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> This is simply a problem of aggregating tens of thousands of content consumers in one spot and trying to have a single conversation. If I may offer a counter
by Udo 13y ago
> This is simply a problem of aggregating tens of thousands of content consumers in one spot and trying to have a single conversation.
If I may offer a counter point. One of the complaints about users on HN is how they treat Show HNs. The worst thing is arguably working on something and getting totally ignored. The second worst thing is probably getting verbal abuse for your project, from people you respect, no less.
When this happened to me (being ignored that is), I decided to try another community for feedback. It was 4chan/g. Now 4chan has the reputation of being somewhat of a sewer, but my experience was as different as night and day. People were interested, and above all: friendly and constructive.
So why am I not hanging out in /g then? I believe that HN has a higher ratio of users who are "my kind of people", commenters who I feel I have a connection with. But as it is, this comes at a price, because HN can be a less civil place. I don't this is written in stone, however, we can and should work on improving this dynamic.
- DanielBMarkham 13y agoWhat concerns me is that the appearance of knowing what the hell you are talking about and actually knowing what the hell you are talking about is not that different An example: many times I offer startup advice. Now, if you read my profile, you'll realize that all I can do is feebly try to repeat what I've read. I'm nowhere near an expert. But sometimes I feel that the things that I've read could be helpful to others. So I make what appears to be a knowledgeable comment in the spirit of trying to help. Yes, it sounds a bit cold, analytical, but it has that air of something that might be useful. We got hundreds of comments like this, on any topic you'd like. Yes, we also have some world-quality researchers that come here and help out. But to the reader, it all looks the same. We easily confuse the social nature of appearing to be critical and helpful -- let's be honest, looking smart to our peers -- with the actual value we might be providing. HN is a place to go to read really biting comments that appear to dissect things into their core elements. But many times it's just wankers making easy criticisms from a Monday-morning quarterback perspective. I love the open forum, and I love the personalities and people here, but as you grow, social posturing gets way more traction than actually providing value, even though both types of comments are indistinguishable from each other. That's just a function of crowds.
- lifeisstillgood 13y agoThat's probably a really important insight We do get crap articles being posted (there is less decent meat on HN) But we want the comments to be insightful and relevant. Which basically means rewarding those who have domain insight / experience. Which is hard. FOr example, if there is a thread on web security and cookies, I would like to see tptacek's comments near the top so I can see them But how to automate that? Its feasible I suspect but not easy.
- steveklabnik 13y ago> Now 4chan has the reputation of being somewhat of a sewer, /b/ has the reputation of being a sewer, and people who don't frequent 4chan see them as being equivalent. Outside of /b/, 4chan is great. In fact, one of the reasons that /b/ still even exists is that they just post in /x/ and elsewhere. Best to honeypot them.
- VonGuard 13y agoThirding 4Chan as a healthy community. My buddy insists it's a great community because the content is always being deleted, and thus, 4chan reinvents itself every day.
- angersock 13y agoFourthing, and if you need a longer attention span, SA. The problem with /g/ is that it tends really hard towards mere consumer choices--contrast with, say, the /prog/ board on 7chan, or even the new /diy/ board on 4chan.