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Their point is Hacker News is branded as a place for posting links to content specifically relevant to the technology industry, and this isn't that. It's clear

Their point is Hacker News is branded as a place for posting links to content specifically relevant to the technology industry, and this isn't that. It's clearly a general interest piece. Is that a problem? Well, first I'd point out the majority of posts are still in keeping with what I think of as HN's raison d'etre. But the more basic question is: does HN have an overarching theme at I've described it? Or is it, as you believe, just a general link aggregator and the only thing that matters is whether its audience upvotes the post? I honestly don't know. Though I will say I wish I could apply a filter to eliminate every American political post (I swear I see a post complaining about homelessness in SF at least once a week). I get enough of that elsewhere...

RadiozRadioz 3y ago
Actually, it's branded as a place for content that hackers may find interesting. While often that tends to be technology, the stereotypical hacker mindset certainly doesn't shy away from lengthy detailed dives into variety topics. Especially topics that have a nostalgic appeal to the demographic here.
- BaseballPhysics 3y ago
  Sure, so your argument is, no, HN essentially has no theme, it's just what the audience upvotes. Because if it's "content that hackers may find interesting", then that's literally any topic at all. To be clear I'm not saying you're wrong or right, it's just a neverending debate around here and I can see where the OP is coming from.
  - tiahura 3y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html What to Submit On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.
    - BaseballPhysics 3y ago
      Cool, so does a feel good piece about the Beatles count as satisfying "intellectual curiosity"? Or is it just a story about a celebrity? Again, I'm not making a claim one way or the other, but it's hardly an invalid question. Or, at least, I thought so, but at least a couple of people were mad enough to press the downvote button. Go figure.
      - criddell 3y ago
        If this were a piece about Bach and the transition from harpsichord to piano, would you be asking if this is just a story about a celebrity? And the downvotes are probably coming because complaining about submissions goes against HN guidelines.

RadiozRadioz 3y ago

Actually, it's branded as a place for content that hackers may find interesting. While often that tends to be technology, the stereotypical hacker mindset certainly doesn't shy away from lengthy detailed dives into variety topics. Especially topics that have a nostalgic appeal to the demographic here.

BaseballPhysics 3y ago
Sure, so your argument is, no, HN essentially has no theme, it's just what the audience upvotes. Because if it's "content that hackers may find interesting", then that's literally any topic at all. To be clear I'm not saying you're wrong or right, it's just a neverending debate around here and I can see where the OP is coming from.
- tiahura 3y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html What to Submit On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.
  - BaseballPhysics 3y ago
    Cool, so does a feel good piece about the Beatles count as satisfying "intellectual curiosity"? Or is it just a story about a celebrity? Again, I'm not making a claim one way or the other, but it's hardly an invalid question. Or, at least, I thought so, but at least a couple of people were mad enough to press the downvote button. Go figure.
    - criddell 3y ago
      If this were a piece about Bach and the transition from harpsichord to piano, would you be asking if this is just a story about a celebrity? And the downvotes are probably coming because complaining about submissions goes against HN guidelines.