5 ms·

One thing i noticed is that most of the conversation here feels alien to me. I think this is because most of the people here are living in California and they

by EMRZ 5y ago

One thing i noticed is that most of the conversation here feels alien to me. I think this is because most of the people here are living in California and they seem to have a very particular world view not always compatible or even undertandable for anyone from any other place. I used to enjoy this website in like, 2015/16 i think, now the topics are not even tech related anymore.

systemvoltage 5y ago
Algorithms governing large amounts of information exchange in the world are all developed in California (Twitter/FB/Google) as well. SV's political culture (and largely America's culture) is being exported to the world at an ever increasing pace: https://www.economist.com/international/2021/06/12/social-media-are-turbocharging-the-export-of-americas-political-culture https://www.economist.com/international/2021/06/12/social-me... Edit: Of course downvotes!
- seneca 5y ago
  > SV's political culture (and largely America's culture) is being exported to the world at an ever increasing pace The valley's culture has little in common the the rest of America's. It "exporting" its culture to the rest of the US as much as it is anywhere else, though I'd personally characterize it more as imperialism than exporting.
javajosh 5y ago
This is a reflection of how engineers have become aware of the ethical and political effects of their work. To HN's credit the non-technical discussions are of high quality, in general. From a purely technical standpoint, HN remains the best forum for discovery of new projects and giving feedback to FAANG. (M not so much).
dang 5y ago
Fewer than 10% of HN users are in the Bay Area. I don't know what the number for California is but I'd be surprised if it were above 15%. Half of the userbase is outside the U.S. People make a lot of false assumptions about the demographics here. HN has always had a mix of topics. That hasn't changed.
- austinjp 5y ago
  Are there stats on the location:activity ratio? Are people in some locations more verbose than others?
  - dang 5y ago
    I did look at that and vaguely remember finding some small discrepancies, but nothing huge.
- Qub3d 5y ago
  Interesting, what is the next highest cohort, though? 10% may still be enough to dominate conversation if its a big enough plurality. This is a vote-driven website, and while maybe less prone to the bandwagon effects on, say, reddit, it still happens that if a group of people begin to vote up a post or comment, it will have strong momentum to gain further votes. I've seen you post this verbatim comment before and it always feels a little like a shallow dismissal. Maybe its worth someone taking the HN Kaggle dataset and doing a keyword analysis. Demographics are one thing, the topics themselves should be studied.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
France_is_bacon 5y ago
Huh...could you give examples of what is not compatible or not comprehensible in California, but not elsewhere? I'd love to know.
- EMRZ 5y ago
  I mean, it is actually comprehensible but you know, California tech workers live in a monopoly money bubble and they think they know something about how the world works. Also they think that their own "culture" and leftist values are relevant to everywhere in the world even if they cant even point places on a map. I will get banned if i talk more.
  - France_is_bacon 5y ago
    Just keep it non-political. I'd like to know what is non-comprehensible. I am an independent - not "right" of "left", and I think that I can understand both sides. And I think that both sides can understand each other, but they just disagree on what the other side wants to do. But that is not the same as incomprehensible. So, without getting into a political rant, what do you calmly and objectively, with no wrath attached, do you think is incomprehensible to others who don't live in California. And, by the way, I live in California and 100% guarantee you that there's a wide spectrum of people here. Had one guy a few months ago that I was trying to do business with say that if we meet, he doesn't wear a mask. I've talked to a lot of people in California who don't accept evolution and think that the earth was created 6,000 years ago. And, you talk a place like Texas, supposedly hard red state, but you go to places like Austin, and Austin voted something like 70% for Biden.... I just looked it up just now, and was right - 71% https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/texas/ https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/texas/ So I think before Texas and Missouri and all the rest of the red states get their hate on about California, they should first go into all their own blue areas. And, pretty much, the blue areas are mostly university towns. The kids. So, all the red states should start putting all their children who are college students at University of Texas or University of Iowa and all the other university towns into gas chambers or whatever they want to do. Start the hate at home, I always say. Fix one's own home. Kill the kids. Even in harder hard-core states like Mississippi, there are a bunch of counties were at 70% Biden. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/mississippi-results https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/mississippi-... Why bother about California? And, of course, there is a boatload of counties in California that voted 70% for Trump https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/california/ https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/california/ So. What specifically are these things that are incomprehensible to others, that californians do, supposedly. Give me specifics.
nicbou 5y ago
I'm neither part of the tech nor startup scene. I'm happy to see more variety in the content, as long as it's high quality and has interesting comments. To be frank, work is work and I don't care so much to read about it. I care even less about drama at other companies.

by EMRZ 5y ago

systemvoltage 5y ago

Algorithms governing large amounts of information exchange in the world are all developed in California (Twitter/FB/Google) as well. SV's political culture (and largely America's culture) is being exported to the world at an ever increasing pace: https://www.economist.com/international/2021/06/12/social-media-are-turbocharging-the-export-of-americas-political-culture https://www.economist.com/international/2021/06/12/social-me... Edit: Of course downvotes!

seneca 5y ago
> SV's political culture (and largely America's culture) is being exported to the world at an ever increasing pace The valley's culture has little in common the the rest of America's. It "exporting" its culture to the rest of the US as much as it is anywhere else, though I'd personally characterize it more as imperialism than exporting.

javajosh 5y ago

This is a reflection of how engineers have become aware of the ethical and political effects of their work. To HN's credit the non-technical discussions are of high quality, in general. From a purely technical standpoint, HN remains the best forum for discovery of new projects and giving feedback to FAANG. (M not so much).

dang 5y ago

Fewer than 10% of HN users are in the Bay Area. I don't know what the number for California is but I'd be surprised if it were above 15%. Half of the userbase is outside the U.S. People make a lot of false assumptions about the demographics here. HN has always had a mix of topics. That hasn't changed.

austinjp 5y ago
Are there stats on the location:activity ratio? Are people in some locations more verbose than others?
- dang 5y ago
  I did look at that and vaguely remember finding some small discrepancies, but nothing huge.
Qub3d 5y ago
Interesting, what is the next highest cohort, though? 10% may still be enough to dominate conversation if its a big enough plurality. This is a vote-driven website, and while maybe less prone to the bandwagon effects on, say, reddit, it still happens that if a group of people begin to vote up a post or comment, it will have strong momentum to gain further votes. I've seen you post this verbatim comment before and it always feels a little like a shallow dismissal. Maybe its worth someone taking the HN Kaggle dataset and doing a keyword analysis. Demographics are one thing, the topics themselves should be studied.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

France_is_bacon 5y ago

Huh...could you give examples of what is not compatible or not comprehensible in California, but not elsewhere? I'd love to know.

EMRZ 5y ago
I mean, it is actually comprehensible but you know, California tech workers live in a monopoly money bubble and they think they know something about how the world works. Also they think that their own "culture" and leftist values are relevant to everywhere in the world even if they cant even point places on a map. I will get banned if i talk more.
- France_is_bacon 5y ago
  Just keep it non-political. I'd like to know what is non-comprehensible. I am an independent - not "right" of "left", and I think that I can understand both sides. And I think that both sides can understand each other, but they just disagree on what the other side wants to do. But that is not the same as incomprehensible. So, without getting into a political rant, what do you calmly and objectively, with no wrath attached, do you think is incomprehensible to others who don't live in California. And, by the way, I live in California and 100% guarantee you that there's a wide spectrum of people here. Had one guy a few months ago that I was trying to do business with say that if we meet, he doesn't wear a mask. I've talked to a lot of people in California who don't accept evolution and think that the earth was created 6,000 years ago. And, you talk a place like Texas, supposedly hard red state, but you go to places like Austin, and Austin voted something like 70% for Biden.... I just looked it up just now, and was right - 71% https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/texas/ https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/texas/ So I think before Texas and Missouri and all the rest of the red states get their hate on about California, they should first go into all their own blue areas. And, pretty much, the blue areas are mostly university towns. The kids. So, all the red states should start putting all their children who are college students at University of Texas or University of Iowa and all the other university towns into gas chambers or whatever they want to do. Start the hate at home, I always say. Fix one's own home. Kill the kids. Even in harder hard-core states like Mississippi, there are a bunch of counties were at 70% Biden. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/mississippi-results https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/mississippi-... Why bother about California? And, of course, there is a boatload of counties in California that voted 70% for Trump https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/california/ https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/california/ So. What specifically are these things that are incomprehensible to others, that californians do, supposedly. Give me specifics.

nicbou 5y ago

I'm neither part of the tech nor startup scene. I'm happy to see more variety in the content, as long as it's high quality and has interesting comments. To be frank, work is work and I don't care so much to read about it. I care even less about drama at other companies.