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> There are so many articles on HN where the top comment is by somebody with deep domain knowledge who provides some kind of original insight that fits into the

> There are so many articles on HN where the top comment is by somebody with deep domain knowledge who provides some kind of original insight that fits into the low length and polish expectations of a comment This is now a myth. HN used to be like this but look for yourself, it's no longer like this. It's no longer worth my time to dig for worthwhile nuggets in the HN comments nor is it worth my time to post a high quality comment because I know the only responses will be nitpicks and a few worthless internet points. PS: There's a vague rule about not criticizing HN that gets invoked fairly often. Be prepared for this thread to be gassed. EDIT: Dropped off the internet due to a DOS? Snort is fun. Hi dang and friends!

untog 7y ago
I disagree. An example that immediately comes to mind is the 737 MAX grounding. People very experienced in flight systems and the way the Boeing software is designed appeared (from where!) with some absolutely fascinating insight that I haven’t read elsewhere. It doesn’t happen often, but HN doesn’t often discuss things outside of its wheelhouse either. Usually we’re litigating matters of opinion, usually about whether JavaScript is bad or not.
stedaniels 7y ago
I come across one of these kind of comments every other day. Some of my favourites are from green accounts that registered just to share their knowledge. So many of HN viewers aren't even registered, but when the urge arrives to share, the low barrier for entry means they can. We all get something from it.
dang 7y ago
I'm not sure what you're referring to, but if it's the ranking of the current submission, that's because users flagged it, which is the usual reason why stories drop in rank. As for comments by people with domain knowledge, I was just looking at this a couple weeks ago. Here are a few I randomly ran across: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22025961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22025961 ("I'm the lead author on this paper") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21997642 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21997642 ("I can remember when I first met Gary [Starkweather] in 1988") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21906624 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21906624 ("I’m actually one of the architects of this processor.") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012453 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012453 ("I'm a dentist who regularly treats OSA with dental appliances") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21963509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21963509 ("As a working scientist" followed by "Biology postdoc here") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22127746 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22127746 ("I'm an anesthesiologist") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21744337 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21744337 ("I wrote the original software for Long Bets") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21670257 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21670257 ("This is my father's family doctor and was my doctor throughout my childhood. He actually birthed me") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21635488 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21635488 ("I was the person who blabbed about the top-secret _callback parameter the weekend Pipes launched") Edit: from a few minutes ago – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22148337 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22148337 ("I am a computational cognitive neuroscientist") Edit: from a few hours ago – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22146986 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22146986 ("I'm a researcher working on exactly this problem") Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22141584 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22141584 ("I’m a b-school prof/associate dean") Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22148438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22148438 ("I used to do the soil lab testing for a guy that dealt with this waste in my state.") Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22161404 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22161404 ("I started this project") Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22172066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22172066 ("I was a grad student at the Media Lab in its early days.") There are tons of these, many of which don't get much notice. We've periodically published a highlights list, but I'd like to come up with a way for users to nominate such posts as highlights when they run across them... something like a positive 'flag'.

untog 7y ago

I disagree. An example that immediately comes to mind is the 737 MAX grounding. People very experienced in flight systems and the way the Boeing software is designed appeared (from where!) with some absolutely fascinating insight that I haven’t read elsewhere. It doesn’t happen often, but HN doesn’t often discuss things outside of its wheelhouse either. Usually we’re litigating matters of opinion, usually about whether JavaScript is bad or not.

stedaniels 7y ago

I come across one of these kind of comments every other day. Some of my favourites are from green accounts that registered just to share their knowledge. So many of HN viewers aren't even registered, but when the urge arrives to share, the low barrier for entry means they can. We all get something from it.

dang 7y ago

I'm not sure what you're referring to, but if it's the ranking of the current submission, that's because users flagged it, which is the usual reason why stories drop in rank. As for comments by people with domain knowledge, I was just looking at this a couple weeks ago. Here are a few I randomly ran across: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22025961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22025961 ("I'm the lead author on this paper") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21997642 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21997642 ("I can remember when I first met Gary [Starkweather] in 1988") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21906624 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21906624 ("I’m actually one of the architects of this processor.") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012453 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012453 ("I'm a dentist who regularly treats OSA with dental appliances") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21963509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21963509 ("As a working scientist" followed by "Biology postdoc here") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22127746 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22127746 ("I'm an anesthesiologist") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21744337 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21744337 ("I wrote the original software for Long Bets") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21670257 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21670257 ("This is my father's family doctor and was my doctor throughout my childhood. He actually birthed me") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21635488 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21635488 ("I was the person who blabbed about the top-secret _callback parameter the weekend Pipes launched") Edit: from a few minutes ago – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22148337 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22148337 ("I am a computational cognitive neuroscientist") Edit: from a few hours ago – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22146986 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22146986 ("I'm a researcher working on exactly this problem") Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22141584 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22141584 ("I’m a b-school prof/associate dean") Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22148438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22148438 ("I used to do the soil lab testing for a guy that dealt with this waste in my state.") Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22161404 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22161404 ("I started this project") Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22172066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22172066 ("I was a grad student at the Media Lab in its early days.") There are tons of these, many of which don't get much notice. We've periodically published a highlights list, but I'd like to come up with a way for users to nominate such posts as highlights when they run across them... something like a positive 'flag'.