3 ms·

Found an older one, from 2011 :D https://web.archive.org/web/20110225020957/http://al3x.net/2011/02/22/solving-the-hacker-news-problem.html https://web.archive

Found an older one, from 2011 :D https://web.archive.org/web/20110225020957/http://al3x.net/2011/02/22/solving-the-hacker-news-problem.html https://web.archive.org/web/20110225020957/http://al3x.net/2... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2252152 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2252152 --- Oh, oh, oh, 2009: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=480831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=480831 --- 2008: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=259276 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=259276 The birth of HN is lost in the mists of time, but our best guess is it happened about 3 months before it started going downhill.

dang 4mo ago
2008 is good! Now I want to know what was the first comment saying HN was going downhill. A few years ago I did a thorough search for "HN is turning into Reddit" posts so I could link them at the bottom of https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. These 4 predate your July 2008 link (the first one by only 6 days): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=253657 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=253657 (July 2008) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=66057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=66057 (Oct 2007) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=60767 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=60767 (Sept 2007) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13852 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13852 (April 2007) Here are some more I found: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1361148 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1361148 (May 2010) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=259276 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=259276 (July 2008) Ask YC: HN submissions feels like submissions on reddit post sale, do you guys feel the same way? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=225134 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=225134 - June 2008 (10 comments) (<-- wow, we allowed titles that long?) How do you separate (1) HN is going downhill, from (2) the world is going downhill, from (3) people always think things are going downhill? It seems hopelessly undecideable. (And yet, being human, I do think that HN is going somewhat downhill. Relative to the world though? not sure)
- akkartik 4mo ago
  HN has always had sucky bits, just like human nature. Everyone who thinks it's going downhill is just one of today's 10,000 [1] to discover some sucky corner of human nature. I'd say the world has gone downhill much faster and is making HN look good in comparison. [1] https://xkcd.com/1053 https://xkcd.com/1053
  - dang 4mo ago
    That's the "we don't have to outrun the bear" theory of HN, which is my favorite theory of HN.

dang 4mo ago

2008 is good! Now I want to know what was the first comment saying HN was going downhill. A few years ago I did a thorough search for "HN is turning into Reddit" posts so I could link them at the bottom of https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. These 4 predate your July 2008 link (the first one by only 6 days): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=253657 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=253657 (July 2008) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=66057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=66057 (Oct 2007) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=60767 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=60767 (Sept 2007) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13852 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13852 (April 2007) Here are some more I found: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1361148 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1361148 (May 2010) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=259276 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=259276 (July 2008) Ask YC: HN submissions feels like submissions on reddit post sale, do you guys feel the same way? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=225134 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=225134 - June 2008 (10 comments) (<-- wow, we allowed titles that long?) How do you separate (1) HN is going downhill, from (2) the world is going downhill, from (3) people always think things are going downhill? It seems hopelessly undecideable. (And yet, being human, I do think that HN is going somewhat downhill. Relative to the world though? not sure)

akkartik 4mo ago
HN has always had sucky bits, just like human nature. Everyone who thinks it's going downhill is just one of today's 10,000 [1] to discover some sucky corner of human nature. I'd say the world has gone downhill much faster and is making HN look good in comparison. [1] https://xkcd.com/1053 https://xkcd.com/1053
- dang 4mo ago
  That's the "we don't have to outrun the bear" theory of HN, which is my favorite theory of HN.