5 ms·

It's better than most but it's still a bubble that doesn't match the real-world.

by eanzenberg 7y ago

dkdk8283 7y ago
Yes, there are strong ideological echo chambers here. It is also left leaning.
- organsnyder 7y ago
  Socially left-learning, sure (at least in some ways). But also a strong libertarian streak. And also an overwhelming white male bias. Not surprising given its primary audience.
  - olalonde 7y ago
    > But also a strong libertarian streak. Maybe that's just availability bias[0] but I feel that crowd has shrunken significantly over time. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22633747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22633747
- dang 7y ago
  That's in the eye of the beholder. Edit: here's a nice example in this very thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22706035 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22706035. I can give you a long list of links that say the opposite. Edit: I can't help myself. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19194629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19194629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16407769 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16407769 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21231654 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21231654 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16750306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16750306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17248326 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17248326 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21220644 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21220644 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21641004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21641004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21316611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21316611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17499061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17499061 Stop me before I link again.
  - PopeDotNinja 7y ago
    > Stop me before I link again. STOP :)
- blablabla123 7y ago
  I would say it's a mix. Of course when it comes to health insurance or immigration for example it's left leaning. On the other hand YCombinator and VCs in part operate like banks. At least in the past very long working hours were somehow accepted. These are rather conservative ways to go.
- batty_alex 7y ago
  When I first started lurking here, I would have agreed with you. As the community has grown, I'd say it's more center-right than center-left nowadays. There's the unsurprising pro-business attitude that has a heavy libertarian lean, the 'don't tell me what I can and can't say, SJW' to the social commentary, lots of 'they need to work harder' attitude towards the less-fortunate, and also the 'government is always out to get us' conspiracy theorists have become more common. That sort of commenting has been around for a while, but it's really grown in recent years.
  - mindcrime 7y ago
    When I first started lurking here, I would have agreed with you. As the community has grown, I'd say it's more center-right than center-left nowadays. Interesting. My subjective experience leads me to feel the progression has been exactly opposite of that. When I first started here, the site did seem somewhat libertarian leaning, pro-capitalism, pro-entrepreneurship, etc. (not to mention more optimistic and less cynical overall). But over time the prevailing zeitgeist here definitely seems to have shifted to a more anti-capitalist, pro-government, collectivism oriented outlook.
    - cbHXBY1D 7y ago
      > a more anti-capitalist, pro-government, collectivism oriented outlook As someone who meets that description and has been here for ~8 years, I've always felt that there's been an absolute dearth of anti-capitalists (communists, socialists, anarchists, etc) on HN. Could you point me to some examples (posts and/or members) who meet that description? :-)
      - non-entity 7y ago
        I personally have leftist tendencies, but avoid that on here because it's a one way ticket to your comment being nearly invisible. Plus its damn near useless when the consensus is "socialism is when the government does stuff" and socdems are labeled as full blown communists
      - mindcrime 7y ago
pjscott 7y ago
There's a phrase for when an online forum becomes less of a bubble and more representative of the real world. It's called the Eternal September, and people usually aren't happy when it happens.

It's better than most but it's still a bubble that doesn't match the real-world.

dkdk8283 7y ago

Yes, there are strong ideological echo chambers here. It is also left leaning.

organsnyder 7y ago
Socially left-learning, sure (at least in some ways). But also a strong libertarian streak. And also an overwhelming white male bias. Not surprising given its primary audience.
- olalonde 7y ago
  > But also a strong libertarian streak. Maybe that's just availability bias[0] but I feel that crowd has shrunken significantly over time. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22633747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22633747
dang 7y ago
That's in the eye of the beholder. Edit: here's a nice example in this very thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22706035 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22706035. I can give you a long list of links that say the opposite. Edit: I can't help myself. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19194629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19194629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16407769 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16407769 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21231654 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21231654 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16750306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16750306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17248326 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17248326 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21220644 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21220644 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21641004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21641004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21316611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21316611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17499061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17499061 Stop me before I link again.
- PopeDotNinja 7y ago
  > Stop me before I link again. STOP :)
blablabla123 7y ago
I would say it's a mix. Of course when it comes to health insurance or immigration for example it's left leaning. On the other hand YCombinator and VCs in part operate like banks. At least in the past very long working hours were somehow accepted. These are rather conservative ways to go.
batty_alex 7y ago
When I first started lurking here, I would have agreed with you. As the community has grown, I'd say it's more center-right than center-left nowadays. There's the unsurprising pro-business attitude that has a heavy libertarian lean, the 'don't tell me what I can and can't say, SJW' to the social commentary, lots of 'they need to work harder' attitude towards the less-fortunate, and also the 'government is always out to get us' conspiracy theorists have become more common. That sort of commenting has been around for a while, but it's really grown in recent years.
- mindcrime 7y ago
  When I first started lurking here, I would have agreed with you. As the community has grown, I'd say it's more center-right than center-left nowadays. Interesting. My subjective experience leads me to feel the progression has been exactly opposite of that. When I first started here, the site did seem somewhat libertarian leaning, pro-capitalism, pro-entrepreneurship, etc. (not to mention more optimistic and less cynical overall). But over time the prevailing zeitgeist here definitely seems to have shifted to a more anti-capitalist, pro-government, collectivism oriented outlook.
  - cbHXBY1D 7y ago
    > a more anti-capitalist, pro-government, collectivism oriented outlook As someone who meets that description and has been here for ~8 years, I've always felt that there's been an absolute dearth of anti-capitalists (communists, socialists, anarchists, etc) on HN. Could you point me to some examples (posts and/or members) who meet that description? :-)
    - non-entity 7y ago
      I personally have leftist tendencies, but avoid that on here because it's a one way ticket to your comment being nearly invisible. Plus its damn near useless when the consensus is "socialism is when the government does stuff" and socdems are labeled as full blown communists
    - mindcrime 7y ago

pjscott 7y ago

There's a phrase for when an online forum becomes less of a bubble and more representative of the real world. It's called the Eternal September, and people usually aren't happy when it happens.