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We're going to at least restrict Show HNs for a while. I do think this is relevant though: "HN can't be immune from macro trends" - https://hn.algolia.com/?dat
by dang 8mo ago
We're going to at least restrict Show HNs for a while.
I do think this is relevant though: "HN can't be immune from macro trends" - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20immune%20macro%20trend&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- Oras 8mo agoFor all accounts or just new ones?
- dang 8mo agoJust new ones for now. I don't want to make HN harder for legit new users, but I do think a bit of community participation is reasonable before posting a Show HN, so it isn't just a box on some "how to promote your project" checklist.
- wormpilled 8mo agoIt's really hurting the brand. I can't remember the last time I bothered to even check that index. I used to check it all the time.
- bakugo 8mo ago/newest is pretty grim, too. Go there and click any link, and odds are you won't even need to read the contents to know it's AI generated, because you'll immediately be met by one of: - A landing page that looks exactly like every single AI generated landing page ever, I don't even need to describe it, you already know what it looks like - An article or blog post headered by an image with the Gemini logo in the corner - A Github repository with CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md and/or 50 large commits made in the span of a day I'd estimate that more than half of new submissions now fall into one of the above categories.
- mbernstein 8mo agoThere's almost no shot to get hand authored posts some views (I tried with one of mine recently). I felt like I submitted it and a moment later there were like 20 new very obviously AI generated posts ahead of it.
- rubb3rDucc 8mo agoI recently had the same experience with a Show HN thread I posted.
- techsystems 8mo agoHow new is new?
- verdverm 8mo agoIt does seem, anecdotally, that the Show HN is being used less since the recent analytic posts that made it to the front page.
- ludicrousdispla 8mo ago[flagged]
- laborcontract 8mo agoPlease do so. And, forgive me if I speak heresy, but there has to be more proof of work (friction) to create accounts. I was shocked at how easy it is for something like chatgpt atlas to create new accounts on the fly.
- rock_artist 8mo agoI really don’t like newbie has 0 trust. So some proof of work makes sense more than limiting new users.
- trinsic2 8mo agoWhat would this proof of work scenario, instead of restricting new user content, look like?
- TZubiri 8mo agoSeems to be a general problem right? The standard solution is using an email to register account, maybe a cloudflare captcha, and then using good network logging to group accounts by IPs and chainbanning abusive accounts when they are caught by other mechanisms.
- magicalhippo 8mo agoThe problem is that we might lose some gold. Not too seldom have I seen the author or a significant party of a story chime in through a fresh green account, as they were alerted by the story being posted here one way or another. And usually when they do it's very interesting. As such I would find it detrimental if they had to jump through too many hoops so they don't bother or it takes too long so the thread dies before they can participate.
- Uvix 8mo agoSeems like restricting posts but not comments from a fresh account would thread that needle pretty well?
- 8mo ago
- AlexeyBrin 8mo agoAgree, HN can't be immune to what happens in the programming world. Would be great though if we can have a way to mute or hide accounts. This way each HN user will be able to clean his own feed of articles.
- inquirerGeneral 8mo ago[dead]
- conductr 8mo agoThat works for me so long as it’s not the main solution, as I personally don’t want to curate, I’d rather just partake in a sanely moderated forum and that’s my understanding of what HN has been it’s just facing a new challenge with ai spam
- xupybd 8mo agoThat's sad there have been some really neat things shared that way but you gotta do what ya gotta do.
- pinkmuffinere 8mo agoI was thinking of setting up a system to highlight sock-puppeters and other consistent-rule-violating accounts, as a 'fun project' that might improve the HN experience. But it strikes me that the HN staff probably already does something like this, they may not welcome a side-loaded project of this sort, and it would require some automated crawling of HN (which again may be unwelcomed). Finally, I don't actually have experience in this area. Is this something that would be welcomed, or unwanted? My initial thought is to set up a devoted account like "sock_puppet_detector", and using the infrastructure from https://hackersmacker.org/ https://hackersmacker.org/, add any likely sock-puppets as 'foes'.
- rdevilla 8mo agoI'm wary about new accounts such as yours wanting to censor and shape discourse by antagonizing people who hold diverse views that differ from your own here. The HN culture has shifted drastically over the past 5 years.
- QuantumGood 8mo agouser: pinkmuffinere created: August 8, 2021 karma: 2686
- 8mo ago
- swat535 8mo agoWhy not let the users choose at settings? like "Show dead" ?
- karmakaze 8mo agoHere's an idea: allow downvotes for green posts with published guidelines on when downvoting is and is not appropriate. We can collectively filter out the pure spam efficiently to make it less worthwhile to post.
- aaron695 8mo ago[dead]
- rvz 8mo agoI welcome this. Lots of AI slop has been thrown on to this site and the drawbridge needs to be eventually raised a little. Can't allow low-quality posting from new accounts here but thank you for listening to the concerns.
- mancerayder 8mo agoMinimum karma perhaps? It's easy for people to game but it's at least one more effort-based hurdle.
- kazinator 8mo agoA site can't easily be immune to macro trends in authentic dicussion, but it can be significantly immune to inauthentic uses.
- 1tdimhcsb 8mo ago[flagged]
- mursu 8mo agoGreetings. Don't mean to come across as disrespectful. May I ask, have you decided on the criteria for new users to unlock restrictions? I apologize if it was already conveyed, but being new, I find myself a bit lost. I have read the guidelines and wanted to post in Show HN but then I got a message that stated that I do not have the clearance to do that yet. I must add I totally understand. I did not know about Hacker News until a few days ago when Gemini gave me the pointer to get my project visible to people here for real quality feedback. Again. I apologize if I am out of place.
- dang 8mo agoThe problem is that there are now so many attempts to get "real quality feedback" that the entire system is in danger of collapsing. Imagine how you'd feel if Gemini pointed the rest of the internet at your inbox! Or a thousand people showed up in your garden, all wanting your attention. This isn't so far from that; HN is not so big a place, and there are only two of us supporting it. What would be best is for you to poke around the site a bit and get familiar enough with it to decide if you'd like to be a part of the community or not. If so, you're welcome! you aren't the first person to feel a bit lost here as a new user, because the site is rather minimal and cryptic—but your eyes will adjust if you keep reading it over time. If, on the other hand, you're not interested, that's totally ok, but then please don't try to promote your projects here. HN is a community, and the way to get attention for your things is to first give attention to other people's things. I don't want to specify X, Y, Z criteria technically because that would just be an invitation to game the system. Worse, Gemini will then tell you "first do X, then do Y and Z, and then you'll get that 'real quality feedback'". What I want Gemini to tell you (and everyone else!) is "don't use Hacker News primarily for promotion - they have a rule against that. Instead, participate in the community for the intended reason—intellectual curiosity—and after a while, it will become clear how the culture works and how to share your projects there".
- mursu 8mo agoThank you.I see your point and I understand what I must do. I will stick around and try to naturally blend in. This place seems a bit misterious and I weirdly feel drawn to it the more I read... even if that was not the primary goal for me here. I clearly had a slightly distorted idea about how this works. I'm glad and thankful for your feedback
- jakejmnz 8mo agoYep, just tried to post and I'm not able. Unfortunate. :/
- Tacite 8mo agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47326101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47326101
- TheChelsUK 8mo agoPlease don’t forget that some AI generated posts are helpful for those of us with disabilities who can hope to keep an online presence via a pos dictated to an agent, or need help formulating sentences. By focusing or restricting human only use you risk dehumanising those he need technological support.
- dang 8mo agoWhat you're describing is legit. I think the solution here is to understand that the rules are never fully specified, and not all-or-nothing. At such a general level of abstraction, it can't be. More here in case useful: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342616 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342616 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47346798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47346798
- plagiat0r 8mo agoUnpopular opinion: Maybe the way to go is to create a separate Show HNs only for bots and put some instructions for the bots to follow, identify themselves and give them separate category. Similar to moltbook. If we can't stop it, maybe we could contain it in a dedicated space. I'm not a fan of moltbots / openclaws (and any clones that popped up in the last moth). I don't use them and try to discourage their use. That being said, millions of them are running anyway...
- dang 8mo agoI doubt that people would respect it, so we'd still have the problem of distinguishing wheat from chaff in the 'human' section, plus also have a 'bot' bucket to maintain.
- jhyolm 8mo agoLooking through the comments here, I don't see any information on what is required to be considered taking "some time to get to know the community and become a good contributor."
- dang 8mo agoThat's because it's not primarily a technical task. If we specified technical criteria X, Y, Z, all that would happen is they'd end up on an LLM checklist somewhere. What's needed is to get to know this place a little and how it operates, which means taking the time to poke around and explore. I realize HN is rather cryptic at first, but it doesn't take that long for one's eyes to adjust.
- mparas 8mo agoI understand that something needed to be done. Still can't help but say that it's a pity. A blanket ban on new users posting doesn't seem right. There are many people like me who "followed" HN for a long time, but then decided to create an account recently to post and ask for feedback, only to see the submission get blocked.
- dang 8mo agoThere's no blanket ban on new users posting, and even when there's a bar, it's a low one. I hear you that it's not great for users who are genuine HN readers but haven't posted before. I wish we had a better idea what to do for those cases!