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HN would not fit into any definition of centralized discussion forums I would use. To my mind HN is in that classic genre of single focus communities with a de

by CPLX 3y ago

HN would not fit into any definition of centralized discussion forums I would use. To my mind HN is in that classic genre of single focus communities with a deep history of being the place to go to discuss topic X. It fits in next to sites like flyertalk, woodweb, bodybuilding.com and a million more. I think the web was definitely better when every topic had its own little community and if Reddit imploded tomorrow and that happened again I would be thrilled.

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
HN is centralized. It all sits on one server run without a declared public mandate of openness like Wikipedia. A decentralized fora would be Usenet which is designed as a federation of independent servers storing and exchanging data.
- CPLX 3y ago
  I understand the technical point being made but it seems to be missing the point. Why isn’t it good enough to have a whole bunch of idiosyncratic privately run discussion forum communities spread across many different websites and servers and so on? We had that before Reddit and many examples still exist, it seems like it was closer to the ideal than Usenet ever was.
  - kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
    Because such systems are brittle. Bespoke forums disappear and their archival status may be incomplete or hard to search. We have nearly all of Usenet preserved in multiple places.
- gman83 3y ago
  I think something like Wikipedia could potentially be a decent model for an centralized but open version of reddit. Have donation drives to keep the servers running once a year, and have something like the five pillars & an open license to ensure the project won't be rug pulled from the community. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars
  - CPLX 3y ago
    I guess. Wikipedia has a very distinct and string moderator culture though. Do we want like every single online forum to take a similar approach? I think a ton of random different communities with quirks and different approaches is the best option of all.

by CPLX 3y ago

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago

HN is centralized. It all sits on one server run without a declared public mandate of openness like Wikipedia. A decentralized fora would be Usenet which is designed as a federation of independent servers storing and exchanging data.

CPLX 3y ago
I understand the technical point being made but it seems to be missing the point. Why isn’t it good enough to have a whole bunch of idiosyncratic privately run discussion forum communities spread across many different websites and servers and so on? We had that before Reddit and many examples still exist, it seems like it was closer to the ideal than Usenet ever was.
- kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
  Because such systems are brittle. Bespoke forums disappear and their archival status may be incomplete or hard to search. We have nearly all of Usenet preserved in multiple places.
gman83 3y ago
I think something like Wikipedia could potentially be a decent model for an centralized but open version of reddit. Have donation drives to keep the servers running once a year, and have something like the five pillars & an open license to ensure the project won't be rug pulled from the community. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars
- CPLX 3y ago
  I guess. Wikipedia has a very distinct and string moderator culture though. Do we want like every single online forum to take a similar approach? I think a ton of random different communities with quirks and different approaches is the best option of all.