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Interesting, is there a better way to filter quality content that does not involve ads? Is human moderation a must? Just looking for feedback. HN will inevitab

by mgh2 6y ago

Interesting, is there a better way to filter quality content that does not involve ads? Is human moderation a must? Just looking for feedback. HN will inevitably grow overtime, so scaling is unavoidable right? Better port the community to a separate product or target a different demographic than polluting the existing one. After all, it is just an experiment.

verdverm 6y ago
Why must a community grow and scale? Social networks are a relatively nascent thing for humans (i.e. the easy, global, and instantaneous connection of most people). Recent events show we know little about how to deal with this paradigm shift. HN has been mostly ad hoc and organic, as in there wasn't an effort to grow or scale it, the right mix of things lead to a great community. My intro / invite to HN was by literal word of mouth 10+ years ago. Just feels like the toxicity of other social networks are bleeding over now that it has enough eyeballs to create profits or desired outcomes through manipulation...
- mgh2 6y ago
  It does not need to, but the influx due to the pandemic is happening either way. It all depends on the business model- ex: Wikipedia is reliable, yet rely on donations. So the solution is to scale moderation, ban or kick out perpetrators? It could work, I hope HN can keep up the excellent work, just suggestions.
  - verdverm 6y ago
    The influx predates covid and has been happening for at least few years. I'd put the quality degradation start around the same time as the age of rage started and social media, in general, took on a whole new tone. Separately, there has always been an element of self promotion on HN, the content and quality seem to have been changing more inline with HN popularity. (though both have been impacted by the popularity) * Note, these are personal observations / impressions and not backed by hard data

by mgh2 6y ago

verdverm 6y ago

Why must a community grow and scale? Social networks are a relatively nascent thing for humans (i.e. the easy, global, and instantaneous connection of most people). Recent events show we know little about how to deal with this paradigm shift. HN has been mostly ad hoc and organic, as in there wasn't an effort to grow or scale it, the right mix of things lead to a great community. My intro / invite to HN was by literal word of mouth 10+ years ago. Just feels like the toxicity of other social networks are bleeding over now that it has enough eyeballs to create profits or desired outcomes through manipulation...

mgh2 6y ago
It does not need to, but the influx due to the pandemic is happening either way. It all depends on the business model- ex: Wikipedia is reliable, yet rely on donations. So the solution is to scale moderation, ban or kick out perpetrators? It could work, I hope HN can keep up the excellent work, just suggestions.
- verdverm 6y ago
  The influx predates covid and has been happening for at least few years. I'd put the quality degradation start around the same time as the age of rage started and social media, in general, took on a whole new tone. Separately, there has always been an element of self promotion on HN, the content and quality seem to have been changing more inline with HN popularity. (though both have been impacted by the popularity) * Note, these are personal observations / impressions and not backed by hard data