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> the initial population has been crowded out I'm going to dare say it but Hackernews is no longer really populated by hackers, or at least it's not bleeding e

by harryf 6y ago

> the initial population has been crowded out I'm going to dare say it but Hackernews is no longer really populated by hackers, or at least it's not bleeding edge when it comes to programming. One example... the number of posts like "Show HN: Here's a thing I made" ... where the first comments is "Here's a link to a product that has been out for 10+ years that does what you just built and 100 times more" My gut feeling is the hackers still here have aged, and aren't doing much in the way of real programming any more. And HN isn't really attracting the next generation... I could be wrong... needs data to prove.

greggman3 6y ago
I'm not sure what your point was? It sounds like you want to see links to stuff like "Show HN: Here's my first program" 10 PRINT "My Name" 20 GOTO 10 I guess I always assumed Hacker "News" means it's something semi news worthy. A "Show HN" that's some new programmer implementing their first version of X even though X has been around for years isn't "news" unless they have some novel approach.
- mindcrime 6y ago
  I guess I always assumed Hacker "News" means it's something semi news worthy. Interesting. I never though the "News" part meant much at all. A substantial portion of the links that get highly upvoted here, and attract active discussion, are actually quite old. To my mind, the main "thing" is that submissions be interesting (for some definition of "interesting"), not that they be "news". I guess it just goes to show how different people can look at the exact same thing and interpret it differently.
coldtea 6y ago
Hackernews was never about hackers, it was about startup tech founder types (that maybe or maybe not considered themselves as hackers). A second big crowd is devs, mostly web devs. Hackers in the archetypical sense wouldn't upvote posts about Rails, JS, Golang, Rust and stuff, they'd upvote posts about coding things, making stuff, and computing intricasies...
- barrkel 6y ago
  What constitutes a hack has changed. Once upon a time it was clever things you could do with hardware. Like how Carmack figured out how to do smooth side-scrolling on EGA hardware, leading to Commander Keen. These days, it seems a hack is often duct-taping together a bunch of third-party stuff, often for visual effect. E.g. connecting a database of some kind to a map, or a funky visualization. With a broader audience online, something that relates to a wider audience gets more traction. I think there is overlap between both of these kinds of hack and startups, but the overlap is bigger with the latter kind. Building a business using as many shortcuts as you can, leveraging what other people built, is much more efficient than doing almost everything yourself, which is what was required in the early days. The early days was about exploiting hardware; these days, it's about exploiting existing software and data. Detailed posts about languages and libraries isn't really hack territory IMO, unless they're exploits of some kind.
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  Depends on the timezone, I guess? When I browse, it's a mix between the two groups and a third group that upvotes and engages with the post you said "hackers in the archetypical sense" would. (The timezone thing is starting to become my stock reply; when I browse the semi-regular threads of how HN is going downhill or no longer populated by hackers, half of the claims disagree with my daily experience on this site. Can't explain it in any other way.)
  - coldtea 6y ago
    >Depends on the timezone, I guess? Of course you would say that, given your username!
    - TeMPOraL 6y ago
      A fair point!
- Quarrelsome 6y ago
  this place was originally called StartupNews after all...
onion2k 6y ago
Building your own version of something that already exists can be a really cool hack.
nsgi 6y ago
> One example... the number of posts like "Show HN: Here's a thing I made" ... where the first comments is "Here's a link to a product that has been out for 10+ years that does what you just built and 100 times more" So? With the number of people who have access to development tools it's hard to build something that doesn't already exist. I think it's a shame that when someone shares something the first reaction is to shoot them down by saying it already exists, but it's helpful to give the OP and others an idea of what's already out there

by harryf 6y ago

greggman3 6y ago

I'm not sure what your point was? It sounds like you want to see links to stuff like "Show HN: Here's my first program" 10 PRINT "My Name" 20 GOTO 10 I guess I always assumed Hacker "News" means it's something semi news worthy. A "Show HN" that's some new programmer implementing their first version of X even though X has been around for years isn't "news" unless they have some novel approach.

mindcrime 6y ago
I guess I always assumed Hacker "News" means it's something semi news worthy. Interesting. I never though the "News" part meant much at all. A substantial portion of the links that get highly upvoted here, and attract active discussion, are actually quite old. To my mind, the main "thing" is that submissions be interesting (for some definition of "interesting"), not that they be "news". I guess it just goes to show how different people can look at the exact same thing and interpret it differently.

coldtea 6y ago

Hackernews was never about hackers, it was about startup tech founder types (that maybe or maybe not considered themselves as hackers). A second big crowd is devs, mostly web devs. Hackers in the archetypical sense wouldn't upvote posts about Rails, JS, Golang, Rust and stuff, they'd upvote posts about coding things, making stuff, and computing intricasies...

barrkel 6y ago
What constitutes a hack has changed. Once upon a time it was clever things you could do with hardware. Like how Carmack figured out how to do smooth side-scrolling on EGA hardware, leading to Commander Keen. These days, it seems a hack is often duct-taping together a bunch of third-party stuff, often for visual effect. E.g. connecting a database of some kind to a map, or a funky visualization. With a broader audience online, something that relates to a wider audience gets more traction. I think there is overlap between both of these kinds of hack and startups, but the overlap is bigger with the latter kind. Building a business using as many shortcuts as you can, leveraging what other people built, is much more efficient than doing almost everything yourself, which is what was required in the early days. The early days was about exploiting hardware; these days, it's about exploiting existing software and data. Detailed posts about languages and libraries isn't really hack territory IMO, unless they're exploits of some kind.
TeMPOraL 6y ago
Depends on the timezone, I guess? When I browse, it's a mix between the two groups and a third group that upvotes and engages with the post you said "hackers in the archetypical sense" would. (The timezone thing is starting to become my stock reply; when I browse the semi-regular threads of how HN is going downhill or no longer populated by hackers, half of the claims disagree with my daily experience on this site. Can't explain it in any other way.)
- coldtea 6y ago
  >Depends on the timezone, I guess? Of course you would say that, given your username!
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    A fair point!
Quarrelsome 6y ago
this place was originally called StartupNews after all...

onion2k 6y ago

Building your own version of something that already exists can be a really cool hack.

nsgi 6y ago

> One example... the number of posts like "Show HN: Here's a thing I made" ... where the first comments is "Here's a link to a product that has been out for 10+ years that does what you just built and 100 times more" So? With the number of people who have access to development tools it's hard to build something that doesn't already exist. I think it's a shame that when someone shares something the first reaction is to shoot them down by saying it already exists, but it's helpful to give the OP and others an idea of what's already out there