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I doubt it is related to being the younger generation. I think it is more to do with Hacker News not having many "hackers" ;)

jcr 15y ago
You might be right that there aren't many "hackers" on HN, but a lot of it has to do with how you define the term. As for not knowing eclectic but important bits of history like "2600" or even who "Lawnchair Larry" was, experience takes time, and knowledge takes effort. A good example is that most people don't know all of the available terminal commands available on a UNIX(-ish including MacOS/iOS/Android) system, let alone know the reasoning or history behind all those "funny" command names. BTW, I always get a giggle out of your HN user name even though the poor disturbed fellow who tied umteen helium balloons to a lawnchair and shutdown airspace of Los Angeles for a few hours eventually committed suicide after receiving his "Honorable Mention" on the Darwin Awards.
- gbrindisi 15y ago
  > You might be right that there aren't many "hackers" on HN, but a lot of it has to do with how you define the term. Exactly. Here on HN the confusion is worsened because the definition of "hacker" has shifted from ~"security expert" to ~"technical enterpreuner". Nothing wrong in redefining terms but we shouldn't be surprised if outside here hacker has another meaning.
  - caf 15y ago
    ~"security expert" has never been the canonical definition. http://catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html
stfu 15y ago
Ironically true. I have some friends who are afraid of visiting the site on their work machines because their co-workers are "innocent" enough to think hackernews might be actually about "classic" hacking.
- jgn 15y ago
  Shouldn't "classic" hacking be the days of yore in Bell Labs? When I think hackers I think Ritchie and Thompson working on C and Unix. The definition of hacking you're thinking of is the media's definition, i.e. the clueless one.

jcr 15y ago

You might be right that there aren't many "hackers" on HN, but a lot of it has to do with how you define the term. As for not knowing eclectic but important bits of history like "2600" or even who "Lawnchair Larry" was, experience takes time, and knowledge takes effort. A good example is that most people don't know all of the available terminal commands available on a UNIX(-ish including MacOS/iOS/Android) system, let alone know the reasoning or history behind all those "funny" command names. BTW, I always get a giggle out of your HN user name even though the poor disturbed fellow who tied umteen helium balloons to a lawnchair and shutdown airspace of Los Angeles for a few hours eventually committed suicide after receiving his "Honorable Mention" on the Darwin Awards.

gbrindisi 15y ago
> You might be right that there aren't many "hackers" on HN, but a lot of it has to do with how you define the term. Exactly. Here on HN the confusion is worsened because the definition of "hacker" has shifted from ~"security expert" to ~"technical enterpreuner". Nothing wrong in redefining terms but we shouldn't be surprised if outside here hacker has another meaning.
- caf 15y ago
  ~"security expert" has never been the canonical definition. http://catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html

stfu 15y ago

Ironically true. I have some friends who are afraid of visiting the site on their work machines because their co-workers are "innocent" enough to think hackernews might be actually about "classic" hacking.

jgn 15y ago
Shouldn't "classic" hacking be the days of yore in Bell Labs? When I think hackers I think Ritchie and Thompson working on C and Unix. The definition of hacking you're thinking of is the media's definition, i.e. the clueless one.