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I mean, I like reading HN, but 95% of what I read here is just time filling and it’s still a form of social media.

by fiblye 7y ago

TeMPOraL 7y ago
It is. Then again, whenever I feel like it's just entertainment, I open up my Facebook feed and find that it's two orders of magnitude dumber. When I see what my family has on their feeds, it's an extra order of magnitude dumber still. Of all the places I could waste time on-line, HN really is one of the better ones. It's probably also why I find it so sticky - it's intermittent reward, where reward can be - and was in the past - enlightening or career-changing.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  > HN really is one of the better ones That's what they all say ;) It's like Blub (http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html), but for social networks.
  - balfirevic 7y ago
    So what would be the lisp of social networks? :)
- balfirevic 7y ago
  > Of all the places I could waste time on-line, HN really is one of the better ones That's the main problem with it. Other places are obviously such nonsense that I'm not even tempted. HN has this quality where it tricks you into thinking (feeling?) that it might be worthwhile. And the worst thing is - it might be true. I have no idea, but I do know that it's by far my biggest time sink.
  - tetraca 7y ago
    If I were being truthful, I might say that I get maybe one actually helpful morsel every few days, some of which end up on a reading/reference queue that I might not actually get to but I think might indeed come in handy sometime in the future. The rest is essentially intellectual puffcorn.
badpun 7y ago
That’s true, but I personally have read a bunch of things of big value to me here. Just yesterday, somebody commented that there will likely be a big increase in taxation for UK contractors in April 2020 - and I was just offered a long term contract position in London... Now I know that it will be worth much less than I thought.

I mean, I like reading HN, but 95% of what I read here is just time filling and it’s still a form of social media.

by fiblye 7y ago

I mean, I like reading HN, but 95% of what I read here is just time filling and it’s still a form of social media.

It is. Then again, whenever I feel like it's just entertainment, I open up my Facebook feed and find that it's two orders of magnitude dumber. When I see what my family has on their feeds, it's an extra order of magnitude dumber still. Of all the places I could waste time on-line, HN really is one of the better ones. It's probably also why I find it so sticky - it's intermittent reward, where reward can be - and was in the past - enlightening or career-changing.

saagarjha 7y ago
> HN really is one of the better ones That's what they all say ;) It's like Blub (http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html), but for social networks.
- balfirevic 7y ago
  So what would be the lisp of social networks? :)
balfirevic 7y ago
> Of all the places I could waste time on-line, HN really is one of the better ones That's the main problem with it. Other places are obviously such nonsense that I'm not even tempted. HN has this quality where it tricks you into thinking (feeling?) that it might be worthwhile. And the worst thing is - it might be true. I have no idea, but I do know that it's by far my biggest time sink.
- tetraca 7y ago
  If I were being truthful, I might say that I get maybe one actually helpful morsel every few days, some of which end up on a reading/reference queue that I might not actually get to but I think might indeed come in handy sometime in the future. The rest is essentially intellectual puffcorn.

badpun 7y ago

That’s true, but I personally have read a bunch of things of big value to me here. Just yesterday, somebody commented that there will likely be a big increase in taxation for UK contractors in April 2020 - and I was just offered a long term contract position in London... Now I know that it will be worth much less than I thought.