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See this post is a testament to Hacker News's decline.Not because I think that post doesnt have something interesting or intellectually arousing to say.It absol

See this post is a testament to Hacker News's decline.Not because I think that post doesnt have something interesting or intellectually arousing to say.It absolutely does.I create things too and I understand the importance of creation especially when it takes two years to make something. The reason is because of how this post got on the front page of Hacker News.In normal circumstances I can bet that this post maybe would get like three votes in five hours.But in this case the poster is "swombat" who has a huge following on twitter and a lot of them are hnusers.I noticed an instant upsurge in votes after he posted this on his twitter page. Another reason is because "swombat" himself is also one of the top Hacker News users and when people see his name there chances of upvoting increases significantly.This I think is actually fair and he probably deserves a little more attention than the average hnuser.But what I vehemently object to is the use of twitter to gain traction. Here are some possible solutions that I can think of. 1) If a post gets a lot of traffic from twitter and other such social media websites ,it should work against it in the rank calculation algorithm. 2) Users be advised to not use their twitter or facebook following to gain traction on HackerNews.

freemarketteddy 15y ago
If you wish to disagree please do so but write down the reason for your disagreement.Also how is this against HN Comment guidelines? EDIT: Okay I get it. From HN Guidelines "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.)" Sorry I was not aware of that.
- DougBTX 15y ago
  It's OK, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
  - freemarketteddy 15y ago
    So that means that my incompetence made me blind from the greatness of this post! Well its possible but I am not buying that right now. What I would buy is that maybe I have not reached a sufficient level of karma to comment on Hacker News administration.
  - freemarketteddy 15y ago
    So that means that my incompetence made me blind from the greatness of this post! Well its possible but I am not buying that right now. What I would buy is that maybe I have not reached a sufficient level of karma to comment on Hacker News administration.
- VBprogrammer 15y ago
  I have never heard of the user who submitted this. We both agree that the video stimulates our intellectual curiosity. The means by which this ended up on the front page isn't a concern.
- elliottcarlson 15y ago
  I disagree because it shows what dedication can bring - even when you are not getting a ROI or anywhere near instant gratification - an important lesson for those who are looking to grow a startup and see it succeed - because it's not an overnight thing (usually). I think it appeals to the hacker side of many - and just because it isn't straight up tech related does not mean it doesn't belong here. I will agree that there is hive minded voting - I've complained about it plenty of times - but in this case I think my up vote made sense and that's without me realizing who was posting it (just like I didn't bother even seeing what your handle was until I started typing this). Hope that gives you a point of view from one person (who didn't down vote you).
  - freemarketteddy 15y ago
    very good point about instant gratification...I completely agree!
scott_s 15y ago
I voted this up and I didn't even notice that swombat posted it. I voted for it because of the artistry, but also for the attitudes towards craft and long-term projects in the making-of feature.
lsc 15y ago
ignoring the rest of your comment: >1) If a post gets a lot of traffic from twitter and other such social media websites ,it should work against it in the rank calculation algorithm. If you could find a way to do this, I think it could make HN better in general. The problem is that it'd be a whack-a-mole situation. This is just how publicity works. If you know people, and you are trying to get the word out about something, you tell the people you know, and they help you out. This is what it means to have a network. I mean, it's kindof interesting; I mean, I talk about the problems of "who you know rather than what you know" but you know what? when I go to look for a job, who do I ask? the people I know. And it usually nets me a pretty good job. When I want to hire people, where do I look? the people I know, and often it gets me good people. But yeah; in other situations, that's called nepotism, and has some rather large perverse incentives. I mean, in my case, I wholly own my company, so if I want to hire my siblings, well, it's my money, right? And sometimes, I think it makes sense. I've been trying to outsource my bookkeeping type work for some time now. But the primary qualifications are trustworthiness and diligence, and, well, switching bookkeepers when you want to do as little of the bookkeeping work as I do is rather hard, so I'd also like someone who will stick around longer than most people stick with me. Certainly for the first, who can I trust more than my sister? and I know she's pretty diligent; we grew up together. Add to that, she has a degree in fine arts and few job prospects that can pay more than I can, so it's all around a win.

freemarketteddy 15y ago

If you wish to disagree please do so but write down the reason for your disagreement.Also how is this against HN Comment guidelines? EDIT: Okay I get it. From HN Guidelines "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.)" Sorry I was not aware of that.

DougBTX 15y ago
It's OK, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
- freemarketteddy 15y ago
  So that means that my incompetence made me blind from the greatness of this post! Well its possible but I am not buying that right now. What I would buy is that maybe I have not reached a sufficient level of karma to comment on Hacker News administration.
- freemarketteddy 15y ago
  So that means that my incompetence made me blind from the greatness of this post! Well its possible but I am not buying that right now. What I would buy is that maybe I have not reached a sufficient level of karma to comment on Hacker News administration.
VBprogrammer 15y ago
I have never heard of the user who submitted this. We both agree that the video stimulates our intellectual curiosity. The means by which this ended up on the front page isn't a concern.
elliottcarlson 15y ago
I disagree because it shows what dedication can bring - even when you are not getting a ROI or anywhere near instant gratification - an important lesson for those who are looking to grow a startup and see it succeed - because it's not an overnight thing (usually). I think it appeals to the hacker side of many - and just because it isn't straight up tech related does not mean it doesn't belong here. I will agree that there is hive minded voting - I've complained about it plenty of times - but in this case I think my up vote made sense and that's without me realizing who was posting it (just like I didn't bother even seeing what your handle was until I started typing this). Hope that gives you a point of view from one person (who didn't down vote you).
- freemarketteddy 15y ago
  very good point about instant gratification...I completely agree!

scott_s 15y ago

I voted this up and I didn't even notice that swombat posted it. I voted for it because of the artistry, but also for the attitudes towards craft and long-term projects in the making-of feature.

lsc 15y ago

ignoring the rest of your comment: >1) If a post gets a lot of traffic from twitter and other such social media websites ,it should work against it in the rank calculation algorithm. If you could find a way to do this, I think it could make HN better in general. The problem is that it'd be a whack-a-mole situation. This is just how publicity works. If you know people, and you are trying to get the word out about something, you tell the people you know, and they help you out. This is what it means to have a network. I mean, it's kindof interesting; I mean, I talk about the problems of "who you know rather than what you know" but you know what? when I go to look for a job, who do I ask? the people I know. And it usually nets me a pretty good job. When I want to hire people, where do I look? the people I know, and often it gets me good people. But yeah; in other situations, that's called nepotism, and has some rather large perverse incentives. I mean, in my case, I wholly own my company, so if I want to hire my siblings, well, it's my money, right? And sometimes, I think it makes sense. I've been trying to outsource my bookkeeping type work for some time now. But the primary qualifications are trustworthiness and diligence, and, well, switching bookkeepers when you want to do as little of the bookkeeping work as I do is rather hard, so I'd also like someone who will stick around longer than most people stick with me. Certainly for the first, who can I trust more than my sister? and I know she's pretty diligent; we grew up together. Add to that, she has a degree in fine arts and few job prospects that can pay more than I can, so it's all around a win.