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The stakes are higher at dinner because your face to face. So dinner conversations are actually LESS toxic. People on HN are hidden behind anonymity. The only d

The stakes are higher at dinner because your face to face. So dinner conversations are actually LESS toxic. People on HN are hidden behind anonymity. The only defense is moderation. I would say unless you have an opinion about something that is very different from the status quo you will rarely encounter toxicity. If you do have opinions that are very different from the norm, the toxicity is rampant.

alkonaut 5y ago
I think perhaps what counts as toxic varies. If you lay out an argument of say why NFTs are great you might not just be met with negativity. Perhaps by dozens of replies. But is that toxic? With actual toxic behavior I mean what goes on in a Call of Duty game chat, or most YouTube comment threads . The actually toxic behavior is completely destroying conversations, not just filling them with negative responses. To see exchanges of (say) three messages without one being homophobic/racist /spammy/.. is really common on HN. That immediately puts even the worst HN discussions in the top percentiles of online discussion. > If you do have opinions that are very different from the norm, the toxicity is rampant. In that there is disagreement or that the disagreement is presented in an especially toxic way? Because obviously arguing something that is way outside the norm will see most people disagree strongly (by definition) so one would expect negative and dismissive responses. That though doesn’t make for “toxic” discussions so long as everyone argues in good faith and is civil?
- deltaonefour 5y ago
  >In that there is disagreement or that the disagreement is presented in an especially toxic way? Yes. Some people will disagree amicably but the majority of the time this is not the case. Many users use subtle degrading tactics (negs) to propagate the toxicity. You think I'm just interpreting disagreement as negativity. No. I assure you I am not.

alkonaut 5y ago

I think perhaps what counts as toxic varies. If you lay out an argument of say why NFTs are great you might not just be met with negativity. Perhaps by dozens of replies. But is that toxic? With actual toxic behavior I mean what goes on in a Call of Duty game chat, or most YouTube comment threads . The actually toxic behavior is completely destroying conversations, not just filling them with negative responses. To see exchanges of (say) three messages without one being homophobic/racist /spammy/.. is really common on HN. That immediately puts even the worst HN discussions in the top percentiles of online discussion. > If you do have opinions that are very different from the norm, the toxicity is rampant. In that there is disagreement or that the disagreement is presented in an especially toxic way? Because obviously arguing something that is way outside the norm will see most people disagree strongly (by definition) so one would expect negative and dismissive responses. That though doesn’t make for “toxic” discussions so long as everyone argues in good faith and is civil?

deltaonefour 5y ago
>In that there is disagreement or that the disagreement is presented in an especially toxic way? Yes. Some people will disagree amicably but the majority of the time this is not the case. Many users use subtle degrading tactics (negs) to propagate the toxicity. You think I'm just interpreting disagreement as negativity. No. I assure you I am not.