4 ms·

This seems like solipsism at its absolute worst. Do you care at all about the actual human being on the other end of that superficial online friendship? Or are

This seems like solipsism at its absolute worst. Do you care at all about the actual human being on the other end of that superficial online friendship? Or are they simply a source of content for you to ingest?

johnecheck 1y ago
"Outside of forums like this one" The real culprits are revealed. Despite its flaws, Hacker News does foster real discussion that sometimes leads to real connection. Big online social spaces tend to do the opposite.
- 1718627440 1y ago
  It's because text seams to be a useful medium for deep arguments. Also the small text size increases discussion length. I recently pasted some comments in an office document and was surprised that it's a wall of text 3 pages long.
- hyghjiyhu 1y ago
  Does it? I think is worse in that respect. Instagram users meet up irl. Reddit has chats for connecting with people online. Hacker news has no way at all to make friends. The only worse place might be image boards that lack even a stable identifier. It's all about the topic. "How are doing today johnecheck" "want to get shoot the shit over a beer?" said no one ever.
  - dragonwriter 1y ago
    Hacker News has profiles in which people can and some do put information which can be used for an off-site connection; it doesn't have an easy channel for user-to-user harassment, but that just makes it easier to engage publicly without worrying about that.
  - johnecheck 1y ago
    You make a good point. It's quite odd that I often feel more connection to users here despite the lack of 'friend' features. Nonetheless I do. I suspect it's due to the relatively high average comment quality. I'm looking for a strong taste of belonging in a digital community. That nibble from HN evokes the same tantalizing possibility as rare discord servers and subreddits once did. None satisfy.

4 ms·

This seems like solipsism at its absolute worst. Do you care at all about the actual human being on the other end of that superficial online friendship? Or are

by AIPedant 1y ago

johnecheck 1y ago
"Outside of forums like this one" The real culprits are revealed. Despite its flaws, Hacker News does foster real discussion that sometimes leads to real connection. Big online social spaces tend to do the opposite.
- 1718627440 1y ago
  It's because text seams to be a useful medium for deep arguments. Also the small text size increases discussion length. I recently pasted some comments in an office document and was surprised that it's a wall of text 3 pages long.
- hyghjiyhu 1y ago
  Does it? I think is worse in that respect. Instagram users meet up irl. Reddit has chats for connecting with people online. Hacker news has no way at all to make friends. The only worse place might be image boards that lack even a stable identifier. It's all about the topic. "How are doing today johnecheck" "want to get shoot the shit over a beer?" said no one ever.
  - dragonwriter 1y ago
    Hacker News has profiles in which people can and some do put information which can be used for an off-site connection; it doesn't have an easy channel for user-to-user harassment, but that just makes it easier to engage publicly without worrying about that.
  - johnecheck 1y ago
    You make a good point. It's quite odd that I often feel more connection to users here despite the lack of 'friend' features. Nonetheless I do. I suspect it's due to the relatively high average comment quality. I'm looking for a strong taste of belonging in a digital community. That nibble from HN evokes the same tantalizing possibility as rare discord servers and subreddits once did. None satisfy.