4 ms·

I don't think HN needs the top comment to be a vague attack on someone in response to a blog post that the comment doesn't even interact with.

bko 8mo ago
You must be new here. But seriously, I think the level of discourse has gone down considerably on HN in the last few years. I know people always say this in their forum but I think it's true. For instance, you'll see a post about GPT. Top comments are often "I use Claude", completely irrelevant. And then when [political thing happens] you get these passive-aggressive submissions with a lot of upvotes "how to switch to Claude". It's all just so exhausting. Constantly this moral grand-standing. Here is an example: > I switched not because I thought Claude was better at doing the things I want. I switched because I have come to believe OpenAI are a bad actor and I do not want to support them in any way. I’m pretty sure they would allow AGI to be used for truly evil purposes, and the events of this week have only convinced me further. Sir, this is a Wendy's
- kcoddington 8mo ago
  I almost posted this exact comment. You're not alone in thinking HN has changed for the worse in recent years. I get that it's just a reflection of cultural change and (over)reactions to anything adding friction. But for a forum dedicated to the "hacker" lifestyle, it's disappointing to see so much gatekeeping and FUD. I really wish this audience could start swinging back towards a response style that contains nuance and recognizes nuance. I find myself opening this site less and less each week.
  - Klonoar 8mo ago
    This forum was never dedicated to the hacker lifestyle, it has always been run by profit seeking investor classes.
  - boringg 8mo ago
    It feels like the quality of reddit collapsed over the last decade and a lot of the reddit style posting has come over here. Especially the examples above. To be fair both the good and the bad. The upvoting for political tribalism (whole political spectrum) is so truly mind bogglingly unintelligent and unoriginal. Its just brings the bar down.
ramraj07 8mo ago
Not everyone knows who geohot is and even if they do they may not see the url handle. They may (like me) think why is a glorified shower thought tweet on top of HN. They may not know that this dude was an anti-masker (with nuance) for example. This could really make them decide not to even spend too much time thinking about the passage which in theory is profound for 10 seconds but no further. As much as ad hominem attacks are not great approaches, the one scenario I feel it's justified is in cases like this.
- jpadkins 8mo ago
  what's anti-masker?
  - denverllc 8mo ago
    Some people thought that surgical masks wouldn’t stop you from getting Covid
    - ludston 8mo ago
      They didn't. The point is that they stop you from giving covid to other people.
      - petcat 8mo ago
        It's a distinction without a difference. Masks served to reduce the herd from spreading covid. Including other people giving it to you.
        wizzwizz4 8mo ago
        The distinction is important! The mechanism by which surgical masks prevent you from getting COVID-19 is peer pressure: it's important for people to know this, so they know how to protect themselves. (And there are fitted masks that protect the wearer: there was just a shortage of them, because despite all the warnings we were not prepared for a pandemic.)
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
GorbachevyChase 8mo ago
I think it’s time to accept that Internet comments are the bloodsport of our day.

bko 8mo ago

You must be new here. But seriously, I think the level of discourse has gone down considerably on HN in the last few years. I know people always say this in their forum but I think it's true. For instance, you'll see a post about GPT. Top comments are often "I use Claude", completely irrelevant. And then when [political thing happens] you get these passive-aggressive submissions with a lot of upvotes "how to switch to Claude". It's all just so exhausting. Constantly this moral grand-standing. Here is an example: > I switched not because I thought Claude was better at doing the things I want. I switched because I have come to believe OpenAI are a bad actor and I do not want to support them in any way. I’m pretty sure they would allow AGI to be used for truly evil purposes, and the events of this week have only convinced me further. Sir, this is a Wendy's

kcoddington 8mo ago
I almost posted this exact comment. You're not alone in thinking HN has changed for the worse in recent years. I get that it's just a reflection of cultural change and (over)reactions to anything adding friction. But for a forum dedicated to the "hacker" lifestyle, it's disappointing to see so much gatekeeping and FUD. I really wish this audience could start swinging back towards a response style that contains nuance and recognizes nuance. I find myself opening this site less and less each week.
- Klonoar 8mo ago
  This forum was never dedicated to the hacker lifestyle, it has always been run by profit seeking investor classes.
- boringg 8mo ago
  It feels like the quality of reddit collapsed over the last decade and a lot of the reddit style posting has come over here. Especially the examples above. To be fair both the good and the bad. The upvoting for political tribalism (whole political spectrum) is so truly mind bogglingly unintelligent and unoriginal. Its just brings the bar down.

ramraj07 8mo ago

Not everyone knows who geohot is and even if they do they may not see the url handle. They may (like me) think why is a glorified shower thought tweet on top of HN. They may not know that this dude was an anti-masker (with nuance) for example. This could really make them decide not to even spend too much time thinking about the passage which in theory is profound for 10 seconds but no further. As much as ad hominem attacks are not great approaches, the one scenario I feel it's justified is in cases like this.

jpadkins 8mo ago
what's anti-masker?
- denverllc 8mo ago
  Some people thought that surgical masks wouldn’t stop you from getting Covid
  - ludston 8mo ago
    They didn't. The point is that they stop you from giving covid to other people.
    - petcat 8mo ago
      It's a distinction without a difference. Masks served to reduce the herd from spreading covid. Including other people giving it to you.
      - wizzwizz4 8mo ago
        The distinction is important! The mechanism by which surgical masks prevent you from getting COVID-19 is peer pressure: it's important for people to know this, so they know how to protect themselves. (And there are fitted masks that protect the wearer: there was just a shortage of them, because despite all the warnings we were not prepared for a pandemic.)

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

GorbachevyChase 8mo ago

I think it’s time to accept that Internet comments are the bloodsport of our day.