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HN (Hacker News) is just a web forum. There's a big overlap between HN and some subreddits like reddit.com/r/programming, reddit.com/r/technology and reddit.com

HN (Hacker News) is just a web forum. There's a big overlap between HN and some subreddits like reddit.com/r/programming, reddit.com/r/technology and reddit.com/r/science, but HN also features some trivia that's hard to categorize (to replicate that on reddit you would need to subscribe to dozens niche subreddits). Nowadays, the audience mostly browse both reddit and HN, so it's like HN were a secret subreddit that doesn't appear in reddit.com/r/all. HN is very startup-focused. For example, it contains job listings for startups funded by YCombinator (reddit itself was one of them, many years ago), and a monthly thread with jobs from other companies. It caters to this crowd. Famously, if you have a problem with Google, it's often easier to post here about it than contact Google's support. That's because Googlers (Google employees) also browse this site. (also Google has no support). In this sense, posting on HN is the nerdier equivalent to @calling companies on Twitter. Like every social platform, it is the way it is due to network effects: it was first to fill a niche and other platforms didn't capture this mindshare. And unlike most forums, this one is thriving. Why is that, I'm not sure; maybe the style of moderation is part of the reason. But maybe some day reddit will finally eat HN, and, after some years or decades, it will make sense to ask why people are still here!

spoiler 4y ago
> Famously, if you have a problem with Google, it's often easier to post here about it than contact Google's support. That's because Googlers (Google employees) also browse this site. (also Google has no support). In this sense, posting on HN is the nerdier equivalent to @calling companies on Twitter. I'm always nervous when people share these kinds of quirks about HN. It feels like its one viral YouTube or TikTok "pro tip" video away before it starts flooding with "can't log in to my google account". Maybe it's an irrational thought, though.
- Fatnino 4y ago
  We're already at that point for stripe. Seems every week a shady enterprise that got its stripe account locked down is on the front page complaining about stripe while being vague / evasive about what it is they actually sell.
  - xiphias2 4y ago
    One person once a week is still shouldn't be hard to deal with, and whenever it turns out that that person was shady, it's actually great PR for Stripe.
    - Fatnino 4y ago
      But stripe never talks about individual customers publicly so every one of these is a hit to stripe's reputation. Also, the worry was that if word got out that HN gets you secret access to support at companies then it would get overused and that access would dry up. I'm already at the point where even if someone legitimately innocent gets swept up in a stripe ban I just assume they are another scoundrel trying one last Hail Mary attempt here to get their account back.

spoiler 4y ago

> Famously, if you have a problem with Google, it's often easier to post here about it than contact Google's support. That's because Googlers (Google employees) also browse this site. (also Google has no support). In this sense, posting on HN is the nerdier equivalent to @calling companies on Twitter. I'm always nervous when people share these kinds of quirks about HN. It feels like its one viral YouTube or TikTok "pro tip" video away before it starts flooding with "can't log in to my google account". Maybe it's an irrational thought, though.

Fatnino 4y ago
We're already at that point for stripe. Seems every week a shady enterprise that got its stripe account locked down is on the front page complaining about stripe while being vague / evasive about what it is they actually sell.
- xiphias2 4y ago
  One person once a week is still shouldn't be hard to deal with, and whenever it turns out that that person was shady, it's actually great PR for Stripe.
  - Fatnino 4y ago
    But stripe never talks about individual customers publicly so every one of these is a hit to stripe's reputation. Also, the worry was that if word got out that HN gets you secret access to support at companies then it would get overused and that access would dry up. I'm already at the point where even if someone legitimately innocent gets swept up in a stripe ban I just assume they are another scoundrel trying one last Hail Mary attempt here to get their account back.