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I’m always surprised by how practically every single opinion regarding personal communication is the opposite in hacker news to the mainstream opinion of my “re

by kace91 5y ago

I’m always surprised by how practically every single opinion regarding personal communication is the opposite in hacker news to the mainstream opinion of my “real life” circles. Use of social networks, slack, emojis, messaging apps, sync vs async communication… Its not a criticism of any kind, mind you, it’s just very surprising to me.

Grimm1 5y ago
I would be a bit slower on the hasty generalizations. I’m here on hacker news and I love using threads and am happy they’re coming to Discord there’s also multiple comments below this saying the same thing.
- FalconSensei 5y ago
  The lack of threads is something that made me not use Discord before (before they had the replies). There was simply no way to know who someone is replying to, or part of which of the multiple conversations in the channel is that message a part of
  - jedberg 5y ago
    That's because it was designed to be a real time chat. When you're having a group conversation, there are no threads. You just keep track in your head what the topics are and who said them and then figure out how the next sentence applies. Discord was modeled after this interaction (and IRC, which was modeled after this interaction).
    - wvenable 5y ago
      None of the Discord servers/channels I'm involved in are that active so that sort of real time chat aspect is much less significant. I agree with that you're saying but it's also not the only way one interacts with Discord. I might only visit a server once a week and try and catch up on the messages posted in that time.
    - pbhjpbhj 5y ago
      In IRL chat you have physical modifiers to indicate threading though (volume, posture, gaze). Seems like threading but with a UI option to collapse to a flat presentation suits both sides?
    - jasonlotito 5y ago
      That might be the initial model, but it's not the current model. People use Discord for far more than real time chat. It's effectively replaced forums for many communities. While real time chat is still important, it's not the only use case.
    - derefr 5y ago
      When you're having a large-group "stream of conversation" in meatspace (in the lobby of convention hall, say), subgroups within the conversation will break off temporarily to form smaller "huddles" that step slightly away from the group, focusing on one-another rather than the group, to have a temporary "sidebar" conversation. Content from a "sidebar" conversation is usually taken far enough away from the larger group that it's not bothersome/interrupting the topic of the larger group; but—unlike a whispered aside—these temporary sidebar conversations are still public conversations, and they leak enough signal to the larger group that if someone in the larger group focused on the sidebar conversation, they could pick up the general topic of what's being discussed, and choose to join the sidebar discussion themselves. Hey, that's threads!
      - lmm 5y ago
        It's not the same thing though - the sidebar usually gradually merges back into the main conversation, and certainly you can't resume a sidebar from a week ago and have it magically reemerge with the same group of people.
jasonlotito 5y ago
Nah, lots of us here love threads. Threads was one of the reasons our large private friends-only Slack server didn't move to Discord. This has reignited that conversation, as we like Discord more for certain things, and threads were one of the things holding us back. The difference is we just aren't really saying anything.
elondaits 5y ago
I have some issues with Slack threads but use them a lot, appreciate them, and so far haven't seen a better solution (even in this thread). HN always presents a lot of reactionary positions to anything.

by kace91 5y ago

Grimm1 5y ago

I would be a bit slower on the hasty generalizations. I’m here on hacker news and I love using threads and am happy they’re coming to Discord there’s also multiple comments below this saying the same thing.

FalconSensei 5y ago
The lack of threads is something that made me not use Discord before (before they had the replies). There was simply no way to know who someone is replying to, or part of which of the multiple conversations in the channel is that message a part of
- jedberg 5y ago
  That's because it was designed to be a real time chat. When you're having a group conversation, there are no threads. You just keep track in your head what the topics are and who said them and then figure out how the next sentence applies. Discord was modeled after this interaction (and IRC, which was modeled after this interaction).
  - wvenable 5y ago
    None of the Discord servers/channels I'm involved in are that active so that sort of real time chat aspect is much less significant. I agree with that you're saying but it's also not the only way one interacts with Discord. I might only visit a server once a week and try and catch up on the messages posted in that time.
  - pbhjpbhj 5y ago
    In IRL chat you have physical modifiers to indicate threading though (volume, posture, gaze). Seems like threading but with a UI option to collapse to a flat presentation suits both sides?
  - jasonlotito 5y ago
    That might be the initial model, but it's not the current model. People use Discord for far more than real time chat. It's effectively replaced forums for many communities. While real time chat is still important, it's not the only use case.
  - derefr 5y ago
    When you're having a large-group "stream of conversation" in meatspace (in the lobby of convention hall, say), subgroups within the conversation will break off temporarily to form smaller "huddles" that step slightly away from the group, focusing on one-another rather than the group, to have a temporary "sidebar" conversation. Content from a "sidebar" conversation is usually taken far enough away from the larger group that it's not bothersome/interrupting the topic of the larger group; but—unlike a whispered aside—these temporary sidebar conversations are still public conversations, and they leak enough signal to the larger group that if someone in the larger group focused on the sidebar conversation, they could pick up the general topic of what's being discussed, and choose to join the sidebar discussion themselves. Hey, that's threads!
    - lmm 5y ago
      It's not the same thing though - the sidebar usually gradually merges back into the main conversation, and certainly you can't resume a sidebar from a week ago and have it magically reemerge with the same group of people.

jasonlotito 5y ago

Nah, lots of us here love threads. Threads was one of the reasons our large private friends-only Slack server didn't move to Discord. This has reignited that conversation, as we like Discord more for certain things, and threads were one of the things holding us back. The difference is we just aren't really saying anything.

elondaits 5y ago

I have some issues with Slack threads but use them a lot, appreciate them, and so far haven't seen a better solution (even in this thread). HN always presents a lot of reactionary positions to anything.