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On the last point, one thing I've taken away from the HN karma system is that your votes are most highly correlated with the general traffic around a discussion

by mjn 14y ago

On the last point, one thing I've taken away from the HN karma system is that your votes are most highly correlated with the general traffic around a discussion, more than with anything specific to the comment. Posting almost anything decent on a story that sits on the front page for a day will get you double-digit upvotes, especially if it's an early comment. But posting something in an article that only briefly hits the front page will not get much attention. Come to think of it, that does transfer to both business and academia to some extent.

brudgers 14y ago
Are you suggesting that a knack for timing and an ability to deliver something that others value might be individual qualities which YC might wish to develop in potential applicants who participate on HN?
- mjn 14y ago
  I don't see it as very HN-specific. It's the exact same pattern you find at Reddit and Slashdot, so if YC is mainly attempting to cultivate that property, looking for users with the highest Reddit karma might be a good strategy (and they've proven themselves to a larger audience, probably more representative of average consumers). The negative way of looking at it is that it's most important just to be in the general vicinity of activity and say something with either broad appeal, or provocation. In academia this is becoming a common strategy with the rise of metrics. Find a hot area, publish a paper with a linkbaity title and prominent keyword placement, and wait for the citations to roll in. In business, it's the strategy of choosing your field of endeavor by picking the places where the most money is flowing around, and then just doing something average in that space.
  - brudgers 14y ago
    YC can structure HN to simulate market conditions. They cannot do that with Reddit.
- anthonyb 14y ago
  What you're describing is equally true of stand-up comedians as entrepreners and technical people.

by mjn 14y ago

brudgers 14y ago

Are you suggesting that a knack for timing and an ability to deliver something that others value might be individual qualities which YC might wish to develop in potential applicants who participate on HN?

mjn 14y ago
I don't see it as very HN-specific. It's the exact same pattern you find at Reddit and Slashdot, so if YC is mainly attempting to cultivate that property, looking for users with the highest Reddit karma might be a good strategy (and they've proven themselves to a larger audience, probably more representative of average consumers). The negative way of looking at it is that it's most important just to be in the general vicinity of activity and say something with either broad appeal, or provocation. In academia this is becoming a common strategy with the rise of metrics. Find a hot area, publish a paper with a linkbaity title and prominent keyword placement, and wait for the citations to roll in. In business, it's the strategy of choosing your field of endeavor by picking the places where the most money is flowing around, and then just doing something average in that space.
- brudgers 14y ago
  YC can structure HN to simulate market conditions. They cannot do that with Reddit.
anthonyb 14y ago
What you're describing is equally true of stand-up comedians as entrepreners and technical people.