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Nobody on earth who has spent any amount of time thinking about it thinks society at scale would pay for common goods if it was optional. Part of actually disti

Nobody on earth who has spent any amount of time thinking about it thinks society at scale would pay for common goods if it was optional. Part of actually distilling your thoughts into a useful form is realizing when to use the backspace key. There might be 1000 people reading this. We all have a stream of conscioisness. If we all shared it this thread would be unteadable with a few gems buried in dross. Distilling your thoughts down and sharing what is worthy is a universal good not merely a cultural value. It's why we are reading this and not YouTube or Facebook comment threads.

zlg_codes 3y ago
To be frank, this place is a slightly nerdier Reddit with stronger topicality enforced, whose audience trends toward middle age, male, and moderate. It is not a shining city on a hill. I can find a lot of the same content on Lobste.rs later in the day, and get comments from an actually exclusive group. We're here because there is enough news to keep us visiting, and relaxed enough rules to feel comfortable challenging each other intellectually. Most of the Internet used to be this way, before social media.
jimkleiber 3y ago
At times what I deem as worthy is a distilled version. At other times what I deem as worthy is a messier version. Distilled can help me read it quickly and give me certainty over someone's perspective. Messier can take longer to read and yet show me an often more accurate window into someone's mind, helping me feel more connected to the person. Again, if you're saying that you strongly believe HN is not the place for such windows into the inner workings of someone's mind and you believe HN should be the packaged output, I might agree. Most people who contribute here seem to obey that rule. Maybe if everyone posted stream of consciousness, this place would become untenable. However, if it goes from 1% to 3%, I think it'd still be manageable and then I could feel delighted at the interspersed nature of it. In other words, almost the opposite of the free rider problem you may have alluded to regarding public goods, or the similarity to it if you think those who provide distilled versions are doing more work for the common good and the others are doing less. In this scenario, I suppose it depends on what one defines as good in the common good.
- garba_dlm 3y ago
  > HN should be the packaged output, I might agree. Most people who contribute here seem to obey that rule. the submissions: yes, absolutely yes. I agree 100%. but not for the comments, after all comments are literally the "inner workings" of the HN culture (some people call this "hive mind")

zlg_codes 3y ago

To be frank, this place is a slightly nerdier Reddit with stronger topicality enforced, whose audience trends toward middle age, male, and moderate. It is not a shining city on a hill. I can find a lot of the same content on Lobste.rs later in the day, and get comments from an actually exclusive group. We're here because there is enough news to keep us visiting, and relaxed enough rules to feel comfortable challenging each other intellectually. Most of the Internet used to be this way, before social media.

jimkleiber 3y ago

At times what I deem as worthy is a distilled version. At other times what I deem as worthy is a messier version. Distilled can help me read it quickly and give me certainty over someone's perspective. Messier can take longer to read and yet show me an often more accurate window into someone's mind, helping me feel more connected to the person. Again, if you're saying that you strongly believe HN is not the place for such windows into the inner workings of someone's mind and you believe HN should be the packaged output, I might agree. Most people who contribute here seem to obey that rule. Maybe if everyone posted stream of consciousness, this place would become untenable. However, if it goes from 1% to 3%, I think it'd still be manageable and then I could feel delighted at the interspersed nature of it. In other words, almost the opposite of the free rider problem you may have alluded to regarding public goods, or the similarity to it if you think those who provide distilled versions are doing more work for the common good and the others are doing less. In this scenario, I suppose it depends on what one defines as good in the common good.

garba_dlm 3y ago
> HN should be the packaged output, I might agree. Most people who contribute here seem to obey that rule. the submissions: yes, absolutely yes. I agree 100%. but not for the comments, after all comments are literally the "inner workings" of the HN culture (some people call this "hive mind")