5 ms·

Is anything “featured”? People post what they are interested in; people discuss and upvote what they are interested in. Ipso facto, amiright?

coldtea 5y ago
Question remains: why is so much self-help posted and so many people are upvoting it on HN. I'm not sure the OP meant "featured" as opposed to "naturally upvoted".
- extheat 5y ago
  Why not? I think this type of educational content for betterment is quite a desirable trait of HN. If you want an alphabet soup of what’s hot, corpo PR or clickbait content there’s many other places on the internet, like Reddit just for that. I view the intellectual and thoughtfulness of HN as a feature, not a bug.
  - coldtea 5y ago
    >I think this type of educational content for betterment is quite a desirable trait of HN I think one complaint can assume the opposite: that it's trite, snake-oil, or vacuous content, usually chased compulsively one-after-another, by people far from actually improving (or, in lieu of improving).
    - __jambo 5y ago
      Yeah, I mean some of it is interesting but you hit diminishing returns after like two talks because it's so personal, vague, vast, and complex to give meaningful advice when the speaker/writer isn't there with the audience. I think it can become detrimental procrastination content quite quickly because it gives the illusion of "doing something about a problem", without really doing anything. I also find it can keep you from moving on from things, if you don't yet know "how to think" why are you thinking? Therefore you should stop and read the article. lol. Bit abstract there, but there is an assumption that you don't already know pretty well how to think that's being thrown at you, and this bugs me.
  - muzani 5y ago
    Self help is a bit like fad diets. It's a painkiller for a burning problem. It works instantly, and often for a few months, but suddenly you're at a point where you're no better off than not following it. It's still useful to have all the comments around to judge the pros and cons of a technique, but HN leans cynical, so it's often not that useful either.
    - rg111 5y ago
      > It's a painkiller for a burning problem. Erm, not really. 1. Deep Work by Cal Newport has made a long-lasting effect in my life. My life is significantly better because I read it. 2. I got to know about The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa through HN. Literally changed my life. Self-help is too broad. There are master marketers with shallow content like Robin Sharma, blog-post-inflaters like Mark Manson, and genuinely helpful content like Prsgmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt. Like novels, movies, and anything else, there are many kinds of self-help.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- mattbrewsbytes 5y ago
  Most self-help stuff online is click-baity nonsense which a lot of very analytical people like us see right through. Maybe the HN audience appreciates more anecdotal discussions of what others, like us, have found success with. I think its also because the HN crowd is more curious, introspective and career driven than a lot of other forums.

coldtea 5y ago

Question remains: why is so much self-help posted and so many people are upvoting it on HN. I'm not sure the OP meant "featured" as opposed to "naturally upvoted".

extheat 5y ago
Why not? I think this type of educational content for betterment is quite a desirable trait of HN. If you want an alphabet soup of what’s hot, corpo PR or clickbait content there’s many other places on the internet, like Reddit just for that. I view the intellectual and thoughtfulness of HN as a feature, not a bug.
- coldtea 5y ago
  >I think this type of educational content for betterment is quite a desirable trait of HN I think one complaint can assume the opposite: that it's trite, snake-oil, or vacuous content, usually chased compulsively one-after-another, by people far from actually improving (or, in lieu of improving).
  - __jambo 5y ago
    Yeah, I mean some of it is interesting but you hit diminishing returns after like two talks because it's so personal, vague, vast, and complex to give meaningful advice when the speaker/writer isn't there with the audience. I think it can become detrimental procrastination content quite quickly because it gives the illusion of "doing something about a problem", without really doing anything. I also find it can keep you from moving on from things, if you don't yet know "how to think" why are you thinking? Therefore you should stop and read the article. lol. Bit abstract there, but there is an assumption that you don't already know pretty well how to think that's being thrown at you, and this bugs me.
- muzani 5y ago
  Self help is a bit like fad diets. It's a painkiller for a burning problem. It works instantly, and often for a few months, but suddenly you're at a point where you're no better off than not following it. It's still useful to have all the comments around to judge the pros and cons of a technique, but HN leans cynical, so it's often not that useful either.
  - rg111 5y ago
    > It's a painkiller for a burning problem. Erm, not really. 1. Deep Work by Cal Newport has made a long-lasting effect in my life. My life is significantly better because I read it. 2. I got to know about The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa through HN. Literally changed my life. Self-help is too broad. There are master marketers with shallow content like Robin Sharma, blog-post-inflaters like Mark Manson, and genuinely helpful content like Prsgmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt. Like novels, movies, and anything else, there are many kinds of self-help.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
mattbrewsbytes 5y ago
Most self-help stuff online is click-baity nonsense which a lot of very analytical people like us see right through. Maybe the HN audience appreciates more anecdotal discussions of what others, like us, have found success with. I think its also because the HN crowd is more curious, introspective and career driven than a lot of other forums.