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Does this gratify anyone's intellectual curiosity though? Ie. Is it on-topic for HN? I don't get to make that decision, but I do think the bar for US Politics

Does this gratify anyone's intellectual curiosity though? Ie. Is it on-topic for HN? I don't get to make that decision, but I do think the bar for US Politics Article #5046 should be higher than "rendering a square on a quad". A good analysis article around _why_ technology companies are moving in one direction on moderation policy at once? Yes. Excellent. As-it-happens news articles? Ehhh. Not as much. There are other places on the internet for that sort of thing.

na85 6y ago
There is a lot of truly vapid shit that has made it to the front page, and every time there's a person claiming it's off topic, and another claiming it's on topic. Republicans getting their just desserts as viewed through the lens of the new normal of social media content policy sure gratifies my intellectual curiosity, for what it's worth.
symlinkk 6y ago
Yes, the discussion around articles like this frequently gratify my intellectual curiosity.
hombre_fatal 6y ago
Bedrock cultural events (or signs of them) should gratify anyone's intellectual curiosity. IMO we downplay them only because of fatigue and denial and even helplessness. "Surely this is a one-off thing over one dumb podcast, not symptoms of a larger problem that I can avoid thinking about" or maybe "It's fine cuz I don't like that guy". And that's how we deathmarch into the next, for example, Holocaust. That said, I will admit that our comments sections sucks ass on these topics which is perhaps reason enough to avoid them. But that's a reason I accept unlike "lol it's just one dumb podcast cmon."
- chordalkeyboard 6y ago
  > I will admit that our comments sections sucks ass on these topics Please tell me where on the internet you can get better discussion on these topics than here? This is one of the few places where these things can even be discussed by people with opposing viewpoints without instantaneous flamewar apocalypse.
  - oneeyedpigeon 6y ago
    They can suck ass here and still suck ass way more everywhere else. I concur that HN is pretty much the best place online for these discussions, that I'm aware of, but I also think these discussions are far inferior to what is typical here. There might even be some interesting points being made about the role of technology in all this, but they're being drowned out by the purely political back-and-forth.
    - chordalkeyboard 6y ago
      Sure, I would agree it sucks ass relative to what we can imagine. > these discussions are far inferior to what is typical here. Thats probably true, people here have political opinions and values but they aren't policy wonks. Perhaps there is (or could be) an hn equivalent for pols and wonks and they would have really invigorating discussions about policy and rarely flame each other because they were past that level. Then every so often someone would post something about programming a universal remote controller and they'd flame each other about technical topics and each others' ignorant opinions on how humans and machines interact. > There might even be some interesting points being made about the role of technology in all this, but they're being drowned out by the purely political back-and-forth. I'm just happy that people with different viewpoints are learning from each other. People with different viewpoints don't really learn from each other on most other platforms. They basically only learn to emulate the rhetorical jabs that score points.
MrMan 6y ago
I think the enforced "wide-eyed curiosity" stance on HN is false and reflects the need on the part of the owners to preserve HN as a hub to market their self-improvement through making money ideology. But they recognize that reality sometimes intrudes into our money-making daydream, and it would be low IQ to ban political discussions. I am critical of the overall thrust behind HN, but they have cleverly convinced a lot of people that they are above average and I wouldn't expect them to do anything heavy-handed. So some politics will remain on HN.

na85 6y ago

There is a lot of truly vapid shit that has made it to the front page, and every time there's a person claiming it's off topic, and another claiming it's on topic. Republicans getting their just desserts as viewed through the lens of the new normal of social media content policy sure gratifies my intellectual curiosity, for what it's worth.

symlinkk 6y ago

Yes, the discussion around articles like this frequently gratify my intellectual curiosity.

hombre_fatal 6y ago

Bedrock cultural events (or signs of them) should gratify anyone's intellectual curiosity. IMO we downplay them only because of fatigue and denial and even helplessness. "Surely this is a one-off thing over one dumb podcast, not symptoms of a larger problem that I can avoid thinking about" or maybe "It's fine cuz I don't like that guy". And that's how we deathmarch into the next, for example, Holocaust. That said, I will admit that our comments sections sucks ass on these topics which is perhaps reason enough to avoid them. But that's a reason I accept unlike "lol it's just one dumb podcast cmon."

chordalkeyboard 6y ago
> I will admit that our comments sections sucks ass on these topics Please tell me where on the internet you can get better discussion on these topics than here? This is one of the few places where these things can even be discussed by people with opposing viewpoints without instantaneous flamewar apocalypse.
- oneeyedpigeon 6y ago
  They can suck ass here and still suck ass way more everywhere else. I concur that HN is pretty much the best place online for these discussions, that I'm aware of, but I also think these discussions are far inferior to what is typical here. There might even be some interesting points being made about the role of technology in all this, but they're being drowned out by the purely political back-and-forth.
  - chordalkeyboard 6y ago
    Sure, I would agree it sucks ass relative to what we can imagine. > these discussions are far inferior to what is typical here. Thats probably true, people here have political opinions and values but they aren't policy wonks. Perhaps there is (or could be) an hn equivalent for pols and wonks and they would have really invigorating discussions about policy and rarely flame each other because they were past that level. Then every so often someone would post something about programming a universal remote controller and they'd flame each other about technical topics and each others' ignorant opinions on how humans and machines interact. > There might even be some interesting points being made about the role of technology in all this, but they're being drowned out by the purely political back-and-forth. I'm just happy that people with different viewpoints are learning from each other. People with different viewpoints don't really learn from each other on most other platforms. They basically only learn to emulate the rhetorical jabs that score points.

MrMan 6y ago

I think the enforced "wide-eyed curiosity" stance on HN is false and reflects the need on the part of the owners to preserve HN as a hub to market their self-improvement through making money ideology. But they recognize that reality sometimes intrudes into our money-making daydream, and it would be low IQ to ban political discussions. I am critical of the overall thrust behind HN, but they have cleverly convinced a lot of people that they are above average and I wouldn't expect them to do anything heavy-handed. So some politics will remain on HN.