3 ms·

I feel like HN has more of the feel to it of a typical forum but it's missing a bit in the relationship building department. I was quite active in a few forums

I feel like HN has more of the feel to it of a typical forum but it's missing a bit in the relationship building department. I was quite active in a few forums many years ago where I knew all the regular folks and made a few lifelong friends. But despite being quite active on HN for 6 years (and lurking much longer) I only recognize a handful of names, rarely see them comment, and don't think anyone is aware that I exist. I believe it's because, like Reddit, it's a bit too big for that type of interactions.

dTal 5y ago
A major culprit there is the absence of private messaging. There's no way to build intimacy. Sure, you can email, but that's a much larger step change in interaction - and giving your email to one person means giving it to everyone.
- Agentlien 5y ago
  That's definitely a factor. On Reddit I've met a few people who I've had some correspondence with after one of us messaged the other. But on old forums there was also the fact that the communities were so small that just hanging out a bit lets you get to know all the regulars. The closest I get to that nowadays is probably guilds in MMOs. There's also Discord, but that's a constant rolling conversation which reminds me of IRC, which was never really my cup of tea.
- Grumbledour 5y ago
  For me, it is also Avatars. I often just don't read the name before the comment, maybe after, if I found it interesting. When people had little pictures it was just so easy to recognize them when just scanning the conversation.
  - handrous 5y ago
    I think that's on purpose, on HN. IIRC the stated reason is that it encourages you to focus on the content of posts rather than who wrote it, though IMO it's net-harmful and is part of why certain types of trolling and shit-posting are super effective on HN. It may also (unintentionally?) serve to limit strong bonds developing on the site and prevent the rise of well-known posters who aren't already HN celebrities for reasons outside their posting on the site, reducing the likelihood or effectiveness of offshoots or schisms that have been a common feature of other large Web forums.
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    I'd tend strongly to agree. For a long time I resisted the pull of avatars, and thought of them as gimmicky. (This coming from the mailing list / Usenet tradition in large part.) But having used forums in which avatars are and are not used (G+, Diaspora, and Mastadon amongst the former, HN, Reddit, and Tildes amongst the latter), I feel a palpable difference between the two. Most of us are sufficiently visually-oriented to pick up on a symbolic representation (avatars need not be photographs or faces), and there's a more rapid assimilation of these than there is of just a textual tag. I've also noticed on platforms / cultures in which changing the visible handle / avatar combination is fairly common (this seems to be the case on Mastodon especially) that this is disruptive. Yes, there's a persistent user name, but changing the associated image and handle ... breaks that recognition. On balance I rather dislike it. I'd had a brief experience on a site in which serial pseudonymity and a lack of long-term persistent identity was a norm (Imzy). That I think was one of several ultimately fatal mechanisms for the platform --- it was shut down after about a year.
Khoth 5y ago
I'd say a big factor is the lack of ability to just socialise. Forums, even those built around some specific topic, normally had a busy "offtopic" section for general chatter. Here, everything has to be at least vaguely about the subject of the thing being linked to, with no space to talk about how your day was or whether you liked <movie> or what have you.

dTal 5y ago

A major culprit there is the absence of private messaging. There's no way to build intimacy. Sure, you can email, but that's a much larger step change in interaction - and giving your email to one person means giving it to everyone.

Agentlien 5y ago
That's definitely a factor. On Reddit I've met a few people who I've had some correspondence with after one of us messaged the other. But on old forums there was also the fact that the communities were so small that just hanging out a bit lets you get to know all the regulars. The closest I get to that nowadays is probably guilds in MMOs. There's also Discord, but that's a constant rolling conversation which reminds me of IRC, which was never really my cup of tea.
Grumbledour 5y ago
For me, it is also Avatars. I often just don't read the name before the comment, maybe after, if I found it interesting. When people had little pictures it was just so easy to recognize them when just scanning the conversation.
- handrous 5y ago
  I think that's on purpose, on HN. IIRC the stated reason is that it encourages you to focus on the content of posts rather than who wrote it, though IMO it's net-harmful and is part of why certain types of trolling and shit-posting are super effective on HN. It may also (unintentionally?) serve to limit strong bonds developing on the site and prevent the rise of well-known posters who aren't already HN celebrities for reasons outside their posting on the site, reducing the likelihood or effectiveness of offshoots or schisms that have been a common feature of other large Web forums.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  I'd tend strongly to agree. For a long time I resisted the pull of avatars, and thought of them as gimmicky. (This coming from the mailing list / Usenet tradition in large part.) But having used forums in which avatars are and are not used (G+, Diaspora, and Mastadon amongst the former, HN, Reddit, and Tildes amongst the latter), I feel a palpable difference between the two. Most of us are sufficiently visually-oriented to pick up on a symbolic representation (avatars need not be photographs or faces), and there's a more rapid assimilation of these than there is of just a textual tag. I've also noticed on platforms / cultures in which changing the visible handle / avatar combination is fairly common (this seems to be the case on Mastodon especially) that this is disruptive. Yes, there's a persistent user name, but changing the associated image and handle ... breaks that recognition. On balance I rather dislike it. I'd had a brief experience on a site in which serial pseudonymity and a lack of long-term persistent identity was a norm (Imzy). That I think was one of several ultimately fatal mechanisms for the platform --- it was shut down after about a year.

Khoth 5y ago

I'd say a big factor is the lack of ability to just socialise. Forums, even those built around some specific topic, normally had a busy "offtopic" section for general chatter. Here, everything has to be at least vaguely about the subject of the thing being linked to, with no space to talk about how your day was or whether you liked <movie> or what have you.