4 ms·

I never expected to hear that on HN.

ax0n 16y ago
Indeed. The front page is riddled with all kinds of alphabet soup. FSM, LLVM, RegExp just to name a few. I'd kind of assumed that most of us here have learned to cope with unfamiliar terms either by dismissing or researching them.
- jarin 16y ago
  If you spend any time whatsoever in the military you get this weird superhuman ability to guess acronym meanings. True story.
cynicalkane 16y ago
It's reasonable to assume "hackers" reading "Hacker News" are expert enough in hacking to decipher computer talk, but unreasonable to assume they're expert enough in guns to decipher gun talk.
- hugh3 16y ago
  Ah, but there's an interesting point here on the social acceptability of non-expertise. If you post some expert-level stuff about physics or microbiology or linguistics or early Medieval French poetry then most people won't understand it but nobody will complain because they're ashamed (well, at least slightly) of their ignorance on these subjects. On the other hand if you post some expert-level stuff about guns or football or Justin Bieber then people will complain because they're proud of their ignorance on these subjects. Being an expert on those subjects marks you out as part of a group which some people here don't want to be seen as being part of, so folks are quite proud to proclaim their ignorance on these subjects. Of course, go to another corner of the internet and it's all switched around.
  - roel_v 16y ago
    Funnily enough I posted just this (albeit in a more biting tone) last week, in an instance involving Justin Bieber (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1982494 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1982494), and was getting up/downvoted for a while just like you are until the upvotes won out in the end ;)
  - cynicalkane 16y ago
    I'm really kind of floored that my simple little post seems to have been so contentious. People seem to have interpreted my comment as something to the effect that gun talk shouldn't be allowed. All I meant to say, however, was what I said--that a lot of people are simply not going to understand dense gun talk. I don't think your comment is true, either. I'd be very surprised if most people here were ashamed, even slightly, of their ignorance on any given 'nerd' subject. Very often, the top comments in a story are either explanations or requests for explanations followed by explanations, maybe followed by more requests for clarification. I also bet I can find more people here proud of their ignorance about say, Haskell monads, than about guns, judging by how loud they are about it. Finally, Justin Bieber is a subject of a different nature--his prominence in culture is disproportionately higher than his importance, so people usually don't want to hear about it. Not a fair comparison.
- mquander 16y ago
  It's also reasonable to assume "hackers" reading "Hacker News" know how to use Google and Wikipedia to learn about things that they are interested in but don't understand, instead of asking others to dumb down all conversations to suit them.
- ax0n 16y ago
  There are so many different kinds of hackers here, that I'd almost have to disagree. There aren't many folks here who could tell me all I wanted to know about Haskell, asymmetric encryption, the finer points of being a non-technical founder and the different strengths of various revision control systems. But all of us see stuff like that here every day. We either ignore that which we do not understand, or we look it up.
  - JonnieCache 16y ago
    Surely there aren't many gun hackers in the world though? At least, not for very long...
    - mgarfias 16y ago
      What the heck? There are millions of us. There are several industries revolving around people who "hack" their weapons. Whether its a new handguard on your AR-15, or buying 10 lbs of gunpowder there are people that can help you out. In fact, I'd say that there are more of them, than hackers.
      - JonnieCache 16y ago
        I was more thinking of DIY firearms/firearm modification. That would seem very dangerous to me. It is quite common for criminals in the UK to "re-bore" replica or deactivated weapons. It is also very common for these guns to backfire, killing the shooter. The idea of gun hacking simply put me in mind of these sad occurrences. I'm not suggesting anyone is a mouth breathing redneck, or an inept criminal for that matter, lets put it this way: when I think of some of the things I've hacked in the more conventional sense, I wouldn't feel safe if those things had been potentially lethal :) EDIT: before anyone else brings this up, it has just occurred to me that the category of "potentially lethal" includes every object in existence, especially cars, which people love to hack and I would never anyone accuse of being reckless for hacking. So feel free to disregard my whole point.
        ars 16y ago

ax0n 16y ago

Indeed. The front page is riddled with all kinds of alphabet soup. FSM, LLVM, RegExp just to name a few. I'd kind of assumed that most of us here have learned to cope with unfamiliar terms either by dismissing or researching them.

jarin 16y ago
If you spend any time whatsoever in the military you get this weird superhuman ability to guess acronym meanings. True story.

cynicalkane 16y ago

It's reasonable to assume "hackers" reading "Hacker News" are expert enough in hacking to decipher computer talk, but unreasonable to assume they're expert enough in guns to decipher gun talk.

hugh3 16y ago
Ah, but there's an interesting point here on the social acceptability of non-expertise. If you post some expert-level stuff about physics or microbiology or linguistics or early Medieval French poetry then most people won't understand it but nobody will complain because they're ashamed (well, at least slightly) of their ignorance on these subjects. On the other hand if you post some expert-level stuff about guns or football or Justin Bieber then people will complain because they're proud of their ignorance on these subjects. Being an expert on those subjects marks you out as part of a group which some people here don't want to be seen as being part of, so folks are quite proud to proclaim their ignorance on these subjects. Of course, go to another corner of the internet and it's all switched around.
- roel_v 16y ago
  Funnily enough I posted just this (albeit in a more biting tone) last week, in an instance involving Justin Bieber (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1982494 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1982494), and was getting up/downvoted for a while just like you are until the upvotes won out in the end ;)
- cynicalkane 16y ago
  I'm really kind of floored that my simple little post seems to have been so contentious. People seem to have interpreted my comment as something to the effect that gun talk shouldn't be allowed. All I meant to say, however, was what I said--that a lot of people are simply not going to understand dense gun talk. I don't think your comment is true, either. I'd be very surprised if most people here were ashamed, even slightly, of their ignorance on any given 'nerd' subject. Very often, the top comments in a story are either explanations or requests for explanations followed by explanations, maybe followed by more requests for clarification. I also bet I can find more people here proud of their ignorance about say, Haskell monads, than about guns, judging by how loud they are about it. Finally, Justin Bieber is a subject of a different nature--his prominence in culture is disproportionately higher than his importance, so people usually don't want to hear about it. Not a fair comparison.
mquander 16y ago
It's also reasonable to assume "hackers" reading "Hacker News" know how to use Google and Wikipedia to learn about things that they are interested in but don't understand, instead of asking others to dumb down all conversations to suit them.
ax0n 16y ago
There are so many different kinds of hackers here, that I'd almost have to disagree. There aren't many folks here who could tell me all I wanted to know about Haskell, asymmetric encryption, the finer points of being a non-technical founder and the different strengths of various revision control systems. But all of us see stuff like that here every day. We either ignore that which we do not understand, or we look it up.
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  Surely there aren't many gun hackers in the world though? At least, not for very long...
  - mgarfias 16y ago
    What the heck? There are millions of us. There are several industries revolving around people who "hack" their weapons. Whether its a new handguard on your AR-15, or buying 10 lbs of gunpowder there are people that can help you out. In fact, I'd say that there are more of them, than hackers.
    - JonnieCache 16y ago
      I was more thinking of DIY firearms/firearm modification. That would seem very dangerous to me. It is quite common for criminals in the UK to "re-bore" replica or deactivated weapons. It is also very common for these guns to backfire, killing the shooter. The idea of gun hacking simply put me in mind of these sad occurrences. I'm not suggesting anyone is a mouth breathing redneck, or an inept criminal for that matter, lets put it this way: when I think of some of the things I've hacked in the more conventional sense, I wouldn't feel safe if those things had been potentially lethal :) EDIT: before anyone else brings this up, it has just occurred to me that the category of "potentially lethal" includes every object in existence, especially cars, which people love to hack and I would never anyone accuse of being reckless for hacking. So feel free to disregard my whole point.
      - ars 16y ago