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I think of this as conversational intimacy. If too many people are involved, the intimacy is lost. It's still possible, even on the HN of today. Focused techni

by scott_s 13y ago

I think of this as conversational intimacy. If too many people are involved, the intimacy is lost. It's still possible, even on the HN of today. Focused technical articles, which are not conventionally controversial, often produce the most valuable discussions to me. They may only have on the order of 30 comments, but those commenters are either interested in learning about the topic, or knowledgable of the topic.

harryf 13y ago
Something I've observed on both Reddit and to a lesser extent HN is as popularity grows, the comment UI rewards speed and brevity if you want to get your point of view heard. If you're one of the first posters and manage to say something provocative with few words, you get more attention. Someone who takes more time (relative to the time the link was posted) to make a reasoned argument with many words (a paragraph or two) will start lower down and have a lower chance of getting up votes as it takes more effort read the entire comment. In other words those that take more time to consider what they post are effectively punished compared to those that post quickly and wittily.