4 ms·

We have the entire nation, TV networks talking about it 24x7 (sick of it) - don't need it this forum.

DanielBMarkham 18y ago
I had about six business meetings today. Since I don't get paid to talk about politics (and it's a good way to piss off half the population) I don't bring it up. In 4 of the 6 meetings people were talking about politics anyway. I just give up. I'd love to keep the entire board free of this stuff but no matter what the topic, when people are passionate about something, they find some way to put their position in there. Let's review Obama's web security policy, or talk about how some famous IT guy endorses Obama (or McCain.) Just forget that we ourselves are some rather famous IT guys in certain cases and by the same standard should be able to endorse candidates directly on the board. People are emotional animals and use reason and logic to make the world make sense to them, not to light their way. So no matter what the rule, in an emotionally charged environment, people are just going to do whatever the hell they want to do and come up with reasons (or excuses) to justify it all later on. That's just life.
- timr 18y ago
  "I just give up. I'd love to keep the entire board free of this stuff but no matter what the topic, when people are passionate about something, they find some way to put their position in there." You post as much about politics as anyone on this site.
  - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
    Don't believe I've ever posted an article that was political, but mea culpa, I didn't exclude myself from my comments. I am a bit confused about your point.
    - timr 18y ago
      I was pointing out some crocodile tears. If you want to keep this place free of political discussion, then don't talk about politics. Maybe you were only referring to "articles" about politics, but if you comment on the articles, you encourage them.
      - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
        Crocodile tears? I made an observation about human nature. It's true regardless of the current situation. Aside from the Krugman Wars, I haven't really gotten involved aside from making some observations. To me, your comment sounded like "But you do it too!" with the appropriate tongue sticking out. I didn't call you on it, because I assumed better of you. If you could return the courtesy that would be good. If not, that's okay too. No harm mate.
        timr 18y ago
        I'm not judging you for talking about politics. Do whatever you like -- it's my opinion that intelligent discussion of politics is fair game, even for "hackers". The point is, if you're a regular participant in the political discussions, you can't very well post about how you wish they'd all go away.
        DanielBMarkham 18y ago
        timr, sometimes I think you're from another planet. I said I'd like for the politics to stay off the board, but basically it was impossible to do because of the nature of all of us humans that were interacting here. There is a conflict between what we would like and what is best for the board and our nature. You took that and made it out to be some kind of hypocritical statement. Is there something about how we never meet our own ideals that you can't understand? I mean, maybe you're much better than this, but I find myself acting at odds with my own standards all the time -- it's part of the human condition. In fact, because of this conflict and inevitability, I agreed with you on another thread that it would be good to try to figure out how to bring the political discussions in. I guess you could say that's hypocritical of me because it conflicts the the OP of this thread, but that would be easily missing the point too.
- jhancock 18y ago
  I can certainly understand that some want HN to only be hacker tech stuff and nothing else. However, I hack and build IT companies because of their social value. I think most do. The tech is a conduit, not the end itself, regardless of how much we get geeky about the tech. A 4 year U.S. election cycle is a big event and based on the extreme volatile economy, directly related to poor governance, I see some ties between hacker news and politic news to be meaningful. You may not get paid to talk about politics, but it is a key part of all our lives. Perhaps if we spent more time paying attention to governance in the intervening 4 years, we wouldn't have such a mess on our hands. My opinion is to let the existing voting system of HN follow its nature and see what happens.

I had about six business meetings today. Since I don't get paid to talk about politics (and it's a good way to piss off half the population) I don't bring it up. In 4 of the 6 meetings people were talking about politics anyway. I just give up. I'd love to keep the entire board free of this stuff but no matter what the topic, when people are passionate about something, they find some way to put their position in there. Let's review Obama's web security policy, or talk about how some famous IT guy endorses Obama (or McCain.) Just forget that we ourselves are some rather famous IT guys in certain cases and by the same standard should be able to endorse candidates directly on the board. People are emotional animals and use reason and logic to make the world make sense to them, not to light their way. So no matter what the rule, in an emotionally charged environment, people are just going to do whatever the hell they want to do and come up with reasons (or excuses) to justify it all later on. That's just life.

timr 18y ago
"I just give up. I'd love to keep the entire board free of this stuff but no matter what the topic, when people are passionate about something, they find some way to put their position in there." You post as much about politics as anyone on this site.
- DanielBMarkham 18y ago
  Don't believe I've ever posted an article that was political, but mea culpa, I didn't exclude myself from my comments. I am a bit confused about your point.
  - timr 18y ago
    I was pointing out some crocodile tears. If you want to keep this place free of political discussion, then don't talk about politics. Maybe you were only referring to "articles" about politics, but if you comment on the articles, you encourage them.
    - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
      Crocodile tears? I made an observation about human nature. It's true regardless of the current situation. Aside from the Krugman Wars, I haven't really gotten involved aside from making some observations. To me, your comment sounded like "But you do it too!" with the appropriate tongue sticking out. I didn't call you on it, because I assumed better of you. If you could return the courtesy that would be good. If not, that's okay too. No harm mate.
      - timr 18y ago
        I'm not judging you for talking about politics. Do whatever you like -- it's my opinion that intelligent discussion of politics is fair game, even for "hackers". The point is, if you're a regular participant in the political discussions, you can't very well post about how you wish they'd all go away.
        DanielBMarkham 18y ago
        timr, sometimes I think you're from another planet. I said I'd like for the politics to stay off the board, but basically it was impossible to do because of the nature of all of us humans that were interacting here. There is a conflict between what we would like and what is best for the board and our nature. You took that and made it out to be some kind of hypocritical statement. Is there something about how we never meet our own ideals that you can't understand? I mean, maybe you're much better than this, but I find myself acting at odds with my own standards all the time -- it's part of the human condition. In fact, because of this conflict and inevitability, I agreed with you on another thread that it would be good to try to figure out how to bring the political discussions in. I guess you could say that's hypocritical of me because it conflicts the the OP of this thread, but that would be easily missing the point too.
jhancock 18y ago
I can certainly understand that some want HN to only be hacker tech stuff and nothing else. However, I hack and build IT companies because of their social value. I think most do. The tech is a conduit, not the end itself, regardless of how much we get geeky about the tech. A 4 year U.S. election cycle is a big event and based on the extreme volatile economy, directly related to poor governance, I see some ties between hacker news and politic news to be meaningful. You may not get paid to talk about politics, but it is a key part of all our lives. Perhaps if we spent more time paying attention to governance in the intervening 4 years, we wouldn't have such a mess on our hands. My opinion is to let the existing voting system of HN follow its nature and see what happens.