4 ms·

What evidence is there for this feedback loop? It is self evident.

by biohacker42 18y ago

robg 18y ago
Really? If it were, I'd think you could point to some actual evidence instead of relying on self-evidence.
- biohacker42 18y ago
  Reddit, Digg, every other community site which started out with a narrowly focused group and then slowly become popular. Is that enough actual real world evidence? I can keep listing social sites, that this has happened to, all day long.
  - robg 18y ago
    You haven't pointed to evidence of it happening here. One political post every hundred or so (if that - I doubt it) doesn't tell me the sky is falling. Testing the predicted feedback loop, especially for #1 and #2, would seem to required actual evidence of #1 and #2 happening here.
    - biohacker42 18y ago
      I agree, let's not continue arguing on the internet. My hypothesis is: As this place continue to gain in popularity it will continue to become more generic and reddit like. I hope to be proven wrong.
      - robg 18y ago
        Obviously you're not alone. But almost 600 days and with a major election upcoming there have been very few mentions of it. Celebrate the positives!
    - BrandonM 18y ago
      I wasn't going to reply, but I've seen this "One political post every hundred or so" comment from you several times now, and it's simply irrelevant. It is not how many political submissions there have been lately, but how many are reaching the top 30, or even the top 5, and the quality of discussion therein. When I first joined Hacker News (near the beginning), a political article on the front page was an anomaly; in fact, I can't remember a good example of one. Sure, there were a few things in regards to the importance of Net Neutrality and how it could potentially affect the landscape of the Internet. There were a few about AT&T sharing records with the government, or Google not doing it. These are issues that have direct relevance to startups and "hackers", and there were hardly ever political debates or democrat/republican leanings expressed in the comments. Even then, I remember seeing perhaps one such submission on the front page per month. Lately, it is strange not to see a few front page political articles per week. Not only that, but these articles are less relevant to our startups and to the lives of non-Americans. And to take the cake, their comments inevitably include at least one political debate thread, a few snarky comments, and a general lack of substance. Many of the members who are here for hacker-related submissions simply stay away from such topics, and that is apparent from the difference in comment quality. It seems to me that there is a slow shift towards a Hacker News divide: "good" Hacker News submissions where the discussion is interesting and intellectually stimulating, and "bad" Hacker News submissions where the discussion tends more towards the things we're trying to avoid. In a site called "Hacker News", this divide is unwelcome and senseless. That this submission has over 200 upvotes (not including one by me, by the way) is evidence of that. I would much rather see 3 submissions like this that indicate that the community is fighting back against irrelevance than to see even one submission that is dominated by political debates that could easily happen elsewhere. People have been talking politics for centuries, and the likelihood that someone here is going to bring up a novel, interesting point is minuscule. In a community that is dominated by programmers, entrepreneurs, and other tech people, I'd much rather see discussion that might actually introduce me to brand new ideas and change my life for the better.

What evidence is there for this feedback loop? It is self evident.

robg 18y ago

Really? If it were, I'd think you could point to some actual evidence instead of relying on self-evidence.

biohacker42 18y ago
Reddit, Digg, every other community site which started out with a narrowly focused group and then slowly become popular. Is that enough actual real world evidence? I can keep listing social sites, that this has happened to, all day long.
- robg 18y ago
  You haven't pointed to evidence of it happening here. One political post every hundred or so (if that - I doubt it) doesn't tell me the sky is falling. Testing the predicted feedback loop, especially for #1 and #2, would seem to required actual evidence of #1 and #2 happening here.
  - biohacker42 18y ago
    I agree, let's not continue arguing on the internet. My hypothesis is: As this place continue to gain in popularity it will continue to become more generic and reddit like. I hope to be proven wrong.
    - robg 18y ago
      Obviously you're not alone. But almost 600 days and with a major election upcoming there have been very few mentions of it. Celebrate the positives!
  - BrandonM 18y ago
    I wasn't going to reply, but I've seen this "One political post every hundred or so" comment from you several times now, and it's simply irrelevant. It is not how many political submissions there have been lately, but how many are reaching the top 30, or even the top 5, and the quality of discussion therein. When I first joined Hacker News (near the beginning), a political article on the front page was an anomaly; in fact, I can't remember a good example of one. Sure, there were a few things in regards to the importance of Net Neutrality and how it could potentially affect the landscape of the Internet. There were a few about AT&T sharing records with the government, or Google not doing it. These are issues that have direct relevance to startups and "hackers", and there were hardly ever political debates or democrat/republican leanings expressed in the comments. Even then, I remember seeing perhaps one such submission on the front page per month. Lately, it is strange not to see a few front page political articles per week. Not only that, but these articles are less relevant to our startups and to the lives of non-Americans. And to take the cake, their comments inevitably include at least one political debate thread, a few snarky comments, and a general lack of substance. Many of the members who are here for hacker-related submissions simply stay away from such topics, and that is apparent from the difference in comment quality. It seems to me that there is a slow shift towards a Hacker News divide: "good" Hacker News submissions where the discussion is interesting and intellectually stimulating, and "bad" Hacker News submissions where the discussion tends more towards the things we're trying to avoid. In a site called "Hacker News", this divide is unwelcome and senseless. That this submission has over 200 upvotes (not including one by me, by the way) is evidence of that. I would much rather see 3 submissions like this that indicate that the community is fighting back against irrelevance than to see even one submission that is dominated by political debates that could easily happen elsewhere. People have been talking politics for centuries, and the likelihood that someone here is going to bring up a novel, interesting point is minuscule. In a community that is dominated by programmers, entrepreneurs, and other tech people, I'd much rather see discussion that might actually introduce me to brand new ideas and change my life for the better.