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HN is ultimately just a podium for YC companies to market themselves. I don't think there is much value to it beyond that other than a 'little reddit' kind of

HN is ultimately just a podium for YC companies to market themselves. I don't think there is much value to it beyond that other than a 'little reddit' kind of value. As a tech news aggregator it's just OK, a lot of stuff is mainstream fluff that digg in its early years used to be full of - you could probably replace half of HN with http://web20.originalsignal.com/ http://web20.originalsignal.com/. As a community of intelligent people ... there are some very smart and very experienced users who create companies that matter or at least matter for a while, but the average user is just here for average tech news.

pg 14y ago
If HN is a merely ok news aggregator that is ultimately just a podium (?) for YC cos to market themselves, why do you use it so much?
- benologist 14y ago
  For the same reason I used forums, Slashdot, Digg and Reddit before HN - these sites start off very interesting and addictive and then they gradually appeal to a wider and wider audience and in doing so become less interesting. Or maybe it's because I'm growing (or shrinking I guess). Either way one of us is not keeping pace. If it wasn't a podium for YC companies we would see very few of them being mentioned because most of them just aren't that good a match for this audience, so it's forced.
  - robryan 14y ago
    If they aren't a good match for the audience, why are they being upvoted as much as they are? Not that all YC startups get heaps of attention on here, some pass by almost unnoticed.
    - benologist 14y ago
      YC founders' userids show up in orange to one another, and there is a page where they can see one anothers' submissions. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5025168 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5025168
      - djt 14y ago
        But why are you still an active member then?
mduerksen 14y ago
> HN is ultimately just a podium for YC companies to market themselves. That's irrelevant for the question. The question is about the the value of HN regardless of its intended purpose (which is of course open to speculation). To me, your tone seems a bit derogatory. I don't know if you intend to be that way, but if you were, please don't be. HN surely takes some effort and is hugely valuable to me, and I would rather have those who keep things running feel good about it. Even if it weren't perfectly altruistic, I'd say it's still a win-win for all of us, don't you think?

pg 14y ago

If HN is a merely ok news aggregator that is ultimately just a podium (?) for YC cos to market themselves, why do you use it so much?

benologist 14y ago
For the same reason I used forums, Slashdot, Digg and Reddit before HN - these sites start off very interesting and addictive and then they gradually appeal to a wider and wider audience and in doing so become less interesting. Or maybe it's because I'm growing (or shrinking I guess). Either way one of us is not keeping pace. If it wasn't a podium for YC companies we would see very few of them being mentioned because most of them just aren't that good a match for this audience, so it's forced.
- robryan 14y ago
  If they aren't a good match for the audience, why are they being upvoted as much as they are? Not that all YC startups get heaps of attention on here, some pass by almost unnoticed.
  - benologist 14y ago
    YC founders' userids show up in orange to one another, and there is a page where they can see one anothers' submissions. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5025168 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5025168
    - djt 14y ago
      But why are you still an active member then?

mduerksen 14y ago

> HN is ultimately just a podium for YC companies to market themselves. That's irrelevant for the question. The question is about the the value of HN regardless of its intended purpose (which is of course open to speculation). To me, your tone seems a bit derogatory. I don't know if you intend to be that way, but if you were, please don't be. HN surely takes some effort and is hugely valuable to me, and I would rather have those who keep things running feel good about it. Even if it weren't perfectly altruistic, I'd say it's still a win-win for all of us, don't you think?