4 ms·

I have wondered why there is so little discussion of these things on HN compared to other social media.

lylejantzi3rd 2y ago
You're kidding me, right? It seems like every other post on the front page is a discussion of this topic and nothing else. It's getting old.
- Supermancho 2y ago
  You can look right now. This story + a related one at the bottom of 3rd page. Not sure where you get that sentiment from. Maybe under submissions?
- BadCookie 2y ago
  No? I see under 10% of the HN front page stories being related to U.S. national politics at the moment, which feels very low compared to Reddit and Facebook for me (which are well over 50%, but I realize that each person sees something different potentially).
jfengel 2y ago
Half of HN thinks this is precisely what's needed. The other half would like to talk about it, but it's flagged as being irrelevant politics.
- freitasm 2y ago
  Truth. I follow the RSS and there are so many flagged or dead posts that never make the front page. There seems to be a hard right turn in the tech circles.
  - jfengel 2y ago
    Yeah. It's been going on since the dotcom boom. I watched Slashdot become increasingly right wing for a decade. When I finally gave up on it, it was practically Stormfront.
- xor-eax-eax 2y ago
  Half crazy, half too pure to get their hands dirty. 0% sensible discussion of absurdity that can only be explained by actions undertaken extremist ideology that benefit the ultra-rich and harm everyone else.
rectang 2y ago
See https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and search for "politics". Additionally, political discussions on HN are hamstrung by the guideline to "assume good faith", which doesn't work well for political topics because there is a lot of bad faith commentary.
_kb 2y ago
That’s a feature not a bug. We congregate here, from all over the world, to discuss tech adjacent nerdy and learn from each other. Not US politics.
- mullingitover 2y ago
  Hacker News might try to ignore politics, but politics isn't ignoring tech. You have impending tariffs on chips on the way to wreck tech businesses, and incoming xenophobic immigration policies coming to kick out the talent pipeline. But sure, let's flag any posts that might hint at everything not being totally awesome. Did you hear that some build tool got open sourced?
  - tpmoney 2y ago
    >Hacker News might try to ignore politics, but politics isn't ignoring tech. Great! Maybe folks could discuss that in any of the hundreds of other social forums all over the internet? One of the absolute worst things to have happened as traditional forums and such have gone away and been replaced with "feeds" and "feeding trough" front pages is that every single place seems to eventually devolve into a death spiral of US Team Sports Politics. Does anyone really believe that the relative dearth of political discussion on HN is actually preventing anyone interested in that discussion from finding it? Or keeping anyone interested in being informed on the relevant issues from being so informed? Maybe it's possible to have places in your life where you talk to other people and don't have to talk about politics.
    - nicce 2y ago
      > Great! Maybe folks could discuss that in any of the hundreds of other social forums all over the internet? Real discussion on there is not possible. This place seems to be more civilized.
      - ThrowawayR2 2y ago
        Civilized? It won't be for long if people drag political topics in here.
unethical_ban 2y ago
HN standards typically avoid political discussion that doesn't intersect with technology. But it's hard not to talk about seeing the far-right seizing total political control of the executive branch and destroying the entire bureaucracy and the concept of fact.
FpUser 2y ago
If you mean that trade war, what is here to discuss? We (Canada) just got fucked royally by our "best" ally and trading partner. There is not much we can do in return tariff wise without causing even greater harm for ourselves. I think our demented government should just learn the lesson, and develop our own independent trade and foreign policies. There is a whole world out there. Just stop bending over.
- pixxel 2y ago
  [dead]

You're kidding me, right? It seems like every other post on the front page is a discussion of this topic and nothing else. It's getting old.

Supermancho 2y ago
You can look right now. This story + a related one at the bottom of 3rd page. Not sure where you get that sentiment from. Maybe under submissions?
BadCookie 2y ago
No? I see under 10% of the HN front page stories being related to U.S. national politics at the moment, which feels very low compared to Reddit and Facebook for me (which are well over 50%, but I realize that each person sees something different potentially).

jfengel 2y ago

Half of HN thinks this is precisely what's needed. The other half would like to talk about it, but it's flagged as being irrelevant politics.

freitasm 2y ago
Truth. I follow the RSS and there are so many flagged or dead posts that never make the front page. There seems to be a hard right turn in the tech circles.
- jfengel 2y ago
  Yeah. It's been going on since the dotcom boom. I watched Slashdot become increasingly right wing for a decade. When I finally gave up on it, it was practically Stormfront.
xor-eax-eax 2y ago
Half crazy, half too pure to get their hands dirty. 0% sensible discussion of absurdity that can only be explained by actions undertaken extremist ideology that benefit the ultra-rich and harm everyone else.

rectang 2y ago

See https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and search for "politics". Additionally, political discussions on HN are hamstrung by the guideline to "assume good faith", which doesn't work well for political topics because there is a lot of bad faith commentary.

_kb 2y ago

That’s a feature not a bug. We congregate here, from all over the world, to discuss tech adjacent nerdy and learn from each other. Not US politics.

mullingitover 2y ago
Hacker News might try to ignore politics, but politics isn't ignoring tech. You have impending tariffs on chips on the way to wreck tech businesses, and incoming xenophobic immigration policies coming to kick out the talent pipeline. But sure, let's flag any posts that might hint at everything not being totally awesome. Did you hear that some build tool got open sourced?
- tpmoney 2y ago
  >Hacker News might try to ignore politics, but politics isn't ignoring tech. Great! Maybe folks could discuss that in any of the hundreds of other social forums all over the internet? One of the absolute worst things to have happened as traditional forums and such have gone away and been replaced with "feeds" and "feeding trough" front pages is that every single place seems to eventually devolve into a death spiral of US Team Sports Politics. Does anyone really believe that the relative dearth of political discussion on HN is actually preventing anyone interested in that discussion from finding it? Or keeping anyone interested in being informed on the relevant issues from being so informed? Maybe it's possible to have places in your life where you talk to other people and don't have to talk about politics.
  - nicce 2y ago
    > Great! Maybe folks could discuss that in any of the hundreds of other social forums all over the internet? Real discussion on there is not possible. This place seems to be more civilized.
    - ThrowawayR2 2y ago
      Civilized? It won't be for long if people drag political topics in here.

unethical_ban 2y ago

HN standards typically avoid political discussion that doesn't intersect with technology. But it's hard not to talk about seeing the far-right seizing total political control of the executive branch and destroying the entire bureaucracy and the concept of fact.

FpUser 2y ago

If you mean that trade war, what is here to discuss? We (Canada) just got fucked royally by our "best" ally and trading partner. There is not much we can do in return tariff wise without causing even greater harm for ourselves. I think our demented government should just learn the lesson, and develop our own independent trade and foreign policies. There is a whole world out there. Just stop bending over.

pixxel 2y ago
[dead]