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It's easy to say that people simply aren't better than this and this will simply continue to happen. I don't completely believe that. I was hoping that writing

by lucb1e 6y ago

It's easy to say that people simply aren't better than this and this will simply continue to happen. I don't completely believe that. I was hoping that writing the above comment might inspire those not already crazed to maintain a more rational tone and perhaps flag and downvote more on the level of "merits the conversation" than "I (dis)agree with this".

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
> It's easy to say that people simply aren't better than this and this will simply continue to happen. I don't completely believe that. Trusting in people's good nature alone has never worked. If the community doesn't implement some mechanism to control the activity it doesn't want, then it will be done. You can refuse to believe that if you want, but I think you will find that belief challenged by reality. Not coincidentally, a mechanism of control for dealing with undesirable behavior is exactly what this whole Twitter thing is about in the first place. Since we've agreed that people here are not inherently better than the general populace, what makes you think that HN is more immune to this sort of thing than a community like Twitter or reddit?
- lucb1e 6y ago
  We do have some mechanisms to control activity that we don't want, but we do need to be level-headed enough to use it. > what makes you think that HN is more immune to this sort of thing than a community like Twitter or reddit? I've always perceived HN as fairly elitist, e.g. composed of many top earners and skilled people. The term is often meant negatively; in this case it might be a positive feature. Reminding people that they're on HN, where I think most expect a higher standard than on Twitter or reddit, might make them try to be better. I'm not saying we are composed of some elite, just observing that it's often perceived that way and that we can actually try to use that notion in a good way, to improve the conversation.

by lucb1e 6y ago

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

> It's easy to say that people simply aren't better than this and this will simply continue to happen. I don't completely believe that. Trusting in people's good nature alone has never worked. If the community doesn't implement some mechanism to control the activity it doesn't want, then it will be done. You can refuse to believe that if you want, but I think you will find that belief challenged by reality. Not coincidentally, a mechanism of control for dealing with undesirable behavior is exactly what this whole Twitter thing is about in the first place. Since we've agreed that people here are not inherently better than the general populace, what makes you think that HN is more immune to this sort of thing than a community like Twitter or reddit?

lucb1e 6y ago
We do have some mechanisms to control activity that we don't want, but we do need to be level-headed enough to use it. > what makes you think that HN is more immune to this sort of thing than a community like Twitter or reddit? I've always perceived HN as fairly elitist, e.g. composed of many top earners and skilled people. The term is often meant negatively; in this case it might be a positive feature. Reminding people that they're on HN, where I think most expect a higher standard than on Twitter or reddit, might make them try to be better. I'm not saying we are composed of some elite, just observing that it's often perceived that way and that we can actually try to use that notion in a good way, to improve the conversation.