5 ms·

> I'd be astounded if there were not a far greater proportion of people who are here because they are generically interested in tech topics and not specifically

> I'd be astounded if there were not a far greater proportion of people who are here because they are generically interested in tech topics and not specifically startups This is certainly me. Generally interested in tech (and many of the other things that HNers seem to be interested in these days), but no real interest in startups. Hope I am not ruining HN for the old timers. I started using this place a lot more in the last couple of years as Reddit went to shit, so I suspect that was a big driving force in changing the audience here.

Macha 2y ago
This was always me, and I've been here 15 years. It was pretty much a tech forum then (arguably more then than now, there's much more discussion of culture war issues now, even when stories are flagged it's ever-present in the comments). I think the time when HN was primarily startups was much further back and much briefer than most people nostalgically remember.
- dcminter 2y ago
  Yes, but the proportions have still changed. It's not static, it's a progression. 2010 will have been different to 2008 (when I joined) but so will 2013 with respect to 2010, 2020 with respect to 2013, and 2025 with respect to 2020. It's fine that it's much more broadly a tech forum now - but it's silly to infer things about the wider world by comparing attitudes in HN across eras unless you take account of the change in demographic. As to the culture wars? Perhaps it's time for another "erlang love bombing" campaign to recalibrate :D (When was that anyway...?) Edit: Ah yes, it was in 2009: https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2009-03-11 https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2009-03-11
- wat10000 2y ago
  I mean, it’s not called Startup News. There’s a group that assumes real hackers all want to do startups (and the site is run by some of those), but that isn’t really the culture. We mythologize Woz and Gates and Page, but also K&R and Knuth and Dijkstra.
  - Macha 2y ago
    > I mean, it’s not called Startup News Well, not anymore it isn't: https://web.archive.org/web/20070601184317/http://news.ycombinator.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20070601184317/http://news.ycomb...
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    > We mythologize Woz and Gates and Page Interesting that you both put Woz in this group, and omitted Jobs. To me, one of the better analogy of the difference between two groups/interests is Woz vs Jobs.
TeMPOraL 2y ago
Relative out-timer here. I came here because of smart people having smart discussions about life, universe, and everything (tech or otherwise). HN both got me to drink the startup kool-aid early on, and then cured me from it later on, ultimately making me a startup-skeptic (and infecting me with an unhealthy dose of cynicism). I guess this is how growing up looks like :). Ultimately, I still hang around HN because of high-quality discussions; there's really no other place like it, or at least I've found none. Or maybe after all this time, it just feels like home. Still, were the balance to shift hard towards startup talk, I fear we'd lose all the intellectual curiosity driven submissions and discussions - they'd just turn into sharing tips and tricks to make moar moneys with tech, which I personally find BOOOOOORING AF.
- fragmede 2y ago
  Relatively :)
- kbenson 2y ago
  I was tempted to write much the same, then read yours, so I'll just say "me too, for everything you said" and leave it at that. :)
Karrot_Kream 2y ago
So I'm curious, is HN just a general tech news site for you then? Do you expect it to have a focus?
- NoboruWataya 2y ago
  Yes to the first question, no to the second. In fact it's not just tech, as I sometimes see interesting articles about history or the arts on here. But of course it is mostly tech-related content.

Macha 2y ago

This was always me, and I've been here 15 years. It was pretty much a tech forum then (arguably more then than now, there's much more discussion of culture war issues now, even when stories are flagged it's ever-present in the comments). I think the time when HN was primarily startups was much further back and much briefer than most people nostalgically remember.

dcminter 2y ago
Yes, but the proportions have still changed. It's not static, it's a progression. 2010 will have been different to 2008 (when I joined) but so will 2013 with respect to 2010, 2020 with respect to 2013, and 2025 with respect to 2020. It's fine that it's much more broadly a tech forum now - but it's silly to infer things about the wider world by comparing attitudes in HN across eras unless you take account of the change in demographic. As to the culture wars? Perhaps it's time for another "erlang love bombing" campaign to recalibrate :D (When was that anyway...?) Edit: Ah yes, it was in 2009: https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2009-03-11 https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2009-03-11
wat10000 2y ago
I mean, it’s not called Startup News. There’s a group that assumes real hackers all want to do startups (and the site is run by some of those), but that isn’t really the culture. We mythologize Woz and Gates and Page, but also K&R and Knuth and Dijkstra.
- Macha 2y ago
  > I mean, it’s not called Startup News Well, not anymore it isn't: https://web.archive.org/web/20070601184317/http://news.ycombinator.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20070601184317/http://news.ycomb...
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  > We mythologize Woz and Gates and Page Interesting that you both put Woz in this group, and omitted Jobs. To me, one of the better analogy of the difference between two groups/interests is Woz vs Jobs.

TeMPOraL 2y ago

Relative out-timer here. I came here because of smart people having smart discussions about life, universe, and everything (tech or otherwise). HN both got me to drink the startup kool-aid early on, and then cured me from it later on, ultimately making me a startup-skeptic (and infecting me with an unhealthy dose of cynicism). I guess this is how growing up looks like :). Ultimately, I still hang around HN because of high-quality discussions; there's really no other place like it, or at least I've found none. Or maybe after all this time, it just feels like home. Still, were the balance to shift hard towards startup talk, I fear we'd lose all the intellectual curiosity driven submissions and discussions - they'd just turn into sharing tips and tricks to make moar moneys with tech, which I personally find BOOOOOORING AF.

fragmede 2y ago
Relatively :)
kbenson 2y ago
I was tempted to write much the same, then read yours, so I'll just say "me too, for everything you said" and leave it at that. :)

Karrot_Kream 2y ago

So I'm curious, is HN just a general tech news site for you then? Do you expect it to have a focus?

NoboruWataya 2y ago
Yes to the first question, no to the second. In fact it's not just tech, as I sometimes see interesting articles about history or the arts on here. But of course it is mostly tech-related content.