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> ny view that is sufficiently represented in society as a whole will appear here, regardless of how bad the argument is or feels. Moreover, HN users are all ov

> ny view that is sufficiently represented in society as a whole will appear here, regardless of how bad the argument is or feels. Moreover, HN users are all over the world, and geography (as a proxy for background and culture) has a huge influence on how people view these things. Surprisingly many of these disputes on HN come from people in one part of the world arguing with people in another part of the world without necessarily realizing it. 100% fair. That doesn't annoy me, that's the internet in general. What annoys me is the general air of arrogance from the HN community about how things are so great here and it doesn't have the problems of (whatever site you don't like), especially when I routinely have more intelligent discussions in Discord servers nowadays.

dang 4y ago
From my perspective, there's more than one "general air". There's the air that you describe, and there's also an air of "I can't believe how bad/awful this place is" (presumably emanating from different users). Which feels the most "general" is really a function of the perceiver's preference: whichever you dislike more will feel the strongest. (You're referencing the same 'dislike' principle, actually, when you say "whatever site you don't like". I completely agree that that's how it works.) These "airs" may not be as opposed as they appear. I think it has to do with how people identify. If you identify with HN (or whatever $object), you'll be more likely to say things about it that come across as triumphalist or arrogant. Someone who identifies against HN (or $object) will be more likely to say things about it that come across as supercilious or putdowns. Since that's just a mechanical consequence of identification, it's not that interesting—which explains why such comments (on both sides) tend to be generic and lack information—they're really not about $object, they're really about oneself. The interesting question is what drives the identification in the first place. That's not so easy to figure out from internet comments! Re more intelligent discussions in Discord servers—I don't disbelieve you. The sad thing is that group size is one of the biggest variables affecting online discussion quality. Maybe the biggest. I say sad because it's sad to me—it means there's a cap on how good HN can ever get, and mostly all we can do is try to stave off decline. Or—to be superoptimistic—maybe it can slowly get a little better, if we spend a lot of energy.

dang 4y ago

From my perspective, there's more than one "general air". There's the air that you describe, and there's also an air of "I can't believe how bad/awful this place is" (presumably emanating from different users). Which feels the most "general" is really a function of the perceiver's preference: whichever you dislike more will feel the strongest. (You're referencing the same 'dislike' principle, actually, when you say "whatever site you don't like". I completely agree that that's how it works.) These "airs" may not be as opposed as they appear. I think it has to do with how people identify. If you identify with HN (or whatever $object), you'll be more likely to say things about it that come across as triumphalist or arrogant. Someone who identifies against HN (or $object) will be more likely to say things about it that come across as supercilious or putdowns. Since that's just a mechanical consequence of identification, it's not that interesting—which explains why such comments (on both sides) tend to be generic and lack information—they're really not about $object, they're really about oneself. The interesting question is what drives the identification in the first place. That's not so easy to figure out from internet comments! Re more intelligent discussions in Discord servers—I don't disbelieve you. The sad thing is that group size is one of the biggest variables affecting online discussion quality. Maybe the biggest. I say sad because it's sad to me—it means there's a cap on how good HN can ever get, and mostly all we can do is try to stave off decline. Or—to be superoptimistic—maybe it can slowly get a little better, if we spend a lot of energy.