5 ms·

What does this have to do with Hacker News?

by d0vs 14y ago

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
sunils34 14y ago
By HN guidelines, things that are appropriate are "Anything that good hackers would find interesting... anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." This is the story of Dr. Joshua Miele who, after this horrific attack, has been working on some really interesting projects using technology to make the lives of those living with disabilities better. After reading this story, I found an interview he did describing some of the projects he's been working on, including tactile maps on smartphones to help blind people navigate their world. http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201106171000 http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201106171000. So I'd say it's relevant.
gnosis 14y ago
From HN's Guidelines[1]: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did." [1] - http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
dschobel 14y ago
How hard would it be for HN to filter posts like this? There are only so many permutations of "Why is this here? / What does this have to do with HN?" possible...
- gnosis 14y ago
  To my knowledge, HN hasn't added any new features in years. I think the people who run this site are pretty happy with it the way it is and don't want to change it, despite many suggestions for improvements. So I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to do anything about it.
  - pg 14y ago
    Actually I added one about an hour ago. This is an interesting suggestion but it would not be on our top 100 things to fix.
    - k-mcgrady 14y ago
      As accounts cannot be deleted (and I understand why), I would love to see the ability to change my username to something less identifiable to me.
    - gnosis 14y ago
      Very glad to hear that improvements to HN are still being made. I stand corrected.
    - unimpressive 14y ago
      >Actually I added one about an hour ago. What was it? I'm genuinely curious.
      - pyre 14y ago
        Most likely related to behind the scenes algorithms (e.g. combating spam, ranking the front page, etc).
      - pg 14y ago
        Better detection and banning of abusive crawlers.
    - v0cab 14y ago
      Could you please delete my account?
  - pyre 14y ago
    You just have to be around for some of them. Sometimes pg has done things to the UI of the site, then there is a large thread of community commentary, then it's kept, modified, or removed. If the feature shows up, and then goes away over the course of a day or two, you might miss that anything happened.
- DanBC 14y ago
  There are very many add ons and extensions and things available for HN. There's bound to be a thread filtering add on for whatever browser you're using.
eshvk 14y ago
First off, to the person who submitted this article, thank you! Next. Sometimes people work in technology are interested in how the world works, about beautiful things, about life and how it interacts with the rest of the world. Yes, sometimes we also have this feeling that things that strike and inspire us and stimulate our intellect might be of interest to others. I come here not for the technical articles. I work in this field and those will inevitably float through to me. I come here because I wish to read and savor the thoughts of incredibly amazing people. It is discourteous to decide explicitly how this community will evolve. If you or anyone really feels that there is no place here for humanity, art and articles on culture, you can very well flag the article. If it looks like that is happening enough. Those of us who enjoy such things will find another home to continue this journey.
guana 14y ago
Here's your answer: someone submitted it and people upvoted it

What does this have to do with Hacker News?

by d0vs 14y ago

What does this have to do with Hacker News?

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

sunils34 14y ago

By HN guidelines, things that are appropriate are "Anything that good hackers would find interesting... anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." This is the story of Dr. Joshua Miele who, after this horrific attack, has been working on some really interesting projects using technology to make the lives of those living with disabilities better. After reading this story, I found an interview he did describing some of the projects he's been working on, including tactile maps on smartphones to help blind people navigate their world. http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201106171000 http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201106171000. So I'd say it's relevant.

gnosis 14y ago

From HN's Guidelines[1]: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did." [1] - http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dschobel 14y ago

How hard would it be for HN to filter posts like this? There are only so many permutations of "Why is this here? / What does this have to do with HN?" possible...

gnosis 14y ago
To my knowledge, HN hasn't added any new features in years. I think the people who run this site are pretty happy with it the way it is and don't want to change it, despite many suggestions for improvements. So I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to do anything about it.
- pg 14y ago
  Actually I added one about an hour ago. This is an interesting suggestion but it would not be on our top 100 things to fix.
  - k-mcgrady 14y ago
    As accounts cannot be deleted (and I understand why), I would love to see the ability to change my username to something less identifiable to me.
  - gnosis 14y ago
    Very glad to hear that improvements to HN are still being made. I stand corrected.
  - unimpressive 14y ago
    >Actually I added one about an hour ago. What was it? I'm genuinely curious.
    - pyre 14y ago
      Most likely related to behind the scenes algorithms (e.g. combating spam, ranking the front page, etc).
    - pg 14y ago
      Better detection and banning of abusive crawlers.
  - v0cab 14y ago
    Could you please delete my account?
- pyre 14y ago
  You just have to be around for some of them. Sometimes pg has done things to the UI of the site, then there is a large thread of community commentary, then it's kept, modified, or removed. If the feature shows up, and then goes away over the course of a day or two, you might miss that anything happened.
DanBC 14y ago
There are very many add ons and extensions and things available for HN. There's bound to be a thread filtering add on for whatever browser you're using.

eshvk 14y ago

First off, to the person who submitted this article, thank you! Next. Sometimes people work in technology are interested in how the world works, about beautiful things, about life and how it interacts with the rest of the world. Yes, sometimes we also have this feeling that things that strike and inspire us and stimulate our intellect might be of interest to others. I come here not for the technical articles. I work in this field and those will inevitably float through to me. I come here because I wish to read and savor the thoughts of incredibly amazing people. It is discourteous to decide explicitly how this community will evolve. If you or anyone really feels that there is no place here for humanity, art and articles on culture, you can very well flag the article. If it looks like that is happening enough. Those of us who enjoy such things will find another home to continue this journey.

guana 14y ago

Here's your answer: someone submitted it and people upvoted it