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I think you're giving HN too much credit. Threads involving certain topics (e.g. big tech) are completely overrun with snark and hate that I don't see much of t

by Kiro 4y ago

I think you're giving HN too much credit. Threads involving certain topics (e.g. big tech) are completely overrun with snark and hate that I don't see much of the relentless curiosity you're talking about.

benreesman 4y ago
I know what you're talking about in only the way that someone who too often has been part of the problem can :) But this forum is coming up on two decades and has like one or two full-time moderators and somehow remains an island of rational discourse in an Internet full of "I'm trained in gorilla warfare". It has it's good days and it's bad days, (just as I do as a participant) but I think it's pretty unique.
duxup 4y ago
Agreed, it has become more and more frequent that HN threads are overrun by comments that seem more like they're straight out of reddit or even just your local newspaper comment section. With all the snark or aggressive dismissive pessimism they involve. It's really sad to see because I love the HN comment section for how easily you can say a thing and everyone understands there's nuance and lots of angles to address the topic. I've made posts about an app and the author appears curious about the issue (I'm not asking for support, just fun that folks are curious). Other people who understand the complexity (or just that there is complexity) involved are around to explore the issue / ask great questions. Where other places the response would be the typical cynical "Oh that's just because they want you to upgrade!" and so on.
- benreesman 4y ago
  In fairness: if you talk shit on Rust here you're in for a stomping, but if you praise Rust on `/r/programming` you're in for the same stomping by a different crowd ;)
Karrot_Kream 4y ago
Yeah it's definitely been making me pull my engagement back on HN. It even motivated me to get onto Twitter lol. At some point I want to read something a bit more stimulating than Tech Nextdoor. I originally came here from Digg and Slashdot because I enjoyed talking with other engineers and founders in the weeds, but I think the HN crowd has drifted far away from that start. That said the conversation quality here on the non-hellthreads is still quite high. I enjoyed the thread on C yesterday. It's just that hellthreads and strident comments "feel" like they're becoming the norm here and it's harder to escape from them.
- nonplus 4y ago
  Yeah I have a mental denylist of HN terms at this point where I just avoid reading hn comments. In contrast to some topics where I can't wait to see discussion, those still exist, but these days (I say that like it's new, but it's been like this a while) they are fewer.

by Kiro 4y ago

benreesman 4y ago

I know what you're talking about in only the way that someone who too often has been part of the problem can :) But this forum is coming up on two decades and has like one or two full-time moderators and somehow remains an island of rational discourse in an Internet full of "I'm trained in gorilla warfare". It has it's good days and it's bad days, (just as I do as a participant) but I think it's pretty unique.

duxup 4y ago

Agreed, it has become more and more frequent that HN threads are overrun by comments that seem more like they're straight out of reddit or even just your local newspaper comment section. With all the snark or aggressive dismissive pessimism they involve. It's really sad to see because I love the HN comment section for how easily you can say a thing and everyone understands there's nuance and lots of angles to address the topic. I've made posts about an app and the author appears curious about the issue (I'm not asking for support, just fun that folks are curious). Other people who understand the complexity (or just that there is complexity) involved are around to explore the issue / ask great questions. Where other places the response would be the typical cynical "Oh that's just because they want you to upgrade!" and so on.

benreesman 4y ago
In fairness: if you talk shit on Rust here you're in for a stomping, but if you praise Rust on `/r/programming` you're in for the same stomping by a different crowd ;)

Karrot_Kream 4y ago

Yeah it's definitely been making me pull my engagement back on HN. It even motivated me to get onto Twitter lol. At some point I want to read something a bit more stimulating than Tech Nextdoor. I originally came here from Digg and Slashdot because I enjoyed talking with other engineers and founders in the weeds, but I think the HN crowd has drifted far away from that start. That said the conversation quality here on the non-hellthreads is still quite high. I enjoyed the thread on C yesterday. It's just that hellthreads and strident comments "feel" like they're becoming the norm here and it's harder to escape from them.

nonplus 4y ago
Yeah I have a mental denylist of HN terms at this point where I just avoid reading hn comments. In contrast to some topics where I can't wait to see discussion, those still exist, but these days (I say that like it's new, but it's been like this a while) they are fewer.