4 ms·

IMHO, this place is more toxic. Sure, there is a much stronger social policing of personal attacks and sophomoric comments, but within those bounds, some peopl

IMHO, this place is more toxic. Sure, there is a much stronger social policing of personal attacks and sophomoric comments, but within those bounds, some people appear to feel freer to make genuinely cutting comments and express vitriolic opinions.

beaconstudios 5y ago
they're the same place (literally, same demographics and that), HN just pushes people to be passive-aggressive instead of regular aggressive because of the rules on tone, even though the spirit of the rules is to be inquisitive rather than abrasive.
- WalterSear 5y ago
  I disagree. 14% of the US use reddit++. It's possible, and IMHO, likely that most HN users are reddit users. It's definitely not the case that most reddit users are HN users. t In my utterly subjective opinion, the users of HN are generally older, and almost certainly more STEM oriented than their reddit counterparts. Both their age and their experience might explain why they are more skilled at eviscerating a commenter while staying within the letter of HN social norms and moderation. Moreover, and I reiterate, IMHSO, the more toxic users on HN tend to be primarily reactionary in political persuasion, whereas, reddit has a much more wider political varieties of jackass. Perhaps this is a result of there not being subHN forums to where people would self-segregate. ++ https://www.oberlo.com/blog/reddit-statistics https://www.oberlo.com/blog/reddit-statistics
  - beaconstudios 5y ago
    HN's core audience migrated from reddit after it became victim to the eternal September effect after it went mainstream. Reddit's core culture is the same as HN's - which is to say liberal, atheist, materialist and STEM-fetishising, and drawn to geek culture/media. Demographics-wise, white males from the US, predominantly urban/city-oriented. The main difference is that HN is more technical, and probably older because of said migration. My experience with people being toxic or negative or whatever has been mainly people being passive-aggressive or hostile, regardless of politics. Most reactionary content here just gets flagged into oblivion regardless of how it's presented, of course. So the unpleasantness that actually sticks around tends to be either apolitical or liberal/progressive (I find neoliberals are too busy trying to make money to engage in petty arguments!).

beaconstudios 5y ago

they're the same place (literally, same demographics and that), HN just pushes people to be passive-aggressive instead of regular aggressive because of the rules on tone, even though the spirit of the rules is to be inquisitive rather than abrasive.

WalterSear 5y ago
I disagree. 14% of the US use reddit++. It's possible, and IMHO, likely that most HN users are reddit users. It's definitely not the case that most reddit users are HN users. t In my utterly subjective opinion, the users of HN are generally older, and almost certainly more STEM oriented than their reddit counterparts. Both their age and their experience might explain why they are more skilled at eviscerating a commenter while staying within the letter of HN social norms and moderation. Moreover, and I reiterate, IMHSO, the more toxic users on HN tend to be primarily reactionary in political persuasion, whereas, reddit has a much more wider political varieties of jackass. Perhaps this is a result of there not being subHN forums to where people would self-segregate. ++ https://www.oberlo.com/blog/reddit-statistics https://www.oberlo.com/blog/reddit-statistics
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  HN's core audience migrated from reddit after it became victim to the eternal September effect after it went mainstream. Reddit's core culture is the same as HN's - which is to say liberal, atheist, materialist and STEM-fetishising, and drawn to geek culture/media. Demographics-wise, white males from the US, predominantly urban/city-oriented. The main difference is that HN is more technical, and probably older because of said migration. My experience with people being toxic or negative or whatever has been mainly people being passive-aggressive or hostile, regardless of politics. Most reactionary content here just gets flagged into oblivion regardless of how it's presented, of course. So the unpleasantness that actually sticks around tends to be either apolitical or liberal/progressive (I find neoliberals are too busy trying to make money to engage in petty arguments!).