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I would add a forth choice personally: mostly cs/hacker stuff, with some intellectually stimulating stuff That's actually the balance I feel we have right now

by sh1mmer 18y ago

I would add a forth choice personally: mostly cs/hacker stuff, with some intellectually stimulating stuff That's actually the balance I feel we have right now. I voted for "no, anything intellectually stimulating" because that seems to be what we have no and it seems to be working (for me).

mattmaroon 18y ago
I didn't put that in because as a guideline it's unenforceable. But given the current guidelines, it does seem to create what we have now (which I too like). I only posted this poll because the only thing I'm 100% sure is valueless and off-topic is the "this is off-topic" comment that invariably ends up on anything not overtly CS/startup related.
- meredydd 18y ago
  the only thing I'm 100% sure is valueless and off-topic is the "this is off-topic" comment that Actually, I'm not even sure about that. It seems to me that the average opinion here is in favour of most posts being about technical/startup topics, but that it's good to have a few interesting posts that fall outside that category - provided they don't overwhelm the 'normal' content of the site. In that case, then, the comments saying "This is off-topic" - and the degree to which they are voted up - provide a barometer: They indicate to what extent people feel that the 'off-topic' posts are: a) Low in quality, b) drowning out 'normal' tech/startup content. This, in turn, provides social pressure to reduce the number (and increase the quality) of 'off-topic' submissions. (Of course, you then hit a form of Giles's paradox of social news sites: the people most likely to submit to this social pressure may be the ones with the most interesting 'off-topic' links to share)
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    Your average opinion seems to suggest the opposite of the poll results.
    - meredydd 18y ago
      Damn data. How dare it not conform to my preconceptions? That said, what I was trying to express was my feeling that the poll options you chose don't tell the whole story, because you only offered "Startups and CS, no exceptions" and "anything goes". My contention is that if there were an option for "I like seeing other interesting articles, but keep a pretty strong CS/startup focus", it would be the clear winner. I could be wrong, but the poll as stands doesn't tell us one way or the other.

by sh1mmer 18y ago

mattmaroon 18y ago

I didn't put that in because as a guideline it's unenforceable. But given the current guidelines, it does seem to create what we have now (which I too like). I only posted this poll because the only thing I'm 100% sure is valueless and off-topic is the "this is off-topic" comment that invariably ends up on anything not overtly CS/startup related.

meredydd 18y ago
the only thing I'm 100% sure is valueless and off-topic is the "this is off-topic" comment that Actually, I'm not even sure about that. It seems to me that the average opinion here is in favour of most posts being about technical/startup topics, but that it's good to have a few interesting posts that fall outside that category - provided they don't overwhelm the 'normal' content of the site. In that case, then, the comments saying "This is off-topic" - and the degree to which they are voted up - provide a barometer: They indicate to what extent people feel that the 'off-topic' posts are: a) Low in quality, b) drowning out 'normal' tech/startup content. This, in turn, provides social pressure to reduce the number (and increase the quality) of 'off-topic' submissions. (Of course, you then hit a form of Giles's paradox of social news sites: the people most likely to submit to this social pressure may be the ones with the most interesting 'off-topic' links to share)
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Your average opinion seems to suggest the opposite of the poll results.
  - meredydd 18y ago
    Damn data. How dare it not conform to my preconceptions? That said, what I was trying to express was my feeling that the poll options you chose don't tell the whole story, because you only offered "Startups and CS, no exceptions" and "anything goes". My contention is that if there were an option for "I like seeing other interesting articles, but keep a pretty strong CS/startup focus", it would be the clear winner. I could be wrong, but the poll as stands doesn't tell us one way or the other.