5 ms·

Apart from a few niche-specific closed forums, I've had consistently high quality discussions on HN. Somehow the HN culture stops the proliferation of low-effor

Apart from a few niche-specific closed forums, I've had consistently high quality discussions on HN. Somehow the HN culture stops the proliferation of low-effort comments and trolling so prominent everywhere else.

jeppz 7y ago
As a reddit user it is hard to resist throwing around the quick quips that one would expect to find but really just makes the content worse. There really is something about the HN environment that makes one take that extra moment to think things through and write a constructive argument instead of mindless jokes.
- puranjay 7y ago
  I have the same urge to make quick quips. I just make sure to add them only to lower level comments so that they don't derail the rest of the discussion.
ehnto 7y ago
It's definitely in the site moderation and culture. You really have to contribute to discussion meaningfully else be banished to transparency. The moderator(s?) do a fantastic job too. It feels a lot more like a structured forum format than a feed/voted site.
- ascar 7y ago
  The karma thresholds and losing karma on downvotes also helps a lot to sustain the culture. Having to gain at least a bit of karma before being allowed to upvote yourself is hard, if unthoughtful comments are downvoted by the community. And gaining these first (i think it was) 500 karma to downvote yourself can take a long time and makes you instill HN culture. The discussion culture is what makes me read HN nearly every day. The comments are often more interesting than the articles themselves.
  - MrGilbert 7y ago
    > The discussion culture is what makes me read HN nearly every day. The comments are often more interesting than the articles themselves. This. I often find myself going to the comments first, and then open the article.
noir_lord 7y ago
> Somehow Ruthless but fair moderation, clear goals around what the community is for and hard working moderators. Online communities are like gardens, they look best with constant maintenance and the odd pruning.
kaazhan 7y ago
I'm pretty sure the poor design does not encourage people to come there if they do not expect to find something valuable. The overall quality of shared news is really good, the comments are not imediately accessible after reading the news, people express different points of view. A lot of hacker news reader arent english native speakers, and it's hard to troll efficiently with a language you do not master.
- zozbot234 7y ago
  HN design is outstanding, both on desktop and especially on mobile. There's nothing "poor" about it.
  - hobofan 7y ago
    > especially on mobile Eh, I much prefer using an app on mobile. All the buttons (up-/downvote, collapse) are too small, and a lot of space to the right is often left on the table, which makes longer comments very hard to read.
  - arendtio 7y ago
    I think it neither poor nor outstanding. Simple or oldschool would be both better terms to describe it. Yes, it certainly has some outstanding attributes (e.g. color composition), but it is far from perfect. Small voting buttons and long lines are just the two things that immediately come to my mind.
  - kaazhan 7y ago
    It's really functionnal. I've nothing to complain about. But for people used to go on facebook & co there is a huge gap. I'm pretty sure it does filter a part of trolls.

jeppz 7y ago

As a reddit user it is hard to resist throwing around the quick quips that one would expect to find but really just makes the content worse. There really is something about the HN environment that makes one take that extra moment to think things through and write a constructive argument instead of mindless jokes.

puranjay 7y ago
I have the same urge to make quick quips. I just make sure to add them only to lower level comments so that they don't derail the rest of the discussion.

ehnto 7y ago

It's definitely in the site moderation and culture. You really have to contribute to discussion meaningfully else be banished to transparency. The moderator(s?) do a fantastic job too. It feels a lot more like a structured forum format than a feed/voted site.

ascar 7y ago
The karma thresholds and losing karma on downvotes also helps a lot to sustain the culture. Having to gain at least a bit of karma before being allowed to upvote yourself is hard, if unthoughtful comments are downvoted by the community. And gaining these first (i think it was) 500 karma to downvote yourself can take a long time and makes you instill HN culture. The discussion culture is what makes me read HN nearly every day. The comments are often more interesting than the articles themselves.
- MrGilbert 7y ago
  > The discussion culture is what makes me read HN nearly every day. The comments are often more interesting than the articles themselves. This. I often find myself going to the comments first, and then open the article.

noir_lord 7y ago

> Somehow Ruthless but fair moderation, clear goals around what the community is for and hard working moderators. Online communities are like gardens, they look best with constant maintenance and the odd pruning.

kaazhan 7y ago

I'm pretty sure the poor design does not encourage people to come there if they do not expect to find something valuable. The overall quality of shared news is really good, the comments are not imediately accessible after reading the news, people express different points of view. A lot of hacker news reader arent english native speakers, and it's hard to troll efficiently with a language you do not master.

zozbot234 7y ago
HN design is outstanding, both on desktop and especially on mobile. There's nothing "poor" about it.
- hobofan 7y ago
  > especially on mobile Eh, I much prefer using an app on mobile. All the buttons (up-/downvote, collapse) are too small, and a lot of space to the right is often left on the table, which makes longer comments very hard to read.
- arendtio 7y ago
  I think it neither poor nor outstanding. Simple or oldschool would be both better terms to describe it. Yes, it certainly has some outstanding attributes (e.g. color composition), but it is far from perfect. Small voting buttons and long lines are just the two things that immediately come to my mind.
- kaazhan 7y ago
  It's really functionnal. I've nothing to complain about. But for people used to go on facebook & co there is a huge gap. I'm pretty sure it does filter a part of trolls.