3 ms·

Low comment/response velocity is what keeps it from turning into reddit IMO. Meaning, high velocity encourages arguments, negativity and other low value respons

Low comment/response velocity is what keeps it from turning into reddit IMO. Meaning, high velocity encourages arguments, negativity and other low value response posts which is what I see all over on Reddit.

renewiltord 4y ago
The one unifying characteristic of all social network communities is that they all have a defined Other that they are better than. They all invent some rationale for why they are better but all of them are, in the end, the same.
- necrotic_comp 4y ago
  eh - I think Hacker News is qualitatively different. There's a lot of shared values here, and low-effort comments are actively discouraged. It's a lot more pleasant to read the comments here than on a place like Reddit, even in some of the higher-functioning subs. Maybe it's the way comments are weighted here, or the fact that post scores aren't shared, but it's definitely the best place on the web for me.
  - dsfyu404ed 4y ago
    It's quantitatively different, not qualitatively different. The non-contributors here here speak in full sentences, cite cherry picked links to back up their assertions of the local dogma and link to the Wikipedia page of whatever trope they want to reference rather than just stating it. These sorts of comments perform the same social utility (tribe signaling basically) to the people who peddle them as saying "yikes" and "the front fell off" on reddit and the snarky bigoted quips they use on the chans. Such non-contributions seem to be of roughly the same prevalence on all platforms, ours are just the most polished.
- epolanski 4y ago
  Well, I guess having different phylosophies and different flows/features is what makes some products more palatable. On the other hand, I really would not mind notifications for replies to my posts, and I don't think they would negatively impact my HN experience. What I like about HN is mostly the community, the content, reading the comments, the UX/UI comes quite behind.
- conductr 4y ago
  The dynamics at play are the same. But people still behave differently in different environments. Just like the real world; For example, Anonymity plays an outsized role in the equation. FB is as you said essentially the same as Reddit except (most) people self censor to a degree that keeps it mostly cordial. They’re not going to use certain language and allow their full opinions to be heard, because someone they actually know could be reading. (Some people don’t care and post unfiltered but speaking of the majority). Generally People posting on LinkedIn is often going to be some form of HR speak, they don’t want to offend anyone in their professional network. They’re not going to talk about religion and politics and whatnot.
  - vcg3rd 4y ago
    "people still behave differently in different environments." Mostly I don't. Nearing my 7th decade, I have spent most of my adult life seeking convergence of my private and public self. It's one reason that since the early 90s I have used my initials as my username everywhere. I highly value privacy but have no need of anonymity, though I understand it's life or death for too many. And I don't mean I would be the same around a stranger as I am my wife of 35 years. I mean I would be my honest, authentic self for each context. Twitter or nestr, Facebook or Reddit, church or mall, my hometown USA or Berlin. I rarely comment here because I rarely have any value to add.
    - conductr 4y ago
      I can relate with most of this. But I also know I have some unpopular opinions on certain matters. I will discuss on HN/Reddit - or even IRL if I'm talking to a stranger/someone where risk is low of it getting back to "core" network. In other environments, I'm likely to just keep silent on those opinions. Even then, in some environments (work/school/church), some topics are completely off limits and I won't even sit in silence (eg. if coworkers talk politics/religion I just physically leave the conversation). I too feel I'm my true authentic self in each scenarios, I'm just calculating risk, disruption, impact to reputation, etc and can always choose silence as a safe option. Although, safe discussion on these topics is often the most interesting to me. It's controversial stuff where my opinions have reason 'to me' but I'm open to hearing other points of view. I don't see my thoughts as immutable so if some stranger on the internet says something I haven't considered, I might just change my way of thinking entirely.
- unsupp0rted 4y ago
  Just like countries, some social networks have a measurably higher overall quality of life than others.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
iamwil 4y ago
I remember pg actively detecting when two users start replying to each other quickly on HN, and will throttle how quickly each both see the reply in the hopes of de-escalating. I think he also found that as two people argued down a thread, their wall of text gets thinner and thinner, and more annoying to read, and hoped that was a deterrence as well.

renewiltord 4y ago

The one unifying characteristic of all social network communities is that they all have a defined Other that they are better than. They all invent some rationale for why they are better but all of them are, in the end, the same.

necrotic_comp 4y ago
eh - I think Hacker News is qualitatively different. There's a lot of shared values here, and low-effort comments are actively discouraged. It's a lot more pleasant to read the comments here than on a place like Reddit, even in some of the higher-functioning subs. Maybe it's the way comments are weighted here, or the fact that post scores aren't shared, but it's definitely the best place on the web for me.
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  It's quantitatively different, not qualitatively different. The non-contributors here here speak in full sentences, cite cherry picked links to back up their assertions of the local dogma and link to the Wikipedia page of whatever trope they want to reference rather than just stating it. These sorts of comments perform the same social utility (tribe signaling basically) to the people who peddle them as saying "yikes" and "the front fell off" on reddit and the snarky bigoted quips they use on the chans. Such non-contributions seem to be of roughly the same prevalence on all platforms, ours are just the most polished.
epolanski 4y ago
Well, I guess having different phylosophies and different flows/features is what makes some products more palatable. On the other hand, I really would not mind notifications for replies to my posts, and I don't think they would negatively impact my HN experience. What I like about HN is mostly the community, the content, reading the comments, the UX/UI comes quite behind.
conductr 4y ago
The dynamics at play are the same. But people still behave differently in different environments. Just like the real world; For example, Anonymity plays an outsized role in the equation. FB is as you said essentially the same as Reddit except (most) people self censor to a degree that keeps it mostly cordial. They’re not going to use certain language and allow their full opinions to be heard, because someone they actually know could be reading. (Some people don’t care and post unfiltered but speaking of the majority). Generally People posting on LinkedIn is often going to be some form of HR speak, they don’t want to offend anyone in their professional network. They’re not going to talk about religion and politics and whatnot.
- vcg3rd 4y ago
  "people still behave differently in different environments." Mostly I don't. Nearing my 7th decade, I have spent most of my adult life seeking convergence of my private and public self. It's one reason that since the early 90s I have used my initials as my username everywhere. I highly value privacy but have no need of anonymity, though I understand it's life or death for too many. And I don't mean I would be the same around a stranger as I am my wife of 35 years. I mean I would be my honest, authentic self for each context. Twitter or nestr, Facebook or Reddit, church or mall, my hometown USA or Berlin. I rarely comment here because I rarely have any value to add.
  - conductr 4y ago
    I can relate with most of this. But I also know I have some unpopular opinions on certain matters. I will discuss on HN/Reddit - or even IRL if I'm talking to a stranger/someone where risk is low of it getting back to "core" network. In other environments, I'm likely to just keep silent on those opinions. Even then, in some environments (work/school/church), some topics are completely off limits and I won't even sit in silence (eg. if coworkers talk politics/religion I just physically leave the conversation). I too feel I'm my true authentic self in each scenarios, I'm just calculating risk, disruption, impact to reputation, etc and can always choose silence as a safe option. Although, safe discussion on these topics is often the most interesting to me. It's controversial stuff where my opinions have reason 'to me' but I'm open to hearing other points of view. I don't see my thoughts as immutable so if some stranger on the internet says something I haven't considered, I might just change my way of thinking entirely.
unsupp0rted 4y ago
Just like countries, some social networks have a measurably higher overall quality of life than others.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

iamwil 4y ago

I remember pg actively detecting when two users start replying to each other quickly on HN, and will throttle how quickly each both see the reply in the hopes of de-escalating. I think he also found that as two people argued down a thread, their wall of text gets thinner and thinner, and more annoying to read, and hoped that was a deterrence as well.