4 ms·

HN is increasingly bot central, I kind of assume 80% of the respondents are artificial. Lobsters still got a pulse, largely.

by grebc 3mo ago

rickcarlino 3mo ago
Invitation-only is the future of online communities. Lobsters still has a pulse because you need to know someone to get in and it’s a bad look if you invite annoying people.
- OutOfHere 3mo ago
  That's nonsense wrt invitation-only being the future. I can equally say that free speech is the future. For comparison, Reddit does very well without being invitation only.
  - Xeronate 3mo ago
    reddit does okay from a profit standpoint. reddit does terribly from a bot or even a good community standpoint.
  - inigyou 3mo ago
    Reddit is literally the dead internet right now. It's also not open access. You have to run an invisible tightrope so its algorithms won't automatically shadowban you and then you have to run a barely visible tightrope to get enough karma to not have your posts automatically removed from every subreddit.
    - inigyou 3mo ago
      Also, Reddit now requires you to verify your ID with Persona.
- tverbeure 3mo ago
  I wish lobste.rs would be a tiny bit easier to get access to. Some of my blog posts have been discussed there and every time I try to get access, I can’t get past their IRC stuff. As in: I just don’t understand how IRC works…
  - Xeronate 3mo ago
    im sorry but maybe connecting to irc is a bit of a filter on the users they expect. especially with ai it should be almost no effort.
  - devilsdata 3mo ago
    I've been waiting for my lobste.rs invite for years. I joined the IRC for a few days, but being in Australia, rarely saw too much activity. I could chase someone down for an invite, but at that point I just don't care that much.
    - abetusk 3mo ago
      I was given my invite from a decent person who, I believe, basically has an "open door" policy. I'm happy to pay it forward and give you an invite if you want it. abetusk@mechaelephant.com
  - cpach 3mo ago
    FWIW, you might want to consider publishing your e-mail address in your HN profile or on your website. Otherwise it’s hard for people to get in touch with you.
  - pudgywalsh 3mo ago
    You should overlay a banner on your blog when they send you an HTTP Referer explaining their nonsense. Maybe then they'll get the message. Then again, maybe they like the ability to critique your posts without you being able to rebut their opinions. It's an effective tactic in online echo chambers.
    - accelbred 3mo ago
      From their about page: "If you wrote a link that was posted, please reach out in chat, we'd love to have you join the community."
    - inigyou 3mo ago
      Or redirect to a picture of a testicle in an eggcup.
- cdrini 3mo ago
  > Invitation-only is the future of online communities. This feels antithetical/dystopian/elitist compared to what online communities are, for me. I think it's ok for some communities to be like this, but I don't think it's the future of online communities.
  - qsera 3mo ago
    I think it is better to have some elitist communities, than to drag everyone down to some least common denomination... I think that was one of the big mistakes/oversight that came with the Internet..
    - cdrini 3mo ago
      I think some are fine, but if I had to choose one I'd choose open access, so I think it's the more important of the two. And in fact it's because the web is open, "no permission needed" by default that allows elitist groups to exist on the web. So I don't think I see it as a mistake. The alternative would be... You can only create a website if you're invited to the internet by someone who already has access? You have to get approval for your website from some authority before it goes public? Those were all potential futures we imo thankfully and carefully avoided!
      - inigyou 3mo ago
        That's actually how it already works, but there are large commercial access providers known as "ISPs". Before there were ISPs, you literally could only get on the internet with a direct connection to someone on the internet, usually a large university.
      - qsera 3mo ago
        >Those were all potential futures we imo thankfully and carefully avoided! I am not so thankful. But it is coming from my view of the current world. I think open Internet for business is good. But open Internet for communication was bad. I cannot think of one good thing that have resulted from an open internet for communication/discussions. It has turned out to result in a collective, perpetual state of seizure for all humanity. I am someone who had to learn stuff from random encounters with books in the 90s. Even then, I would not have it any other way...
OutOfHere 3mo ago
That's an unsubstantiated and false accusation wrt the 80%. If you believe it, why are you even here? Are you one of them?
- grebc 3mo ago
  Bad bot.
synqvest 3mo ago
[dead]
- inigyou 3mo ago
  HN has always been "YC bootlickers only"

HN is increasingly bot central, I kind of assume 80% of the respondents are artificial. Lobsters still got a pulse, largely.

by grebc 3mo ago

HN is increasingly bot central, I kind of assume 80% of the respondents are artificial. Lobsters still got a pulse, largely.

rickcarlino 3mo ago

Invitation-only is the future of online communities. Lobsters still has a pulse because you need to know someone to get in and it’s a bad look if you invite annoying people.

OutOfHere 3mo ago
That's nonsense wrt invitation-only being the future. I can equally say that free speech is the future. For comparison, Reddit does very well without being invitation only.
- Xeronate 3mo ago
  reddit does okay from a profit standpoint. reddit does terribly from a bot or even a good community standpoint.
- inigyou 3mo ago
  Reddit is literally the dead internet right now. It's also not open access. You have to run an invisible tightrope so its algorithms won't automatically shadowban you and then you have to run a barely visible tightrope to get enough karma to not have your posts automatically removed from every subreddit.
  - inigyou 3mo ago
    Also, Reddit now requires you to verify your ID with Persona.
tverbeure 3mo ago
I wish lobste.rs would be a tiny bit easier to get access to. Some of my blog posts have been discussed there and every time I try to get access, I can’t get past their IRC stuff. As in: I just don’t understand how IRC works…
- Xeronate 3mo ago
  im sorry but maybe connecting to irc is a bit of a filter on the users they expect. especially with ai it should be almost no effort.
- devilsdata 3mo ago
  I've been waiting for my lobste.rs invite for years. I joined the IRC for a few days, but being in Australia, rarely saw too much activity. I could chase someone down for an invite, but at that point I just don't care that much.
  - abetusk 3mo ago
    I was given my invite from a decent person who, I believe, basically has an "open door" policy. I'm happy to pay it forward and give you an invite if you want it. abetusk@mechaelephant.com
- cpach 3mo ago
  FWIW, you might want to consider publishing your e-mail address in your HN profile or on your website. Otherwise it’s hard for people to get in touch with you.
- pudgywalsh 3mo ago
  You should overlay a banner on your blog when they send you an HTTP Referer explaining their nonsense. Maybe then they'll get the message. Then again, maybe they like the ability to critique your posts without you being able to rebut their opinions. It's an effective tactic in online echo chambers.
  - accelbred 3mo ago
    From their about page: "If you wrote a link that was posted, please reach out in chat, we'd love to have you join the community."
  - inigyou 3mo ago
    Or redirect to a picture of a testicle in an eggcup.
cdrini 3mo ago
> Invitation-only is the future of online communities. This feels antithetical/dystopian/elitist compared to what online communities are, for me. I think it's ok for some communities to be like this, but I don't think it's the future of online communities.
- qsera 3mo ago
  I think it is better to have some elitist communities, than to drag everyone down to some least common denomination... I think that was one of the big mistakes/oversight that came with the Internet..
  - cdrini 3mo ago
    I think some are fine, but if I had to choose one I'd choose open access, so I think it's the more important of the two. And in fact it's because the web is open, "no permission needed" by default that allows elitist groups to exist on the web. So I don't think I see it as a mistake. The alternative would be... You can only create a website if you're invited to the internet by someone who already has access? You have to get approval for your website from some authority before it goes public? Those were all potential futures we imo thankfully and carefully avoided!
    - inigyou 3mo ago
      That's actually how it already works, but there are large commercial access providers known as "ISPs". Before there were ISPs, you literally could only get on the internet with a direct connection to someone on the internet, usually a large university.
    - qsera 3mo ago
      >Those were all potential futures we imo thankfully and carefully avoided! I am not so thankful. But it is coming from my view of the current world. I think open Internet for business is good. But open Internet for communication was bad. I cannot think of one good thing that have resulted from an open internet for communication/discussions. It has turned out to result in a collective, perpetual state of seizure for all humanity. I am someone who had to learn stuff from random encounters with books in the 90s. Even then, I would not have it any other way...

OutOfHere 3mo ago

That's an unsubstantiated and false accusation wrt the 80%. If you believe it, why are you even here? Are you one of them?

grebc 3mo ago
Bad bot.

synqvest 3mo ago

[dead]

inigyou 3mo ago
HN has always been "YC bootlickers only"