3 ms·

Depends on what you expect. I've gotten priceless, career/life-changing help and advice from HN because I come here to expose myself to conversations from peopl

Depends on what you expect. I've gotten priceless, career/life-changing help and advice from HN because I come here to expose myself to conversations from people with more or just different experience in something I'm interested in. In addition, it's also a big deal to me how rational and objective commenters on this site are in comparison to most other websites these days. As a hardcore free-speech fan and proponent of objectivity, it's a nice a breath of fresh air.

raziel2p 6y ago
I especially like how people talk about the link's contents in the comments rather than just the submission title.
the_af 6y ago
I don't find discussions here more rational or objective, to be fair. In comparison with most tech-related forums or communities, HN seems to have a similar level of quality, with stricter moderation to try to cut flamewars short... which is a good thing. But rational? I find people here run the whole gamut of emotional, reasonable, irrational, rational, confrontational, open-minded, biased (it has been mentioned multiple times there are certain topics here on HN where going against the grain will get you downvoted to hell, no rational discussion possible). It's just that flamewars here are nipped in the bud, whereas in other forums they are either ignored or moderated arbitrarily.
- silicon2401 6y ago
  I respect your difference in opinion. Note I never said HN is purely rational, just that I find it much more rational than almost every other online platorm I've seen lately. If you have recommendations for other discussion sites that have similar or more objective and impartial discussion than what we have here, I think a lot of us would be happy to try them.
  - the_af 6y ago
    To be honest, minus the flamewar moderation (which I like), I find HN about the same as other tech/hacker minded forums. Note that the moderation is no small issue, however! I've found that communities tend to develop a sense of self-importance and overrate their own "good" qualities. I remember when I used to read Slashdot, more than a decade ago, many users would write things like "of course, all of us who read Slashdot are above average users and $PROBLEM does not affect us, but consider a typical Joe User". When I read facebook groups about niche topics I find interesting, inevitably a member will claim "don't you find this is the best facebook group about $TOPIC? We don't argue, we have nice reasonable conversations about $TOPIC, and the mods are top-notch!" (similar groups about the same topic will of course each claim to be the most reasonable, well-moderated, argument-free group). And the list goes on. Unsurprisingly, many HN regulars tend to hold the same views about HN ("the most rational, less biased, most diverse ideas"), possibly unaware that most communities tend to develop the same feelings about themselves. Human nature, I guess :)
- dwaltrip 6y ago
  Which online communities do you find to have similar levels of quality as HN? I'd be interested in checking them out.
  - the_af 6y ago
    Almost every one. Many subreddits on programming/hacking. Many closed facebook groups (though in that case I find the UX terrible). Many stackexchange sites. Slashdot used to be very similar to HN (though I haven't read it in ages). Do note in practice I've settled on HN for tech news, for good or bad. My time is finite, I cannot check a thousand sites :)
    - dwaltrip 6y ago
      Thanks for the reply! I also enjoy some of the programming subreddits. HN is a main source of tech news for me as well.

raziel2p 6y ago

I especially like how people talk about the link's contents in the comments rather than just the submission title.

the_af 6y ago

I don't find discussions here more rational or objective, to be fair. In comparison with most tech-related forums or communities, HN seems to have a similar level of quality, with stricter moderation to try to cut flamewars short... which is a good thing. But rational? I find people here run the whole gamut of emotional, reasonable, irrational, rational, confrontational, open-minded, biased (it has been mentioned multiple times there are certain topics here on HN where going against the grain will get you downvoted to hell, no rational discussion possible). It's just that flamewars here are nipped in the bud, whereas in other forums they are either ignored or moderated arbitrarily.

silicon2401 6y ago
I respect your difference in opinion. Note I never said HN is purely rational, just that I find it much more rational than almost every other online platorm I've seen lately. If you have recommendations for other discussion sites that have similar or more objective and impartial discussion than what we have here, I think a lot of us would be happy to try them.
- the_af 6y ago
  To be honest, minus the flamewar moderation (which I like), I find HN about the same as other tech/hacker minded forums. Note that the moderation is no small issue, however! I've found that communities tend to develop a sense of self-importance and overrate their own "good" qualities. I remember when I used to read Slashdot, more than a decade ago, many users would write things like "of course, all of us who read Slashdot are above average users and $PROBLEM does not affect us, but consider a typical Joe User". When I read facebook groups about niche topics I find interesting, inevitably a member will claim "don't you find this is the best facebook group about $TOPIC? We don't argue, we have nice reasonable conversations about $TOPIC, and the mods are top-notch!" (similar groups about the same topic will of course each claim to be the most reasonable, well-moderated, argument-free group). And the list goes on. Unsurprisingly, many HN regulars tend to hold the same views about HN ("the most rational, less biased, most diverse ideas"), possibly unaware that most communities tend to develop the same feelings about themselves. Human nature, I guess :)
dwaltrip 6y ago
Which online communities do you find to have similar levels of quality as HN? I'd be interested in checking them out.
- the_af 6y ago
  Almost every one. Many subreddits on programming/hacking. Many closed facebook groups (though in that case I find the UX terrible). Many stackexchange sites. Slashdot used to be very similar to HN (though I haven't read it in ages). Do note in practice I've settled on HN for tech news, for good or bad. My time is finite, I cannot check a thousand sites :)
  - dwaltrip 6y ago
    Thanks for the reply! I also enjoy some of the programming subreddits. HN is a main source of tech news for me as well.