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Perhaps because I'm not a GitHub user, and because I've only ever peeked at HNers' GitHub accounts, but I was always under the impression that given the nature

Perhaps because I'm not a GitHub user, and because I've only ever peeked at HNers' GitHub accounts, but I was always under the impression that given the nature of the service, it would have an early-days-of-HN feel wrt to user behaviour. It was a little disheartening to see the number of Reddit-esque comments that are simply a couple of words along the lines of "omfg" and a constant stream of meme abuse. I expected better from the programming community. Sigh. Am I just becoming old, jaded and too elitist for my own good?

cruise02 15y ago
No, that was exactly my impression as well. Those comments remind me more of the Daily WTF where everyone points and laughs, but people rarely step forward to explain exactly what the problem is, and more importantly the solution.
- crikli 15y ago
  I laugh at Daily WTF but I always cringe thinking about some of those its3AMgottalaunchat8AMshitI'msotired nasty kludgy hacks I've been responsible for. Or just the times I was well rested, under no pressure, and just coughed up some stupid.
monochromatic 15y ago
It's like reading Youtube comments--not for the faint of heart. And the jab at reddit from the HN pedestal is probably misguided... reddit used to be more like HN, and HN is becoming more like the bad parts of reddit every day. Every site tends toward Youtube level comments as time passes, and the people who don't like it eventually jump ship to a new site, and then the process repeats itself.
- RyanMcGreal 15y ago
  If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.) http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - monochromatic 15y ago
    I've been around for much longer than a year, just not with this name.
    - RyanMcGreal 15y ago
      In that case, you're welcome to submit comments saying that HN is turning into reddit.
      - clistctrl 15y ago
        I've only been here for almost 2 years (well close enough to 2) however I would say the average HN thread is still more insightful than the average Reddit thread (including filtered sub-Reddits)
- code_duck 15y ago
  HN is not at all like the 'bad parts' of Reddit.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - biot 15y ago
    In the discussion on PDF in JavaScript yesterday, this document was linked in an HN comment: http://crocodoc.com/EfqW081 http://crocodoc.com/EfqW081 I wonder if the only saving grace of HN is that it's not completely anonymous.
- dclowd9901 15y ago
  "And the jab at reddit from the HN pedestal is probably misguided... reddit used to be more like HN, and HN is becoming more like the bad parts of reddit every day." But you just did the same thing...
  - dasil003 15y ago
    There's nothing more irresistible to a tech geek than recursive irony, regardless of where they fall (or wish they fell) on the YouTube/Digg/Reddit/HN commenter spectrum.
  - monochromatic 15y ago
    Not really the same thing. I'm saying that HN shouldn't look down its nose at reddit, since it appears to be heading the same direction. I'm taking a jab at both sites (and all sites, really).
brown9-2 15y ago
The change is a few weeks old, and all of the comments are about an hour old. Seems safe to say that the comments reflect more on "people linked to this change from HN/Reddit/etc" than "people that use Github"
- sjs 15y ago
  I'm not about to go looking at all of their accounts but considering the comments most left it looks like they were already logged in. I doubt they all signed up just to post a 'lol'. I'd put my money on these comments being from an intersection of github and reddit/hn/digg users.
  - nakkiel 15y ago
    > I doubt they all signed up just to post a 'lol'. Well, actually /b/ often raids web pages and do such things. If anybody working at GitHub can correlate the comments and the age of the accounts, I wouldn't be surprised to be surprised. Plus, to me, it appears more like /b/ than reddit. I have a very limited experience in reddit though (yes, those anonymity-driven, fast-flowing communities are interesting).
vanschelven 15y ago
I suppose what you're seeing here is actually a reflection of Reddit, 4Chan & friends, i.e. I suppose this very commit has been posted in some of those places as well. I still have some hope for Github-in-general.
- peteretep 15y ago
  Actually, almost all of the comments are since it got posted here, and as of right now this second, I don't see it's popular on Reddit...
  - kabushikigaisha 15y ago
    HN is mirrored on tons of sites. The fact that it's the default on somewhere like jimmyr.com for 'coding' should tell you how well-known news.yc has become. Don't think it's full of erudite hackers only anymore.
praeclarum 15y ago
You're not too much of an elitist, you're too much of a crank. Does it really dishearten you to see a bunch of people having a good laugh? Does every word written on the internet need to be researched/profound to be worthy of reading? This is the internet, it will forever dishearten you if you think in these terms.
sunchild 15y ago
Actually, your comment sounds more like r/programming than anything I've seen on HN lately. Github comments are usually on-point, because nobody comments on github-hosted projects unless they're actually working on the project. The exception is when somebody does a funny commit, and it gets circulated through...you guess it, HN, reddit, etc.
- nickknw 15y ago
  Exactly. This isn't representative of 'the github community', it's more like 'the subsection of the reddit/hn/etc communities that feel the need to post funny pictures using their github accounts to do it'
scythe 15y ago
>It was a little disheartening to see the number of Reddit-esque comments that are simply a couple of words along the lines of "omfg" and a constant stream of meme abuse. I expected better from the programming community. You don't get good discussion from a commenting system. Github's comments aren't designed for with-each-other discussion, they're designed for at-the-author/audience commenting. HN takes comment quality extremely seriously, and with-each-other discussion is perhaps the main focus. reddit is somewhere in between: most of the users of reddit don't seem to be interested in discussion, but in open-ended polls a la AskReddit, IAMA, DAE, etc. The fact that reddit threads only last for a few hours, and that the volume of comments is so huge that it's hard to expect the people you're aiming your comment at to get anywhere, these both reward commenting rather than discussion; /r/bestof does as well. That said, reddit's topical breadth draws in lots of smart people, who are usually looking to talk about something interesting. The vBulletin/phpBB model of forums doesn't really scale too well (unless you go the SomethingAwful route and impose a fee and lots of super-strict moderation) but it works well with up to around 150 active users. The best forums have the highest SnR on the Internet. 4chan-ish anonymity works up to around 5000 before you get chaos, hence the longing for "old /b/" and the value in the other boards.

cruise02 15y ago

No, that was exactly my impression as well. Those comments remind me more of the Daily WTF where everyone points and laughs, but people rarely step forward to explain exactly what the problem is, and more importantly the solution.

crikli 15y ago
I laugh at Daily WTF but I always cringe thinking about some of those its3AMgottalaunchat8AMshitI'msotired nasty kludgy hacks I've been responsible for. Or just the times I was well rested, under no pressure, and just coughed up some stupid.

monochromatic 15y ago

It's like reading Youtube comments--not for the faint of heart. And the jab at reddit from the HN pedestal is probably misguided... reddit used to be more like HN, and HN is becoming more like the bad parts of reddit every day. Every site tends toward Youtube level comments as time passes, and the people who don't like it eventually jump ship to a new site, and then the process repeats itself.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago
If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.) http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- monochromatic 15y ago
  I've been around for much longer than a year, just not with this name.
  - RyanMcGreal 15y ago
    In that case, you're welcome to submit comments saying that HN is turning into reddit.
    - clistctrl 15y ago
      I've only been here for almost 2 years (well close enough to 2) however I would say the average HN thread is still more insightful than the average Reddit thread (including filtered sub-Reddits)
code_duck 15y ago
HN is not at all like the 'bad parts' of Reddit.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- biot 15y ago
  In the discussion on PDF in JavaScript yesterday, this document was linked in an HN comment: http://crocodoc.com/EfqW081 http://crocodoc.com/EfqW081 I wonder if the only saving grace of HN is that it's not completely anonymous.
dclowd9901 15y ago
"And the jab at reddit from the HN pedestal is probably misguided... reddit used to be more like HN, and HN is becoming more like the bad parts of reddit every day." But you just did the same thing...
- dasil003 15y ago
  There's nothing more irresistible to a tech geek than recursive irony, regardless of where they fall (or wish they fell) on the YouTube/Digg/Reddit/HN commenter spectrum.
- monochromatic 15y ago
  Not really the same thing. I'm saying that HN shouldn't look down its nose at reddit, since it appears to be heading the same direction. I'm taking a jab at both sites (and all sites, really).

brown9-2 15y ago

The change is a few weeks old, and all of the comments are about an hour old. Seems safe to say that the comments reflect more on "people linked to this change from HN/Reddit/etc" than "people that use Github"

sjs 15y ago
I'm not about to go looking at all of their accounts but considering the comments most left it looks like they were already logged in. I doubt they all signed up just to post a 'lol'. I'd put my money on these comments being from an intersection of github and reddit/hn/digg users.
- nakkiel 15y ago
  > I doubt they all signed up just to post a 'lol'. Well, actually /b/ often raids web pages and do such things. If anybody working at GitHub can correlate the comments and the age of the accounts, I wouldn't be surprised to be surprised. Plus, to me, it appears more like /b/ than reddit. I have a very limited experience in reddit though (yes, those anonymity-driven, fast-flowing communities are interesting).

vanschelven 15y ago

I suppose what you're seeing here is actually a reflection of Reddit, 4Chan & friends, i.e. I suppose this very commit has been posted in some of those places as well. I still have some hope for Github-in-general.

peteretep 15y ago
Actually, almost all of the comments are since it got posted here, and as of right now this second, I don't see it's popular on Reddit...
- kabushikigaisha 15y ago
  HN is mirrored on tons of sites. The fact that it's the default on somewhere like jimmyr.com for 'coding' should tell you how well-known news.yc has become. Don't think it's full of erudite hackers only anymore.

praeclarum 15y ago

You're not too much of an elitist, you're too much of a crank. Does it really dishearten you to see a bunch of people having a good laugh? Does every word written on the internet need to be researched/profound to be worthy of reading? This is the internet, it will forever dishearten you if you think in these terms.

sunchild 15y ago

Actually, your comment sounds more like r/programming than anything I've seen on HN lately. Github comments are usually on-point, because nobody comments on github-hosted projects unless they're actually working on the project. The exception is when somebody does a funny commit, and it gets circulated through...you guess it, HN, reddit, etc.

nickknw 15y ago
Exactly. This isn't representative of 'the github community', it's more like 'the subsection of the reddit/hn/etc communities that feel the need to post funny pictures using their github accounts to do it'

scythe 15y ago

>It was a little disheartening to see the number of Reddit-esque comments that are simply a couple of words along the lines of "omfg" and a constant stream of meme abuse. I expected better from the programming community. You don't get good discussion from a commenting system. Github's comments aren't designed for with-each-other discussion, they're designed for at-the-author/audience commenting. HN takes comment quality extremely seriously, and with-each-other discussion is perhaps the main focus. reddit is somewhere in between: most of the users of reddit don't seem to be interested in discussion, but in open-ended polls a la AskReddit, IAMA, DAE, etc. The fact that reddit threads only last for a few hours, and that the volume of comments is so huge that it's hard to expect the people you're aiming your comment at to get anywhere, these both reward commenting rather than discussion; /r/bestof does as well. That said, reddit's topical breadth draws in lots of smart people, who are usually looking to talk about something interesting. The vBulletin/phpBB model of forums doesn't really scale too well (unless you go the SomethingAwful route and impose a fee and lots of super-strict moderation) but it works well with up to around 150 active users. The best forums have the highest SnR on the Internet. 4chan-ish anonymity works up to around 5000 before you get chaos, hence the longing for "old /b/" and the value in the other boards.