4 ms·

That "article" doesn't add anything beyond the fact that "this guy wrote a tweet and here's what it said". Why is such low quality filler getting traction on H

That "article" doesn't add anything beyond the fact that "this guy wrote a tweet and here's what it said". Why is such low quality filler getting traction on HN? Is it because anti-crypto posts push people's buttons? Every day there is something like this posted, and like clockwork the comments are full of the same arguments both on the pro and anti crypto sides. Am I an idiot for expecting better from HN?

xiphias2 6y ago
HN got very popular in the last few years, so I guess it became much harder to moderate. I wish the rules got stricter over time (stay strictly within the hacker/startup/tech mindset), but also as software is now a multi-trillion dollar market, politics has to be involved.
- krapp 6y ago
  >I wish the rules got stricter over time (stay strictly within the hacker/startup/tech mindset) That was never a rule to begin with.
  - xiphias2 6y ago
    There's a rule about not making jokes, which already distinguishes HN from almost all other forums in the world. Also there are some topic based bans, which is really hard to do well, as there are new things happening in Bitcoin (i.e. a new soft fork, or ETF being approved or not approved) that should be able to go through the filter.
    - krapp 6y ago
      >There's a rule about not making jokes, which already distinguishes HN from almost all other forums in the world. There isn't actually a rule against making jokes, humor tends to get downvoted because few people are as funny as they think they are, and HN has a thin skin. And as far as other forums go, you can find plenty of niche subreddits which moderate humor and off-topic conversation far more strictly than HN does, such as /r/askhistorians.
ChainOfFools 6y ago
there is a wonderful irony to Taleb saying this because his ideas, especially the concept of having 'skin in the game,' have been extremely popular among the most ideologically orthodox of the Bitcoin crowd. This remark smarts only slightly less than if someone like Satoshi or Nick Szabo came out and called Bitcoin a failure, or at least admitted it was fated to become a naturally occurring Ponzi all along. unfortunately I suspect that Taleb is merely setting up a pivot into some other crypto ponzi wherein he is better positioned to realize gains (and the guru praise he craves) from diverting his followers away from Bitcoin. I wouldn't be surprised if that "not Bitcoin" turns out to be Ethereum.
- toyg 6y ago
  Or he needs the price of Bitcoin to dip a bit so he can invest more. I’m sold on Bitcoin as “digital gold”, but for highly-visible entities it’s way too easy to game without repercussions. E.g. Musk likely has a bunch of patsies ready to buy and sell before or after one of his outbursts. You do that with actual commodities or companies, you go to jail; you do it with bitcoin, and people just shrug, “oh well, anyone in that market knows it’s wild”.
  - inglor_cz 6y ago
    Taleb is in the business of selling books. He does really well in this sector. I think he prepares his readers for a future book "Why Bitcoin failed", written as soon as the price tanks. Well, it might already be in the process of writing.
- aero-glide2 6y ago
  Btw, what happened to Nick Szabo? He was very active on Twitter (mostly posting weird stuff) but suddenly stopped About a month ago.
asdev 6y ago
HN is very anti crypto, they love the echo chamber of FUD that will be disproven
- totalZero 6y ago
  There's a difference between being anti crypto and being a crypto skeptic. It would make sense for technologists to be skeptical about a technological service during its massive ramp-up among laypeople, because the acceleration in demand isn't driven by fact-based reasoning. I see a lot of herd mentality, coupled with easy money and no real returns elsewhere.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- DonHopkins 6y ago
  More anti-shill than anti-crypto. I'm sure everyone here prefers ssh to telnet.
KyleBerezin 6y ago
I think for a lot of these articles it is the idea of the article that gets traction rather than the content itself.

xiphias2 6y ago

HN got very popular in the last few years, so I guess it became much harder to moderate. I wish the rules got stricter over time (stay strictly within the hacker/startup/tech mindset), but also as software is now a multi-trillion dollar market, politics has to be involved.

krapp 6y ago
>I wish the rules got stricter over time (stay strictly within the hacker/startup/tech mindset) That was never a rule to begin with.
- xiphias2 6y ago
  There's a rule about not making jokes, which already distinguishes HN from almost all other forums in the world. Also there are some topic based bans, which is really hard to do well, as there are new things happening in Bitcoin (i.e. a new soft fork, or ETF being approved or not approved) that should be able to go through the filter.
  - krapp 6y ago
    >There's a rule about not making jokes, which already distinguishes HN from almost all other forums in the world. There isn't actually a rule against making jokes, humor tends to get downvoted because few people are as funny as they think they are, and HN has a thin skin. And as far as other forums go, you can find plenty of niche subreddits which moderate humor and off-topic conversation far more strictly than HN does, such as /r/askhistorians.

ChainOfFools 6y ago

there is a wonderful irony to Taleb saying this because his ideas, especially the concept of having 'skin in the game,' have been extremely popular among the most ideologically orthodox of the Bitcoin crowd. This remark smarts only slightly less than if someone like Satoshi or Nick Szabo came out and called Bitcoin a failure, or at least admitted it was fated to become a naturally occurring Ponzi all along. unfortunately I suspect that Taleb is merely setting up a pivot into some other crypto ponzi wherein he is better positioned to realize gains (and the guru praise he craves) from diverting his followers away from Bitcoin. I wouldn't be surprised if that "not Bitcoin" turns out to be Ethereum.

toyg 6y ago
Or he needs the price of Bitcoin to dip a bit so he can invest more. I’m sold on Bitcoin as “digital gold”, but for highly-visible entities it’s way too easy to game without repercussions. E.g. Musk likely has a bunch of patsies ready to buy and sell before or after one of his outbursts. You do that with actual commodities or companies, you go to jail; you do it with bitcoin, and people just shrug, “oh well, anyone in that market knows it’s wild”.
- inglor_cz 6y ago
  Taleb is in the business of selling books. He does really well in this sector. I think he prepares his readers for a future book "Why Bitcoin failed", written as soon as the price tanks. Well, it might already be in the process of writing.
aero-glide2 6y ago
Btw, what happened to Nick Szabo? He was very active on Twitter (mostly posting weird stuff) but suddenly stopped About a month ago.

asdev 6y ago

HN is very anti crypto, they love the echo chamber of FUD that will be disproven

totalZero 6y ago
There's a difference between being anti crypto and being a crypto skeptic. It would make sense for technologists to be skeptical about a technological service during its massive ramp-up among laypeople, because the acceleration in demand isn't driven by fact-based reasoning. I see a lot of herd mentality, coupled with easy money and no real returns elsewhere.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
DonHopkins 6y ago
More anti-shill than anti-crypto. I'm sure everyone here prefers ssh to telnet.

KyleBerezin 6y ago

I think for a lot of these articles it is the idea of the article that gets traction rather than the content itself.