4 ms·

HN has the absolute worst combo of people who are very technical but without the domain expertise to actually understand the limits of what they know. Lots of s

HN has the absolute worst combo of people who are very technical but without the domain expertise to actually understand the limits of what they know. Lots of software people making wild ass conjectures about semiconductors and CPU architecture...

pb7 4y ago
I’ll one up you. I contend people here are simply average even in their domain of expertise, let alone anything outside of it. It’s not a special hideout for geniuses, it’s a generic forum not unlike Reddit. The only reason it appears the way that it does is via selective moderation.
- jader201 4y ago
  I won’t argue with the point about not everyone being geniuses (I know a sample of one that isn’t). But the discussions here are still 100x more civil than all other alternatives. That, alone, makes it seem people are at least closer to the genius side of the spectrum.
  - pb7 4y ago
    I agree with the civility, but it's a consequence of strict moderation. Reddit has subreddits that are just as civil, also due to strict moderation. On the other hand, what betrays this community as being not much more sophisticated than anywhere else is the low quality, trite, and reactionary comments (sometimes not even relevant to the information in the article) that don't get flagged or downvoted despite adding nothing to the discussion and having been repeated countless times in the same thread. It's clear people have strong biases and aren't afraid to air them out instead of discussing the posted content and they're supported by their peers who hold the same biases. I started lurking here about 6 years ago and every year the comments have become more and more predictable (and not in a good way), exactly what I had noticed happening on Reddit until I stopped visiting because it had exhausted its usefulness to me.

4 ms·

HN has the absolute worst combo of people who are very technical but without the domain expertise to actually understand the limits of what they know. Lots of s

by Sirened 4y ago

pb7 4y ago
I’ll one up you. I contend people here are simply average even in their domain of expertise, let alone anything outside of it. It’s not a special hideout for geniuses, it’s a generic forum not unlike Reddit. The only reason it appears the way that it does is via selective moderation.
- jader201 4y ago
  I won’t argue with the point about not everyone being geniuses (I know a sample of one that isn’t). But the discussions here are still 100x more civil than all other alternatives. That, alone, makes it seem people are at least closer to the genius side of the spectrum.
  - pb7 4y ago
    I agree with the civility, but it's a consequence of strict moderation. Reddit has subreddits that are just as civil, also due to strict moderation. On the other hand, what betrays this community as being not much more sophisticated than anywhere else is the low quality, trite, and reactionary comments (sometimes not even relevant to the information in the article) that don't get flagged or downvoted despite adding nothing to the discussion and having been repeated countless times in the same thread. It's clear people have strong biases and aren't afraid to air them out instead of discussing the posted content and they're supported by their peers who hold the same biases. I started lurking here about 6 years ago and every year the comments have become more and more predictable (and not in a good way), exactly what I had noticed happening on Reddit until I stopped visiting because it had exhausted its usefulness to me.