4 ms·

Ask HN: Does reading Hacker News makes you happy?

11 points by dorianmariefr 5y ago

phekunde 5y ago
It starts with being happy, and then turning into a feeling of guilt and despair once you realise that you have spent hours reading the posts, comments and following the links posted by others.
deleted 5y ago
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JasonCannon 5y ago
Not really, but I was addicted to Reddit and HN is atleast a better use of my time due to being about tech and other interesting content, and less addicting. So here I am.
neonnoodle 5y ago
Reading HN enrages me, yet I cannot stop.
ilikerashers 5y ago
Now and again yes. But there are days where it's just time filler content and hero worship.
fspacef 5y ago
Yes it does in a way that I cannot describe. Seeing the collective consciousness of thousands of hackers constantly at work makes me feel the world is alive and buzzing. It’s like glancing outside my window (on a skyscraper) looking mixed traffic go by on a super highway.
PaulHoule 5y ago
Yes
1cvmask 5y ago
It's not about being happy. Life to most hackers is a quest for wisdom or the truth. HN reminds me of the digital version of the Speech of the Birds by Attar (aka The Conference of the Birds). Attar was the inspiration for Rumi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conference_of_the_Birds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conference_of_the_Birds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attar_of_Nishapur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attar_of_Nishapur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi
- mettamage 5y ago
  > It's not about being happy. Life to most hackers is a quest for wisdom or the truth. This hits home hard.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  The search for Wisdom and Truth lead to noble suffering and, possibly, enlightenment.
phillipseamore 5y ago
Most importantly it keeps me informed. I usually try and go through all of /newest everyday (not checking out every link of course!). The discussions are usually very good (except for certain topics that don't even belong here). So yes, I'd say reading HN me happy.
david927 5y ago
Ian Anderson of the band Jethro Tull was once asked in an interview with MTV if he watched it. When he said he did, the interviewer was surprised that he liked that kind of music. He looked horrified and said, "I don't watch the news because I like what I see!" I don't read HN to be happy; I read it to be informed.
JohnFen 5y ago
It neither makes me happy nor unhappy. I find it interesting and often enlightening.
deleted 5y ago
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chooma 5y ago
It sounds like it makes you unhappy. Why is that?
- dorianmariefr 5y ago
  It doesn't make me happy or not happy, it's just become a place I go when I want to avoid doing things. I don't really like all the rants especially around big companies. And I like a lot of threads especially with technical content. I was just wondering how others experience this website.
readonthegoapp 5y ago
No
f0e4c2f7 5y ago
Not every post or comment, but generally yes. I'm very happy this place exists. There was another site I used to hang out on years ago called hackthissite.org. Sometimes HN reminds me a bit of that, or old chat rooms. I just like hanging out with hackers. Puts me at ease.
crate_barre 5y ago
I prefer the misery of Slashdot a tad more, but their site is unusable. But yes, the consistent stream of burnout and stress posts make me feel like I’m not the only one going crazy.
imakwana 5y ago
Yes, it is like walking into a coffee shop full of smart people and listening to their conversations. It is inspiring in a subtle and constructive way. The mental models acquired over many years of reading HN are extremely helpful in navigating the tech/career landscape.
karmakaze 5y ago
Yes. I used to be conflicted by the number of times I would check and rescan for new content throughout most days. The f(votes, recency) blending of posts encourages slot-machine behaviour. Once I realized this, I sought out different front-ends and ultimately made one myself[0], initially for consuming while semi-offline during my commutes, and now just use by default. [0] https://hackerer.news/ https://hackerer.news/ [1] https://github.com/git-grep/hackerer-news https://github.com/git-grep/hackerer-news (I think this is the right repo, there might be a more recent one on Gitlab or elsewhere I don't recall it's been a while)
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

11 points by dorianmariefr 5y ago

It starts with being happy, and then turning into a feeling of guilt and despair once you realise that you have spent hours reading the posts, comments and following the links posted by others.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

JasonCannon 5y ago

Not really, but I was addicted to Reddit and HN is atleast a better use of my time due to being about tech and other interesting content, and less addicting. So here I am.

neonnoodle 5y ago

Reading HN enrages me, yet I cannot stop.

ilikerashers 5y ago

Now and again yes. But there are days where it's just time filler content and hero worship.

fspacef 5y ago

Yes it does in a way that I cannot describe. Seeing the collective consciousness of thousands of hackers constantly at work makes me feel the world is alive and buzzing. It’s like glancing outside my window (on a skyscraper) looking mixed traffic go by on a super highway.

PaulHoule 5y ago

Yes

1cvmask 5y ago

It's not about being happy. Life to most hackers is a quest for wisdom or the truth. HN reminds me of the digital version of the Speech of the Birds by Attar (aka The Conference of the Birds). Attar was the inspiration for Rumi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conference_of_the_Birds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conference_of_the_Birds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attar_of_Nishapur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attar_of_Nishapur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi

mettamage 5y ago
> It's not about being happy. Life to most hackers is a quest for wisdom or the truth. This hits home hard.
toomuchtodo 5y ago
The search for Wisdom and Truth lead to noble suffering and, possibly, enlightenment.

phillipseamore 5y ago

Most importantly it keeps me informed. I usually try and go through all of /newest everyday (not checking out every link of course!). The discussions are usually very good (except for certain topics that don't even belong here). So yes, I'd say reading HN me happy.

david927 5y ago

Ian Anderson of the band Jethro Tull was once asked in an interview with MTV if he watched it. When he said he did, the interviewer was surprised that he liked that kind of music. He looked horrified and said, "I don't watch the news because I like what I see!" I don't read HN to be happy; I read it to be informed.

JohnFen 5y ago

It neither makes me happy nor unhappy. I find it interesting and often enlightening.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

chooma 5y ago

It sounds like it makes you unhappy. Why is that?

dorianmariefr 5y ago
It doesn't make me happy or not happy, it's just become a place I go when I want to avoid doing things. I don't really like all the rants especially around big companies. And I like a lot of threads especially with technical content. I was just wondering how others experience this website.

readonthegoapp 5y ago

f0e4c2f7 5y ago

Not every post or comment, but generally yes. I'm very happy this place exists. There was another site I used to hang out on years ago called hackthissite.org. Sometimes HN reminds me a bit of that, or old chat rooms. I just like hanging out with hackers. Puts me at ease.

crate_barre 5y ago

I prefer the misery of Slashdot a tad more, but their site is unusable. But yes, the consistent stream of burnout and stress posts make me feel like I’m not the only one going crazy.

imakwana 5y ago

Yes, it is like walking into a coffee shop full of smart people and listening to their conversations. It is inspiring in a subtle and constructive way. The mental models acquired over many years of reading HN are extremely helpful in navigating the tech/career landscape.

karmakaze 5y ago

Yes. I used to be conflicted by the number of times I would check and rescan for new content throughout most days. The f(votes, recency) blending of posts encourages slot-machine behaviour. Once I realized this, I sought out different front-ends and ultimately made one myself[0], initially for consuming while semi-offline during my commutes, and now just use by default. [0] https://hackerer.news/ https://hackerer.news/ [1] https://github.com/git-grep/hackerer-news https://github.com/git-grep/hackerer-news (I think this is the right repo, there might be a more recent one on Gitlab or elsewhere I don't recall it's been a while)

deleted 5y ago

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