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I've only been active since 2019, I wouldn't say the tone has changed much, maybe there are waves, maybe it's just the ebb and tide of who are active when, whic

by dusted 5y ago

I've only been active since 2019, I wouldn't say the tone has changed much, maybe there are waves, maybe it's just the ebb and tide of who are active when, which is outside-influenced by peoples general lives. Sometimes several of the more negative people will happen to be in a more active period at the same time.. That said, I think the tone on HN is fairly good, people are not sugarcoating things, they're not veiling their views with courtesy, and they're generally presenting arguments for consideration, and if insults are made, they're usually insults of ideas, not people. So maybe I'm just in the "negative asshole camp" but I think it's very refreshing to have conversations on HN, because my views are often challenged, and I am forced to reconsider and adjust, while at the same time, I feel that my own points are being considered, rather than automatically discarded as is often the case in mainstream social media, where discussions are not had to find understanding or truth, but to "win".

denton-scratch 5y ago
> That said, I think the tone on HN is fairly good I agree. I've been visiting HN for years, but I'm pretty new as a commenter. AFAICS the tone is rather nicely controlled by the mods (hi, dang!) and the community. I'm glad it's a place where people can say what they think, in fairly direct terms; I'm also glad that people are expected to think before they say. Whether conversations here are more polarized than in the past, I can't say. But societies have become more polarized lately; people are angrier, there's a lot more othering going on. It helps a lot that HN generally disapproves of political debates.
ethbr0 5y ago
There are always going to be people who confuse "I disagree with you" with "You're wrong." Generally, HN trends towards the former, and that's one of the things I love about it! You can make a good point and I can disagree with you! One of the most counter-intuitive tenets of forum community management is the only winning move is not to engage with bad behavior. A downvote + not replying to a poorly behaving commenter is orders of magnitude more powerful and instructive than any reply. (And also, the distinction between "downvote because I disagree" & "downvote because you're breaking forum norms." We're at our best when we promote healthy debate, and disincentivize bad behavior, instead of "bad thoughts.")
ovao 5y ago
> I've only been active since 2019, I wouldn't say the tone has changed much... Largely agreed. If the idea that the pandemic and the greater isolation that tends to come from remote work are contributing to more negativity in the things people write (which is a reasonable supposition), then you'd probably also expect a more negative take from the things people read. What was once innocuous might now read as not-so-innocuous. In other words, is whatever issue there is just a perception issue? Overall, I don't think HN's tone or content quality has changed much. dang & Co. are steering this ship just as well as ever in my opinion (thanks dang!)

by dusted 5y ago

denton-scratch 5y ago

> That said, I think the tone on HN is fairly good I agree. I've been visiting HN for years, but I'm pretty new as a commenter. AFAICS the tone is rather nicely controlled by the mods (hi, dang!) and the community. I'm glad it's a place where people can say what they think, in fairly direct terms; I'm also glad that people are expected to think before they say. Whether conversations here are more polarized than in the past, I can't say. But societies have become more polarized lately; people are angrier, there's a lot more othering going on. It helps a lot that HN generally disapproves of political debates.

ethbr0 5y ago

There are always going to be people who confuse "I disagree with you" with "You're wrong." Generally, HN trends towards the former, and that's one of the things I love about it! You can make a good point and I can disagree with you! One of the most counter-intuitive tenets of forum community management is the only winning move is not to engage with bad behavior. A downvote + not replying to a poorly behaving commenter is orders of magnitude more powerful and instructive than any reply. (And also, the distinction between "downvote because I disagree" & "downvote because you're breaking forum norms." We're at our best when we promote healthy debate, and disincentivize bad behavior, instead of "bad thoughts.")

ovao 5y ago

> I've only been active since 2019, I wouldn't say the tone has changed much... Largely agreed. If the idea that the pandemic and the greater isolation that tends to come from remote work are contributing to more negativity in the things people write (which is a reasonable supposition), then you'd probably also expect a more negative take from the things people read. What was once innocuous might now read as not-so-innocuous. In other words, is whatever issue there is just a perception issue? Overall, I don't think HN's tone or content quality has changed much. dang & Co. are steering this ship just as well as ever in my opinion (thanks dang!)