4 ms·

How about we stop using HN's comment section to tell irrelevant-to-the-story personal anecdotes? This is basically the top/most upvoted comment of every article

How about we stop using HN's comment section to tell irrelevant-to-the-story personal anecdotes? This is basically the top/most upvoted comment of every article. Surely I can't be the only one to notice this trend?

wtetzner 6y ago
I don’t see why it’s a problem. If it’s the most up-voted, then clearly people find it interesting.
- erikbye 6y ago
  It's a problem exactly because it's up-voted, it's derailing. Happens on so many articles recently. Either derailing by a personal anecdote, or by the "middlebrow dismissal": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4693920 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4693920 Both are equally derailing. In this case, I would much rather the comments be about the actual OS in question or the trend of big companies crowdsourcing security (penetration testing).
  - WaylonKenning 6y ago
    One man's trash is another man's treasure. Otherwise we'd all be reading a website called Hacker Facts, not Hacker News. These anecdotes provide societal context to the story. Why would Microsoft get the public to harden their product? Surely they have enough resources to do it themselves right? Because many eyes make light work. Some people would obsess over trying to hack this OS, putting in far more effort than someone paid 9-5 to do it.
- hombre_fatal 6y ago
  Not always what you want. I'm sure many people think the pun that the top 50 comments race to make on Reddit is the most hilarious thing in the world. But it also gets in the way of discussion as you have to scroll/collapse your way past. I think we could do a lot worse than anecdotes, but what I find weird is how the anecdotes on HN are always so smug, like this one. "Heh, my old co-worker thought my 'little hacker buddies' couldn't hack his website ;b Let's just say they put quite a dent in it heh ;b." Bit of an eye roll.
- duxup 6y ago
  Admittedly I'm prone to posting stories and I'm thinking of not doing so / doing it less. Look at this story. Some guy, who honestly seems to have pretty questionable judgment did a thing and it was a bad idea. What does that really have to do with this challenge from MS about a custom version of Linux? I would say almost nothing.
vorpalhex 6y ago
HN is generally focused on thought provoking discussion. Anecdotes can be very thought provoking.

wtetzner 6y ago

I don’t see why it’s a problem. If it’s the most up-voted, then clearly people find it interesting.

erikbye 6y ago
It's a problem exactly because it's up-voted, it's derailing. Happens on so many articles recently. Either derailing by a personal anecdote, or by the "middlebrow dismissal": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4693920 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4693920 Both are equally derailing. In this case, I would much rather the comments be about the actual OS in question or the trend of big companies crowdsourcing security (penetration testing).
- WaylonKenning 6y ago
  One man's trash is another man's treasure. Otherwise we'd all be reading a website called Hacker Facts, not Hacker News. These anecdotes provide societal context to the story. Why would Microsoft get the public to harden their product? Surely they have enough resources to do it themselves right? Because many eyes make light work. Some people would obsess over trying to hack this OS, putting in far more effort than someone paid 9-5 to do it.
hombre_fatal 6y ago
Not always what you want. I'm sure many people think the pun that the top 50 comments race to make on Reddit is the most hilarious thing in the world. But it also gets in the way of discussion as you have to scroll/collapse your way past. I think we could do a lot worse than anecdotes, but what I find weird is how the anecdotes on HN are always so smug, like this one. "Heh, my old co-worker thought my 'little hacker buddies' couldn't hack his website ;b Let's just say they put quite a dent in it heh ;b." Bit of an eye roll.
duxup 6y ago
Admittedly I'm prone to posting stories and I'm thinking of not doing so / doing it less. Look at this story. Some guy, who honestly seems to have pretty questionable judgment did a thing and it was a bad idea. What does that really have to do with this challenge from MS about a custom version of Linux? I would say almost nothing.

vorpalhex 6y ago

HN is generally focused on thought provoking discussion. Anecdotes can be very thought provoking.