3 ms·

I disagree with the harder problem. I agree that the problem is low-quality comments, but not the lame or mean kind. When I see comments on a topic I happen to

I disagree with the harder problem. I agree that the problem is low-quality comments, but not the lame or mean kind. When I see comments on a topic I happen to be an expert in it's obvious to me that the majority of them are misinformation or uninformed users. These people don't mean harm, they are legitimately misinformed or inexperienced. There typically are insightful comments as well, and often they are upvoted, but they have become the minority compared to the low quality comments. This ratio has steadily gotten worse over the past years. It's not as bad as reddit, but every pseudonymous community seem to suffer this problem as it's directly tied to trust and identity. There is very little to be gained from comments on HN anymore, I mostly come here for the links now since it's a decent source of news curation.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
dang 3y ago
I think I'd include those under "lame". Misinformed comments aren't lame if they're curious and (therefore) open to correction, but when they are categorical statements (usually some form of denunciation or grandiose generalization), yeah that's lame. > This ratio has steadily gotten worse over the past years I'm not sure. Everything has always been getting worse, or feels like it has. You'd have to discount for this bias in order to tell whether things have really gotten worse, and no one really knows how to do that, nor really wants to. It's more satisfying to feel the decline of civilization setting in as one ages. Yes, that's a grandiose generalization and therefore lame. Or, to flip it into a positive, you're more experienced and informed than you used to be, so more comments appear misinformed or inexperienced.
- tptacek 3y ago
  Some titration of open-minded misinformed comments is probably vital to the functioning of the site; without them, a lot of interesting true stuff is buried as shared subtext among the specialists here, and sails over the heads of everyone else. This is a problem I've seen in specialist forums elsewhere; the conversation runs out, because nobody's poking the community with wrong stuff, and correcting a wrong statement is intensely more motivating than just making a plain factual statement for its own benefit (also: when you do that, the rest of the community will go "uh, yeah, and?").

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

dang 3y ago

I think I'd include those under "lame". Misinformed comments aren't lame if they're curious and (therefore) open to correction, but when they are categorical statements (usually some form of denunciation or grandiose generalization), yeah that's lame. > This ratio has steadily gotten worse over the past years I'm not sure. Everything has always been getting worse, or feels like it has. You'd have to discount for this bias in order to tell whether things have really gotten worse, and no one really knows how to do that, nor really wants to. It's more satisfying to feel the decline of civilization setting in as one ages. Yes, that's a grandiose generalization and therefore lame. Or, to flip it into a positive, you're more experienced and informed than you used to be, so more comments appear misinformed or inexperienced.

tptacek 3y ago
Some titration of open-minded misinformed comments is probably vital to the functioning of the site; without them, a lot of interesting true stuff is buried as shared subtext among the specialists here, and sails over the heads of everyone else. This is a problem I've seen in specialist forums elsewhere; the conversation runs out, because nobody's poking the community with wrong stuff, and correcting a wrong statement is intensely more motivating than just making a plain factual statement for its own benefit (also: when you do that, the rest of the community will go "uh, yeah, and?").