3 ms·

i am curious, why are your comments always pinned to the top?

by ushakov 8mo ago

carbocation 8mo ago
Because many of us think simonw has discerning taste on this topic and like to read what he has to say about it, so we upvote his comments.
- ushakov 8mo ago
  i don't doubt this. i just find it questionable that one particular poster always gets in the spotlight when AI is the topic - while other conversations in my opinion offer more interesting angles.
  - jonas21 8mo ago
    Upvote the conversations that you find to be more interesting. If enough people do the same, they too will make it to the top.
    - coldtea 8mo ago
      Parent implies there might be some "boosting" involved, in which case, "upvote the conversations that you find to be more interesting" wont change anything... Not saying this is the case, but it's what the comment implies, so "just upvote your faves" doesn't really address it.
  - colesantiago 8mo ago
    Agreed, I would like to see others, being promoted to the top rather than Simon’s constant shilling for backlinks to his blog every time an AI topic is on the front page.
simonw 8mo ago
At a guess that's because my comment attracted more up-votes than the other top-level comments in the thread. I generally try to include something in a comment that's not information already under discussion - in this case that was the link and quote from the original README.
- ushakov 8mo ago
  of course your comment attracts more upvotes - it's at the top.
  - ontouchstart 8mo ago
    Attention feeds attention. Attention is ALL You Need.
  - seanhunter 8mo ago
    It’s at the top because of upvotes. They don’t have an “if simonw: boost” branch in the code.
    - ushakov 8mo ago
      the code is not public, so we can't know. i think it's much more nuanced and certain users' comments might get a preferential treatment, based on factors other than the upvote count - which itself is hidden from us.
      - ComplexSystems 8mo ago
        > the code is not public, so we can't know. I feel like you're making this statement in bad faith, rather than honestly believing the developers of the forum software here have built in a clause to pin simonw's comments to the top.
      - satvikpendem 8mo ago
        > certain users' comments might get a preferential treatment This does not happen. It hasn't even happened when pg made the forum in the first place.
        dcrazy 8mo ago
        I thought dang explicitly said it does happen? It certainly happens for stories.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
llm_nerd 8mo ago
HN goes through phases. I remember when patio11 was the star of the hour on here. At another time it was that security guy (can't remember his name). And for those who think it's just organic with all of the upvotes, HN absolutely does have a +/- comment bias for users, and it does automatically feature certain people and suppress others.
- imiric 8mo ago
  > And for those who think it's just organic with all of the upvotes, HN absolutely does have a bias for authors, and it does automatically feature certain people and suppress others. Exactly. There are configurable settings for each account, which might be automatically or manually set—I'm not sure–, that control the initial position of a comment in threads, and how long it stays there. There might be a reward system, where comments from high-karma accounts are prioritized over others, and accounts with "strikes", e.g. direct warnings from moderators, are penalized. The difference in upvotes that account ultimately receives, and thus the impact on the discussion, is quite stark. The more visible a comment is, i.e. the more at the top it is, the more upvotes it can collect, which in turn makes it stay at the top, and so on. It's safe to assume that certain accounts, such as those of YC staff, mods, or alumni, or tech celebrities like simonw, are given the highest priority. I've noticed this on my own account. Before being warned for an IMO bullshit reason, my comments started to appear near the middle, and quickly float down to the bottom, whereas before they would usually be at the top for a few minutes. The quality of what I say hasn't changed, though the account's standing, and certainly the community itself, has. I don't mind, nor particularly care about an arbitrary number. This is a proprietary platform run by a VC firm. It would be silly to expect that they've cracked the code of online discourse, or that their goal is to keep it balanced. The discussions here are better on average than elsewhere because of the community, although that also has been declining over the years. I still find it jarring that most people would vote on a comment depending on if they agree with it or not, instead of engaging with it intellectually, which often pushes interesting comments to the bottom. This is an unsolved problem here, as much as it is on other platforms.
  - Eisenstein 8mo ago
throwaway2027 8mo ago
Time flies and simonw his AI feedback isn't always received favorably, sometimes he pushes it too much.
francispauli 8mo ago
thanks for reminding me i need to follow his blog weekly again
satvikpendem 8mo ago
They aren't pinned, people just vote on them, and more so because simonw is a recognizable name with lots of posts and comments.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
magicalhippo 8mo ago
New comments get a boost, and as such are frequently near the top just due to that. Frequent upvotes also boosts. There might be other factors. However these things are dynamic and change over time. As I read the discussion just now, the GP comment was the ~5th top-level comment.

i am curious, why are your comments always pinned to the top?

by ushakov 8mo ago

i am curious, why are your comments always pinned to the top?

Because many of us think simonw has discerning taste on this topic and like to read what he has to say about it, so we upvote his comments.

ushakov 8mo ago
i don't doubt this. i just find it questionable that one particular poster always gets in the spotlight when AI is the topic - while other conversations in my opinion offer more interesting angles.
- jonas21 8mo ago
  Upvote the conversations that you find to be more interesting. If enough people do the same, they too will make it to the top.
  - coldtea 8mo ago
    Parent implies there might be some "boosting" involved, in which case, "upvote the conversations that you find to be more interesting" wont change anything... Not saying this is the case, but it's what the comment implies, so "just upvote your faves" doesn't really address it.
- colesantiago 8mo ago
  Agreed, I would like to see others, being promoted to the top rather than Simon’s constant shilling for backlinks to his blog every time an AI topic is on the front page.

simonw 8mo ago

At a guess that's because my comment attracted more up-votes than the other top-level comments in the thread. I generally try to include something in a comment that's not information already under discussion - in this case that was the link and quote from the original README.

ushakov 8mo ago
of course your comment attracts more upvotes - it's at the top.
- ontouchstart 8mo ago
  Attention feeds attention. Attention is ALL You Need.
- seanhunter 8mo ago
  It’s at the top because of upvotes. They don’t have an “if simonw: boost” branch in the code.
  - ushakov 8mo ago
    the code is not public, so we can't know. i think it's much more nuanced and certain users' comments might get a preferential treatment, based on factors other than the upvote count - which itself is hidden from us.
    - ComplexSystems 8mo ago
      > the code is not public, so we can't know. I feel like you're making this statement in bad faith, rather than honestly believing the developers of the forum software here have built in a clause to pin simonw's comments to the top.
    - satvikpendem 8mo ago
      > certain users' comments might get a preferential treatment This does not happen. It hasn't even happened when pg made the forum in the first place.
      - dcrazy 8mo ago
        I thought dang explicitly said it does happen? It certainly happens for stories.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

llm_nerd 8mo ago

HN goes through phases. I remember when patio11 was the star of the hour on here. At another time it was that security guy (can't remember his name). And for those who think it's just organic with all of the upvotes, HN absolutely does have a +/- comment bias for users, and it does automatically feature certain people and suppress others.

imiric 8mo ago
> And for those who think it's just organic with all of the upvotes, HN absolutely does have a bias for authors, and it does automatically feature certain people and suppress others. Exactly. There are configurable settings for each account, which might be automatically or manually set—I'm not sure–, that control the initial position of a comment in threads, and how long it stays there. There might be a reward system, where comments from high-karma accounts are prioritized over others, and accounts with "strikes", e.g. direct warnings from moderators, are penalized. The difference in upvotes that account ultimately receives, and thus the impact on the discussion, is quite stark. The more visible a comment is, i.e. the more at the top it is, the more upvotes it can collect, which in turn makes it stay at the top, and so on. It's safe to assume that certain accounts, such as those of YC staff, mods, or alumni, or tech celebrities like simonw, are given the highest priority. I've noticed this on my own account. Before being warned for an IMO bullshit reason, my comments started to appear near the middle, and quickly float down to the bottom, whereas before they would usually be at the top for a few minutes. The quality of what I say hasn't changed, though the account's standing, and certainly the community itself, has. I don't mind, nor particularly care about an arbitrary number. This is a proprietary platform run by a VC firm. It would be silly to expect that they've cracked the code of online discourse, or that their goal is to keep it balanced. The discussions here are better on average than elsewhere because of the community, although that also has been declining over the years. I still find it jarring that most people would vote on a comment depending on if they agree with it or not, instead of engaging with it intellectually, which often pushes interesting comments to the bottom. This is an unsolved problem here, as much as it is on other platforms.
- Eisenstein 8mo ago

throwaway2027 8mo ago

Time flies and simonw his AI feedback isn't always received favorably, sometimes he pushes it too much.

francispauli 8mo ago

thanks for reminding me i need to follow his blog weekly again

satvikpendem 8mo ago

They aren't pinned, people just vote on them, and more so because simonw is a recognizable name with lots of posts and comments.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

magicalhippo 8mo ago

New comments get a boost, and as such are frequently near the top just due to that. Frequent upvotes also boosts. There might be other factors. However these things are dynamic and change over time. As I read the discussion just now, the GP comment was the ~5th top-level comment.