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Throwaway for a bit of banter. I like how every time this is brought up, Reddit is used as an example. But Reddit has far, far more interesting and nuanced dis

Throwaway for a bit of banter. I like how every time this is brought up, Reddit is used as an example. But Reddit has far, far more interesting and nuanced discussions that includes many people at the top of their respective fields. Nobody noteworthy would do an AMA on HN, but they all do it on Reddit. A comment here or there doesn’t really move the needle on the over all trajectory. HN is more of a midwit sort of place, where you don’t get the shitposters or the exceedingly brilliant because the band is so narrow and conformist that nobody wants to deal with being downvoted/removed over the most trivial things. And then when people find out just how wrong the audience here can be, as attested by actual professionals usually taking the top comment to correct the majority of, then you really just might as well not bother with HN at all and stick with Reddit for breadth and depth. So yes, Reddit is probably the better place for this article, along with just about every other article posted here.

samvher 4y ago
> as attested by actual professionals usually taking the top comment to correct the majority of Got a bit confused here, what is this sentence? I agree that the band on HN is somewhat narrow, though I feel it is a distinctly different band from most other places which makes it worth visiting. Any subreddits in particular you recommend for high quality discourse?
- thyssen 4y ago
  I meant to say that it’s common, and very amusing, to see top comments on HN coming in with, to paraphrase, “I work on the thing you’re all commenting on, and you’re very wrong.” I say amusing but it’s fairly fucking sad to see how often that happens. I work in tech hands-on across many domains and the shit that people spew here with apparently credible tones behind the words is worse than any mistake ChatGPT has made so far. If I can’t trust this place with tech, what the hell can I trust it with? Nothing personnel dang you can’t really control the misinformation at this scale. As for what subreddits are worthwhile - I don’t follow any of them religiously, usually the good stuff is cross posted and even HN has its fair share of good Reddit links much to their chagrin lol. You can often start at the top of the list of popular subreddits as the good stuff is also often cross posted with attribution to the original subreddit. So pick what you’re into and go down the rabbit hole.
willcipriano 4y ago
Comments written for optimizing votes from the consensus filter are boring, the top comments on reddit are almost always bland jokes or someone quoting the democratic party position on something totally uncritically. I can get all that from mainstream media but with better production values. "I have the correct opinion™, please validate me with upvotes", "Can you believe that some people have the wrong opinion™ They are dumb!" over and over again gets old fast.
- thyssen 4y ago
  HN is like this, complete with people drumming it up by starting the comment off with “Look, folks” and then saying something completely fucking milquetoast about the subject matter.
  - willcipriano 4y ago
    Reddit is over the top with it. Go to a post, nearly all the responses are deleted, hundreds of them, inbetween the deleted comments you find enthusiastic support for the current thing. "I had to lock this post yall, too many people being crazy"
mardifoufs 4y ago
>But Reddit has far, far more interesting and nuanced discussions that includes many people at the top of their respective fields Look, I don't even disagree with your overall comment on HN, but this is a complete joke. I can't tell if you are actually serious. Go to the front page of reddit now and point me to that nuanced discussion. Even AMAs are now outrage bait, with all the top comments/ questions being snarky stabs at the AMA guest. Your comment is either only valid for very small subs, or you're a time traveler from 8 years ago. (I've seen far more "celebrities" or experts pop on comment sections about themselves or their expertise here than on reddit. FWIW.
- thyssen 4y ago
  Not a traveler, but I have been on HN for almost 15 years now, so I’ve seen this play out far too often to ignore it. This shit can only fool the people who think they’ve discovered gold and are too committed to call it what it is: lipstick on a pig. Whether or not the commenters on Reddit tend to shitpost AMAs doesn’t speak to the fact that AMAs occur there, and the people give long winded answers to questions and talk at length about things. Literally there are people there whose answers to each question is a blog post entry on HN. Usually the reason why celebrities/experts pop on comment sections here is to correct others. Which again, is just sad that the community here is naive with misinformation and cargo culling.
- bombcar 4y ago
  HN has surprise AMAs instead of scheduled ones. A post will be talking about something and someone will start discussing it and then you realize you’re reading one of the original coders.
  - thyssen 4y ago
    This only happens on HN because these coders don’t comment on any other social media platform.
  - alephnerd 4y ago
    For a handful of programming discussions on HN that is true, but whenever HN starts touching categories which I have academic or professional experience - such as social sciences, business, devops, or cybersecurity - they become dumpster fire (AND I DARE YOU TELL ME DUNNING-KRUGER. I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU). I've also found certain subreddits now provide better value to discussions than HN at this point.
moneywoes 4y ago
Any subreddits in particular? Seems like I miss those
andrepd 4y ago
>Reddit has far, far more interesting and nuanced discussions Well there's a sentence I didn't expect to read today.

samvher 4y ago

> as attested by actual professionals usually taking the top comment to correct the majority of Got a bit confused here, what is this sentence? I agree that the band on HN is somewhat narrow, though I feel it is a distinctly different band from most other places which makes it worth visiting. Any subreddits in particular you recommend for high quality discourse?

thyssen 4y ago
I meant to say that it’s common, and very amusing, to see top comments on HN coming in with, to paraphrase, “I work on the thing you’re all commenting on, and you’re very wrong.” I say amusing but it’s fairly fucking sad to see how often that happens. I work in tech hands-on across many domains and the shit that people spew here with apparently credible tones behind the words is worse than any mistake ChatGPT has made so far. If I can’t trust this place with tech, what the hell can I trust it with? Nothing personnel dang you can’t really control the misinformation at this scale. As for what subreddits are worthwhile - I don’t follow any of them religiously, usually the good stuff is cross posted and even HN has its fair share of good Reddit links much to their chagrin lol. You can often start at the top of the list of popular subreddits as the good stuff is also often cross posted with attribution to the original subreddit. So pick what you’re into and go down the rabbit hole.

willcipriano 4y ago

Comments written for optimizing votes from the consensus filter are boring, the top comments on reddit are almost always bland jokes or someone quoting the democratic party position on something totally uncritically. I can get all that from mainstream media but with better production values. "I have the correct opinion™, please validate me with upvotes", "Can you believe that some people have the wrong opinion™ They are dumb!" over and over again gets old fast.

thyssen 4y ago
HN is like this, complete with people drumming it up by starting the comment off with “Look, folks” and then saying something completely fucking milquetoast about the subject matter.
- willcipriano 4y ago
  Reddit is over the top with it. Go to a post, nearly all the responses are deleted, hundreds of them, inbetween the deleted comments you find enthusiastic support for the current thing. "I had to lock this post yall, too many people being crazy"

mardifoufs 4y ago

>But Reddit has far, far more interesting and nuanced discussions that includes many people at the top of their respective fields Look, I don't even disagree with your overall comment on HN, but this is a complete joke. I can't tell if you are actually serious. Go to the front page of reddit now and point me to that nuanced discussion. Even AMAs are now outrage bait, with all the top comments/ questions being snarky stabs at the AMA guest. Your comment is either only valid for very small subs, or you're a time traveler from 8 years ago. (I've seen far more "celebrities" or experts pop on comment sections about themselves or their expertise here than on reddit. FWIW.

thyssen 4y ago
Not a traveler, but I have been on HN for almost 15 years now, so I’ve seen this play out far too often to ignore it. This shit can only fool the people who think they’ve discovered gold and are too committed to call it what it is: lipstick on a pig. Whether or not the commenters on Reddit tend to shitpost AMAs doesn’t speak to the fact that AMAs occur there, and the people give long winded answers to questions and talk at length about things. Literally there are people there whose answers to each question is a blog post entry on HN. Usually the reason why celebrities/experts pop on comment sections here is to correct others. Which again, is just sad that the community here is naive with misinformation and cargo culling.
bombcar 4y ago
HN has surprise AMAs instead of scheduled ones. A post will be talking about something and someone will start discussing it and then you realize you’re reading one of the original coders.
- thyssen 4y ago
  This only happens on HN because these coders don’t comment on any other social media platform.
- alephnerd 4y ago
  For a handful of programming discussions on HN that is true, but whenever HN starts touching categories which I have academic or professional experience - such as social sciences, business, devops, or cybersecurity - they become dumpster fire (AND I DARE YOU TELL ME DUNNING-KRUGER. I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU). I've also found certain subreddits now provide better value to discussions than HN at this point.

moneywoes 4y ago

Any subreddits in particular? Seems like I miss those

andrepd 4y ago

>Reddit has far, far more interesting and nuanced discussions Well there's a sentence I didn't expect to read today.