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I feel like a lot of people posting in this thread would benefit from reading Dang's post [0] from a few days ago about how shallow cryptocurrency discussions

I feel like a lot of people posting in this thread would benefit from reading Dang's post [0] from a few days ago about how shallow cryptocurrency discussions tend to be on HN and how we should all aim for a better level of discourse. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27497207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27497207

Kiro 5y ago
Is there a term for this kind of "shallow" discussions/responses? E.g. if headline is about X but in the vicinity of Y the thread gets filled with generic comments about Y that have nothing to do with X. It's obviously not exclusive to HN. I keep seeing it on reddit all the time and it's really tiring.
- kemonocode 5y ago
  I just call it appealing to the lowest common denominator.
- mclightning 5y ago
  > E.g. if headline is about X but in the vicinity of Y the thread gets filled with generic comments about Y that have nothing to do with X Exactly! I created an ASK HN a while back on this. It received a lot of feedback. It appears many long-time HN readers are tired of it. You can see it here; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27287700 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27287700
- skybrian 5y ago
  It’s sort of like “topic drift” except that it’s closer to the topic, broadly defined. (Ironically, this side conversation is also topic drift, of the meta variety.)
- karmakaze 5y ago
  Bike-shedding isn't binary, it's a continuum. Shallow discussions are a result of audience size and loss of focus.
SkyMarshal 5y ago
Dang has had to post that admonition so many times the past few weeks, he really out to just auto-pin it at the top of the main page. Make it “Readme First” FAQ thread or something.
- martinflack 5y ago
  Since HN runs on its own software, it could literally enforce a "read me first" before posting requirement. For certain keywords in the title that might be an interesting way to influence discussion style (and keep it good over time).
nly 5y ago
Maybe it's because Bitcoin is pretty shallow topic on the technical side? At this stage all the interesting aspects of Bitcoin are economic, political or philosophical rather than technical, especially since most of the latter has been discussed to death.
- singularity2001 5y ago
  The original idea of blockchains might be simple(shallow) but it is still technically a very deep and interesting topic. Do you think proof of stake is the ultimate invention which resolves all current and future trust and scaling issues? Do you think the current implantation of smart contracts is the epitome of engineering? There isn't even (to my knowledge) a blockchain which enables a smart marketplace for compute time. (The computecoins I investigated fell very short of the promise of being a serverless AWS competitor).

Kiro 5y ago

Is there a term for this kind of "shallow" discussions/responses? E.g. if headline is about X but in the vicinity of Y the thread gets filled with generic comments about Y that have nothing to do with X. It's obviously not exclusive to HN. I keep seeing it on reddit all the time and it's really tiring.

kemonocode 5y ago
I just call it appealing to the lowest common denominator.
mclightning 5y ago
> E.g. if headline is about X but in the vicinity of Y the thread gets filled with generic comments about Y that have nothing to do with X Exactly! I created an ASK HN a while back on this. It received a lot of feedback. It appears many long-time HN readers are tired of it. You can see it here; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27287700 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27287700
skybrian 5y ago
It’s sort of like “topic drift” except that it’s closer to the topic, broadly defined. (Ironically, this side conversation is also topic drift, of the meta variety.)
karmakaze 5y ago
Bike-shedding isn't binary, it's a continuum. Shallow discussions are a result of audience size and loss of focus.

SkyMarshal 5y ago

Dang has had to post that admonition so many times the past few weeks, he really out to just auto-pin it at the top of the main page. Make it “Readme First” FAQ thread or something.

martinflack 5y ago
Since HN runs on its own software, it could literally enforce a "read me first" before posting requirement. For certain keywords in the title that might be an interesting way to influence discussion style (and keep it good over time).

nly 5y ago

Maybe it's because Bitcoin is pretty shallow topic on the technical side? At this stage all the interesting aspects of Bitcoin are economic, political or philosophical rather than technical, especially since most of the latter has been discussed to death.

singularity2001 5y ago
The original idea of blockchains might be simple(shallow) but it is still technically a very deep and interesting topic. Do you think proof of stake is the ultimate invention which resolves all current and future trust and scaling issues? Do you think the current implantation of smart contracts is the epitome of engineering? There isn't even (to my knowledge) a blockchain which enables a smart marketplace for compute time. (The computecoins I investigated fell very short of the promise of being a serverless AWS competitor).