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When it comes to learning, sharing, and growing together, online or otherwise, there are no competitors, winners, or losers. Just a bigger pie. (Good luck to l

• hnriot 14y ago
  that's not entirely true, the amount of time any of us spends online looking at tech news is finite, therefore as the pie gets bigger some of the online communities shrink their viewership, have less participation and less engagement. So the idea of competition is actually quite valid. It's like saying there's room for Facebook and Google+, while that's true there definitely are winners and losers because user engagement in a community is a function of its health and status.
  • chc 14y ago
    I think you either missed or ignored his point.
    • shpoonj 14y ago
      I think he/she accurately pointed out its flaws.
  • shanelja 14y ago
    I applied for lobste.rs, sending an 8 paragraph email about myself, the admin didn't even take the time to reply to me, which I find extremely rude, if I am too lowly for his application, then letting me know how to improve would really have been polite. As it is, because of how I was treat by them, I have an extreme aversion to this website. I don't see it as competition for HN, I was merely curious about the community there and it's comparison to the one here. I guess I got my answer...
    • daeken 14y ago
      When did you send it? I don't know about the recipient of your email, but it's not uncommon for me to have a multi-week backlog of email. Long emails tend to get a long reply, so those take even longer.
      • shanelja 14y ago
        I sent it when the site was released, day 1 or 2 I think, the first time it was posted on HN.
    • st3fan 14y ago
      Wait, what? You have to apply for lobste.rs? What kind of nonsense is that?
      • shanelja 14y ago
        Yeah, it's invite only too, so the idea is, you lower yourself and apply or you get invited by a friend because they like you. So the end result is either it's full of really friendly, intelligent, hand picked people, or it becomes a clique full of friends who are less than intelligent.
• jsprink_ban2 14y ago
  Why the dichotomy? You'd want your fingers in more pies (to use your analogy) and more viewpoints, no?
• alokm 14y ago
  I do think there is a risk of 'intellectual ghettoization'. The quantity in a community might not be that important after a while. But the quality, in terms of diversity of ideas, is very important.
• nreece 14y ago
  I disagree with that notion. I've been a contributor on HN for around 5 years and over the period of time I've seen a constant decline in the quality of comments, community support (read some of the 'Show HN' posts) and to an extent even the quality of the stories submitted. A new improved hacker/startup community can be a serious contender for replacing HN (in its current state), just like Reddit is/was to Digg and others.
  • sharkweek 14y ago
    I'm relatively new to HN (<1year) and the one thing I notice on here is a HEAVY amount of cynicism. Perhaps the tech industry needs that to keep itself in check, but I feel like a lot of argumentative comments can sometimes be REALLY nasty. I understand that in a competitive, fast paced and big money industry there will be massive egos, but I could sure do without some of the jerks
    • tjansen 14y ago
      Isn't that true of every geek-oriented news site with comments? In every community that reaches a certain size people start complaining that everything was better in the early year(s). There's always a lot of cynicism because that's just geek humor (actually I think HN is far better in that regard than many other sites - I don't know any other major site where you can get so much useful and positive feedback). And on sites with lots of comments you will always find lots of negative comments. That's just the way it is.
    • batgaijin 14y ago
      Well a real problem is the fact that it takes no effort to by cynical. It doesn't take intelligence or facts to be cynical, only doubt under the cover of pragmatism.
      • channingwalton 14y ago
        Nice!
  • elliottcarlson 14y ago
• hooande 14y ago
  I'd like to cite the Nader Principle: Groups of people with similar ideas should look for ways to compromise instead of splitting their effort. There has always been value in collecting very different people with similar goals in one place. Greater diversity of perspective, backgrounds and points of view. I'm always a little sad to see a group of people split over a minor dispute or philosophical difference. It's taking what could be a great combined effort and diluting it.
  • tomdale 14y ago
    I agree with you in principle, but in practice it is hard to even have that discussion on HN, where metadiscussions are frowned upon, there is zero transparency into how moderation is conducted, and you can be hellbanned without explanation or recourse.
• ibisum 14y ago
  Personally, I'm always glad to see a new blog/forum/collector/thingy like this start up. Since the days of /. and before, all the 'new social online scene' collectives have been a blast. I can't conceive of a new such effort as being anything but a positive thing ..
• galfarragem 14y ago
  lobste.rs for sure has/will have his public but what I like in HN is that is not only technical but also features interesting stuff for smart people allowing curious people from other fields to join and enrich the community (even if lots of people claim the opposite). For example I'm an architect (buildings not IT) and HN is my favourite community. You can say that for me there is reddit but it is full of BS where people too many times comment without having nothing to say.