's just pointless in this context).

y4mi 8y ago
toxicity is bad in all forms. discussing different opinions doesn't need to become toxic however, so a civil discourse is possible even on polarizing topics. But having said discourse be civil is important, as otherwise both sides of the argument just get frustrated with no real progress in sight.

paulddraper 8y ago

Another HN hater is jwz. Perhaps partly because Peter Thield is a "fascist"? https://refererhider.com/?https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/02/noted-fascist-collaborator-peter-thiel-has-managed-to-compromise-the-aclu/ https://refererhider.com/?https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/02/n... (An argument that holds very little water. Fascism/national socialism promotes mixed economies and is very far from libertarianism, which is Thiel's actual political ideology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Definitions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Definitions )