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Interesting, but hacker news? Come on... if I wanted general news, then I'd go to Reddit.

by davedx 15y ago

vladd 15y ago
HN is mainly aimed towards insightful stories about "hacking" any system that is not tuned properly and still has room for improvement in order to be more close to our desires. Entrepreneurship is the main way to hack society and its systems (I put most politicians in the "those that cannot do, teach" department). But the first step in fixing a system is to find out about its issues. From this perspective, this is very much an on-topic story on HN. See also the meaning of "hacker" written by pg: http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html .
- yariang 15y ago
  Repeating from above: "On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Stories don't have to be about hacking. In fact, the Hacker News guidelines used to explicitly mention that good hackers were interested in things other than hacking. I am upset at the trend in HN to increasingly post only technology-related posts. A news submission with no intellectual undertones can be voted up dozens of times as long as it's related to Apple, Android, or something similar. Posting shallow content just because it's tech is the quickest route to becoming Reddit. And that's not a bash on Reddit, I enjoy reddit--but it's not where I normally go for "deeply interesting" content.
simonw 15y ago
"On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- davidw 15y ago
  This is way more of a 'tugs at the heartstrings' type of thing than gratifying intellectual curiosity. Did anyone not really understand that it's rough for people to lose their houses?
  - vladd 15y ago
    There are thousands of things that are rough in life or that can be improved, yet one constant complaint I hear about startups nowadays is that they're solving web2.0 problems that move text or images from one screen to another. To fix things, you first need to hear about the process, to learn intricate details about it, how people end up in these situations and what's at stake. Only then you can become passionate about solving issues that don't involve screens, keyboards and mouses. Do we know it's rough? Yes. Do we understand their issues and have ideas how to fix this? I doubt many of us do. In my country, if you're late for 90 days with your mortgage payment, one specific bank transfers your debt to another entity which sends you a letter requiring you to pay the entire debt within 1 year or they'll foreclosure on you. I wouldn't have found this today if it weren't for this article. And maybe in the future, the dots will connect and this information will help me improve the lives of such people in distress.
    - Retric 15y ago
      That sounds suspiciously like you have 1 year to either get a new loan or live with zero rent which is not that bad of a deal IMO. Because, your underwater on your mortgage it's free rent, otherwise you should be able to either get a new loan or sell within a year.
      - vladd 15y ago
        In my country you're responsible with your full wealth for your debt (and there's no personal bankruptcy law - it applies only to businesses). They'll retain 1/3 of your salary until they fully recover the difference, if there's any left after the foreclosure.
goombastic 15y ago
I find complex systems with a lot of variables interesting and "hack worthy." Economics is one such. The human aspect and outcomes of the "hack" appeal as well.
hyperbovine 15y ago
This comment of yours is even less interesting than the aforementioned link, while occupying more screen real estate. Explain that.
- ristretto 15y ago
  Yours is even less so. Like the parent, i found the story uninteresting. If anyone with a sad job got to the frontpage, goodbye IT news. In the end, if the guy thinks his job is sad, quit it, or campaign against evictions. Pretending to be sad and effectively asking for sympathy is ... i can't find the word.
Aron 15y ago
You are right, but since the readers of this comment thread are self-selected, you lose the karma battle. Kind of like how on Youtube, every song is the best song in the world.

Interesting, but hacker news? Come on... if I wanted general news, then I'd go to Reddit.

by davedx 15y ago

Interesting, but hacker news? Come on... if I wanted general news, then I'd go to Reddit.

vladd 15y ago

HN is mainly aimed towards insightful stories about "hacking" any system that is not tuned properly and still has room for improvement in order to be more close to our desires. Entrepreneurship is the main way to hack society and its systems (I put most politicians in the "those that cannot do, teach" department). But the first step in fixing a system is to find out about its issues. From this perspective, this is very much an on-topic story on HN. See also the meaning of "hacker" written by pg: http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html .

yariang 15y ago
Repeating from above: "On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Stories don't have to be about hacking. In fact, the Hacker News guidelines used to explicitly mention that good hackers were interested in things other than hacking. I am upset at the trend in HN to increasingly post only technology-related posts. A news submission with no intellectual undertones can be voted up dozens of times as long as it's related to Apple, Android, or something similar. Posting shallow content just because it's tech is the quickest route to becoming Reddit. And that's not a bash on Reddit, I enjoy reddit--but it's not where I normally go for "deeply interesting" content.

simonw 15y ago

"On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

davidw 15y ago
This is way more of a 'tugs at the heartstrings' type of thing than gratifying intellectual curiosity. Did anyone not really understand that it's rough for people to lose their houses?
- vladd 15y ago
  There are thousands of things that are rough in life or that can be improved, yet one constant complaint I hear about startups nowadays is that they're solving web2.0 problems that move text or images from one screen to another. To fix things, you first need to hear about the process, to learn intricate details about it, how people end up in these situations and what's at stake. Only then you can become passionate about solving issues that don't involve screens, keyboards and mouses. Do we know it's rough? Yes. Do we understand their issues and have ideas how to fix this? I doubt many of us do. In my country, if you're late for 90 days with your mortgage payment, one specific bank transfers your debt to another entity which sends you a letter requiring you to pay the entire debt within 1 year or they'll foreclosure on you. I wouldn't have found this today if it weren't for this article. And maybe in the future, the dots will connect and this information will help me improve the lives of such people in distress.
  - Retric 15y ago
    That sounds suspiciously like you have 1 year to either get a new loan or live with zero rent which is not that bad of a deal IMO. Because, your underwater on your mortgage it's free rent, otherwise you should be able to either get a new loan or sell within a year.
    - vladd 15y ago
      In my country you're responsible with your full wealth for your debt (and there's no personal bankruptcy law - it applies only to businesses). They'll retain 1/3 of your salary until they fully recover the difference, if there's any left after the foreclosure.

goombastic 15y ago

I find complex systems with a lot of variables interesting and "hack worthy." Economics is one such. The human aspect and outcomes of the "hack" appeal as well.

hyperbovine 15y ago

This comment of yours is even less interesting than the aforementioned link, while occupying more screen real estate. Explain that.

ristretto 15y ago
Yours is even less so. Like the parent, i found the story uninteresting. If anyone with a sad job got to the frontpage, goodbye IT news. In the end, if the guy thinks his job is sad, quit it, or campaign against evictions. Pretending to be sad and effectively asking for sympathy is ... i can't find the word.

Aron 15y ago

You are right, but since the readers of this comment thread are self-selected, you lose the karma battle. Kind of like how on Youtube, every song is the best song in the world.