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I have no idea how HN does it (I hear this "dang" guy plays a big role) but HN shows the possibility of a largely positive and edifying social media IMO. I hav

I have no idea how HN does it (I hear this "dang" guy plays a big role) but HN shows the possibility of a largely positive and edifying social media IMO. I have maybe needed a break from time to time though. I generally don't take that break but maybe I should... EDIT: I know we're not supposed to comment on downvotes but it was very funny to me that the first vote I got on this comment was a down. Like, "HN sucks! How dare you suggest it is good! And worst of all, no evidence but your opinion. Utterly worthless post" Love this place. Never change.

justapassenger 5y ago
HN is a huge echo chamber. That’s a characteristic of a most of social medias, and can have very bad consequences. But in this case it’s just geeks talking about tech. If you’d make HN general network, it wouldn’t be any better than other todays networks, as growth to general public is what kills them.
- civilized 5y ago
  I think you get what you put in. I've had plenty of interesting, challenging conversations here. On Twitter too, although it's more work and ultimately I decided it wasn't worth it. I agree that HN would not survive an incursion by the general public. Fortunately we're protected by being a bunch of boring nerds. Who would bother? The boring, minimalist UI is probably our strongest moat.
  - Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
    Twitter's tiny character limit makes any sort of real discussion impossible. There's no room for nuance or detailed explanations of a position when you can only fit two or three sentences.
    - civilized 5y ago
      I found it's actually pretty possible with a willing partner. You dice up an argument into bite-sized chunks, and if the other person cooperates, they read the whole thing and reply with their own thread. The character limit actually has a neat side effect: you can reply at the precise point of the argument you want to, and start a thread from there. The main problem on Twitter is finding the right people to talk to, and the lack of moderation. Things get heated easily and there's no way to turn it back down. You end up in a small posse of people who share your views and values enough not to treat you like shit when you express yourself.
- pjc50 5y ago
  I don't think it's possible to have a functioning long term community that someone doesn't denounce as an "echo chamber". A more favourable view would be to call it "shared values" and "common ground". > as growth to general public is what kills them. Negative returns to scale. What we want is perhaps not one big social network, but lots of little fragmented ones with no particular expectation that everyone will be on the same ones. Kind of like not expecting everyone to be in the same friends group in the real world.
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
HN does it with heavy moderation. For one, the scope of what's allowed to be posted is small. You're never going to see a post about Kylie Jenner's latest trip here. Second, low-quality comments are universally downvoted. Jokes and fun are allowed, but we don't tend to beat dead horses into a bloody pulp like reddit does. You will never see "Username checks out" as a comment here. Lastly, HN is mostly populated by tech workers. The average education level of an HN user is likely significantly higher than the general population.
- mistermann 5y ago
  These surely account for much of what works here at HN, but what other items from the comprehensive list are we missing? One I can think of: the less diversity of viewpoints a community has, the more harmonious (less polarized) it will be. Moderation & voting can plausibly establish and maintain such a phenomenon, but my intuition is that this (roughly: ~echo chamber, and please pardon the pejorative nature of that term) may not have been what you had in mind?
- civilized 5y ago
  Yep. Every time I shitpost I get downvoted. I know the bar I'm expected to clear here!

justapassenger 5y ago

HN is a huge echo chamber. That’s a characteristic of a most of social medias, and can have very bad consequences. But in this case it’s just geeks talking about tech. If you’d make HN general network, it wouldn’t be any better than other todays networks, as growth to general public is what kills them.

civilized 5y ago
I think you get what you put in. I've had plenty of interesting, challenging conversations here. On Twitter too, although it's more work and ultimately I decided it wasn't worth it. I agree that HN would not survive an incursion by the general public. Fortunately we're protected by being a bunch of boring nerds. Who would bother? The boring, minimalist UI is probably our strongest moat.
- Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
  Twitter's tiny character limit makes any sort of real discussion impossible. There's no room for nuance or detailed explanations of a position when you can only fit two or three sentences.
  - civilized 5y ago
    I found it's actually pretty possible with a willing partner. You dice up an argument into bite-sized chunks, and if the other person cooperates, they read the whole thing and reply with their own thread. The character limit actually has a neat side effect: you can reply at the precise point of the argument you want to, and start a thread from there. The main problem on Twitter is finding the right people to talk to, and the lack of moderation. Things get heated easily and there's no way to turn it back down. You end up in a small posse of people who share your views and values enough not to treat you like shit when you express yourself.
pjc50 5y ago
I don't think it's possible to have a functioning long term community that someone doesn't denounce as an "echo chamber". A more favourable view would be to call it "shared values" and "common ground". > as growth to general public is what kills them. Negative returns to scale. What we want is perhaps not one big social network, but lots of little fragmented ones with no particular expectation that everyone will be on the same ones. Kind of like not expecting everyone to be in the same friends group in the real world.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

HN does it with heavy moderation. For one, the scope of what's allowed to be posted is small. You're never going to see a post about Kylie Jenner's latest trip here. Second, low-quality comments are universally downvoted. Jokes and fun are allowed, but we don't tend to beat dead horses into a bloody pulp like reddit does. You will never see "Username checks out" as a comment here. Lastly, HN is mostly populated by tech workers. The average education level of an HN user is likely significantly higher than the general population.

mistermann 5y ago
These surely account for much of what works here at HN, but what other items from the comprehensive list are we missing? One I can think of: the less diversity of viewpoints a community has, the more harmonious (less polarized) it will be. Moderation & voting can plausibly establish and maintain such a phenomenon, but my intuition is that this (roughly: ~echo chamber, and please pardon the pejorative nature of that term) may not have been what you had in mind?
civilized 5y ago
Yep. Every time I shitpost I get downvoted. I know the bar I'm expected to clear here!