5 ms·

At least Reddit had it's massive downward spiral years ago, no one can blame their current website layout on this.

by SQueeeeeL 5y ago

DaiPlusPlus 5y ago
Don't worry, we're next.
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  Strongly agree. Those who are skeptical and have recently joined HN just need to rewind, read a few threads from 2015, let alone 2010. The quality of discussion, the disagreements, the back and forth, the deep respect for each other - all those are eroding away on HN, albeit slowly. Still there is good discussion, especially on deep technical topics (e.g. Semiconductors). It may not be the fault of HN - today's internet is full of toxicity and pretty much everything is politicized. I naturally like to play devil's advocate and it is basically impossible on HN without getting flagged or worse - called names and get insults thrown at you. I would love to get Dang's perspective but it would be difficult for him to say anything.
  - ggm 5y ago
    I'm not dang (or spartacus) but I want to say, I think the logic here is fallacious. Quality may or may not be going down, overall I tend to think not, its distortions of size effects, not absolute decline. But more specifically there is no nexus between the decline, or behaviour, and a desire to IPO and realize profit. Not all things co-relate, they can be contemporaneous and un-related. Whatever Dan has, and he has a lot of "it" -it includes tolerance and forbearance, and an ability not to buy into the paranoia at large. I don't think he'd be part of an IPO decision logic which went "yea it's boring: lets profit and run" -there might be a "profit" and there might be a consequential "run" and there might be "its boring" but I don't personally see them as causally connected.
  - belval 5y ago
    Mandatory guideline quote: > Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills. The actual quote has a bunch of links that I worth looking at. People were echo'ing your comment 7 years ago.
    - systemvoltage 5y ago
      I’ve been here for a while. Maybe we can break the rule in a thread about Reddit going for an IPO? :-) Also, I am not saying HN is turning into Reddit. We are just degrading.
      - belval 5y ago
        FWIW, I didn't mean to imply that you shouldn't comment on it. Just that in HN's "lore" saying that it's turning into reddit is a common theme. As to your comment itself, I don't think HN is degrading that fast? The low-quality "meme" responses usually get downvoted and while polarization is alive and well, most of it leads to interesting arguments so it's not necessarily a bad thing. I've only been here for 2-3 years though so maybe it was different before.
        flanbiscuit 5y ago
        I've been here 8+ years and I don't feel like it has changed much. It probably has in some way that hasn't been very noticeable to me. Just my personal observations.
        systemvoltage 5y ago
        These things are subjective but I find old HN substantially and irrefutably different (and better) for the reasons I said earlier. It is so obvious to me. I wonder why so many people disagree. Something wrong with me? I feel pretty strong about this. Usually, if I’m not convinced, I wouldn’t put it in such strong terms.
        5y ago
  - vorpalhex 5y ago
    Nah, HN is reasonably healthy as far as I can tell. Sometimes things get flagged incorrectly, but usually within a few days issues get fixed. Sometimes you see a flurry of unneeded downvotes.. but scores don't matter much and things get worked out. My sarcastic comments generally score poorly, my helpful ones do well - which is about the desired outcome. The goal is not to prevent inflammatory takes or have scores reflect some ideal of values, just to keep the signal above the noise threshold. I still get odd emails from other HNers and still have interesting conversations.
  - Misdicorl 5y ago
    Since you're getting a lot of contrary viewpoints, I'll be the one to echo your opinion. I'm seeing a lot more people more interested in "winning" an argument/discussion than in engaging in a discussion.
beeskneecaps 5y ago
old.reddit.com with redditenhancementsuite.com extension is still the best way to browse. I'm impressed that they've kept the old UI for so many years. The usage must be significant to keep it around.
- Morizero 5y ago
  I'm still using .compact for mobile browsing
  - beeskneecaps 5y ago
    What is .compact?
    - JonathanMerklin 5y ago
      https://www.reddit.com/.compact https://www.reddit.com/.compact There's also https://i.reddit.com https://i.reddit.com which is a similar but slightly different experience. EDIT: per commenters below correcting my mistake, this is "the same" experience AFAWCT
      - dredmorbius 5y ago
        Those are identical AFAIU. Often .compact and i.reddit.com will interchange in my experience. (I forget which switches to which.)
      - andreareina 5y ago
        They're the exact same for me. In fact links on i.reddit.com are for www.reddit.com/...[/].compact
        JonathanMerklin 5y ago
        Oh, so they are! So what happened here, IYI: I did a paranoiac double-check that both domains resolved and showed content before commenting, but my (...)/.compact result was with smaller text/more "squeeze". I thought it odd but it made sense because, y'know, "compact." Turns out I had at some point set an 80% zoom while visiting there on this particular browser. Sorry for the confusion!

At least Reddit had it's massive downward spiral years ago, no one can blame their current website layout on this.

DaiPlusPlus 5y ago

Don't worry, we're next.

systemvoltage 5y ago
Strongly agree. Those who are skeptical and have recently joined HN just need to rewind, read a few threads from 2015, let alone 2010. The quality of discussion, the disagreements, the back and forth, the deep respect for each other - all those are eroding away on HN, albeit slowly. Still there is good discussion, especially on deep technical topics (e.g. Semiconductors). It may not be the fault of HN - today's internet is full of toxicity and pretty much everything is politicized. I naturally like to play devil's advocate and it is basically impossible on HN without getting flagged or worse - called names and get insults thrown at you. I would love to get Dang's perspective but it would be difficult for him to say anything.
- ggm 5y ago
  I'm not dang (or spartacus) but I want to say, I think the logic here is fallacious. Quality may or may not be going down, overall I tend to think not, its distortions of size effects, not absolute decline. But more specifically there is no nexus between the decline, or behaviour, and a desire to IPO and realize profit. Not all things co-relate, they can be contemporaneous and un-related. Whatever Dan has, and he has a lot of "it" -it includes tolerance and forbearance, and an ability not to buy into the paranoia at large. I don't think he'd be part of an IPO decision logic which went "yea it's boring: lets profit and run" -there might be a "profit" and there might be a consequential "run" and there might be "its boring" but I don't personally see them as causally connected.
- belval 5y ago
  Mandatory guideline quote: > Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills. The actual quote has a bunch of links that I worth looking at. People were echo'ing your comment 7 years ago.
  - systemvoltage 5y ago
    I’ve been here for a while. Maybe we can break the rule in a thread about Reddit going for an IPO? :-) Also, I am not saying HN is turning into Reddit. We are just degrading.
    - belval 5y ago
      FWIW, I didn't mean to imply that you shouldn't comment on it. Just that in HN's "lore" saying that it's turning into reddit is a common theme. As to your comment itself, I don't think HN is degrading that fast? The low-quality "meme" responses usually get downvoted and while polarization is alive and well, most of it leads to interesting arguments so it's not necessarily a bad thing. I've only been here for 2-3 years though so maybe it was different before.
      - flanbiscuit 5y ago
        I've been here 8+ years and I don't feel like it has changed much. It probably has in some way that hasn't been very noticeable to me. Just my personal observations.
        systemvoltage 5y ago
        These things are subjective but I find old HN substantially and irrefutably different (and better) for the reasons I said earlier. It is so obvious to me. I wonder why so many people disagree. Something wrong with me? I feel pretty strong about this. Usually, if I’m not convinced, I wouldn’t put it in such strong terms.
        5y ago
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  Nah, HN is reasonably healthy as far as I can tell. Sometimes things get flagged incorrectly, but usually within a few days issues get fixed. Sometimes you see a flurry of unneeded downvotes.. but scores don't matter much and things get worked out. My sarcastic comments generally score poorly, my helpful ones do well - which is about the desired outcome. The goal is not to prevent inflammatory takes or have scores reflect some ideal of values, just to keep the signal above the noise threshold. I still get odd emails from other HNers and still have interesting conversations.
- Misdicorl 5y ago
  Since you're getting a lot of contrary viewpoints, I'll be the one to echo your opinion. I'm seeing a lot more people more interested in "winning" an argument/discussion than in engaging in a discussion.

beeskneecaps 5y ago

old.reddit.com with redditenhancementsuite.com extension is still the best way to browse. I'm impressed that they've kept the old UI for so many years. The usage must be significant to keep it around.

Morizero 5y ago
I'm still using .compact for mobile browsing
- beeskneecaps 5y ago
  What is .compact?
  - JonathanMerklin 5y ago
    https://www.reddit.com/.compact https://www.reddit.com/.compact There's also https://i.reddit.com https://i.reddit.com which is a similar but slightly different experience. EDIT: per commenters below correcting my mistake, this is "the same" experience AFAWCT
    - dredmorbius 5y ago
      Those are identical AFAIU. Often .compact and i.reddit.com will interchange in my experience. (I forget which switches to which.)
    - andreareina 5y ago
      They're the exact same for me. In fact links on i.reddit.com are for www.reddit.com/...[/].compact
      - JonathanMerklin 5y ago
        Oh, so they are! So what happened here, IYI: I did a paranoiac double-check that both domains resolved and showed content before commenting, but my (...)/.compact result was with smaller text/more "squeeze". I thought it odd but it made sense because, y'know, "compact." Turns out I had at some point set an 80% zoom while visiting there on this particular browser. Sorry for the confusion!