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What does the HN readership think about this article? I disagree with it. It appears the author is suggesting that HN is for hackers looking for a quick fix, n

What does the HN readership think about this article? I disagree with it. It appears the author is suggesting that HN is for hackers looking for a quick fix, not articles of value and meaning. And, based on the number of in-depth articles (Economist, Atlantic, etc...), I'd argue that the HN readership is much more interested in depth compared to most online communities.

robryan 16y ago
On another level though the community is quiet a busy one, so taking a quick break from work and keeping up on things with a few tidbits here and there is pretty common. At times while a long in depth article would be great it is just to much of a distraction at the time from getting something done.
olefoo 16y ago
To some extent depth, and deep thinking are somewhat against the grain of the medium; the internet supports the idea that you are always getting the latest and greatest news, or at least that what you're seeing has been filtered of the boring and spammy before it gets to you by the power of the aggregators. The essential feature of the internet is that it is a connection to many distant places at once. This comment will in theory be visible in the Ukraine 3 minutes after I post it. The constant flood of novelty and distraction that comes form the internet is part and parcel of what could be called the grain of the medium. What I find truly interesting is that as the internet becomes more pervasive it also becomes less urgent. And it's telling that as the internet is reaching ubiquity we are seeing a shift to tablets. Notice how an iPad or Kindle user is usually more relaxed, focused on a single task at a time, in a posture that can mostly be described as relaxed; the pose of a student or a scholar pondering what is available to them, rather than the infoshark pose of someone manically paging through comments to reach the good stuff, the now, the new. Calm computing is the new trend.

robryan 16y ago

On another level though the community is quiet a busy one, so taking a quick break from work and keeping up on things with a few tidbits here and there is pretty common. At times while a long in depth article would be great it is just to much of a distraction at the time from getting something done.

olefoo 16y ago

To some extent depth, and deep thinking are somewhat against the grain of the medium; the internet supports the idea that you are always getting the latest and greatest news, or at least that what you're seeing has been filtered of the boring and spammy before it gets to you by the power of the aggregators. The essential feature of the internet is that it is a connection to many distant places at once. This comment will in theory be visible in the Ukraine 3 minutes after I post it. The constant flood of novelty and distraction that comes form the internet is part and parcel of what could be called the grain of the medium. What I find truly interesting is that as the internet becomes more pervasive it also becomes less urgent. And it's telling that as the internet is reaching ubiquity we are seeing a shift to tablets. Notice how an iPad or Kindle user is usually more relaxed, focused on a single task at a time, in a posture that can mostly be described as relaxed; the pose of a student or a scholar pondering what is available to them, rather than the infoshark pose of someone manically paging through comments to reach the good stuff, the now, the new. Calm computing is the new trend.