4 ms·

I find it interesting how insightful, technical articles like this receive hardly any comments while the usual "softer" articles that tend to dominate the Hacke

I find it interesting how insightful, technical articles like this receive hardly any comments while the usual "softer" articles that tend to dominate the Hacker News frontpage these days receive dozens if not hundreds of comments. I wonder what this says about us, HN readers.

timc3 13y ago
That the audience is diverse, but common “softer” articles appeal to a wider demographic.
riffraff 13y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_law_of_triviality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_law_of_triviality (whence the "bikeshedding" expression comes from, AFAICT)
Dewie 13y ago
The softer the topic, the more room for subjectivity. The more room for subjectivity, the more room for controversy. Mountain long threads tend to be highly emotional/opinionated bickering that doesn't go anywhere, because the topic is so subjective that people can easily stick to their own biased worldview, reiterating the same old talking points.
- RodericDay 13y ago
  case in point: this branch of comment tree, and your post in particular.
  - Dewie 13y ago
    oh, you.
munificent 13y ago
There's a difference between comments and upvotes. With articles like this (which I really liked), I certainly upvoted it but because it's so technically detailed, I don't have anything useful to add.
- canadev 13y ago
  Same here. I really enjoyed reading it, but I don't understand a lot of what it is talking about. I also bookmarked it. When the post had 0 comments I was tempted to post something to the effect of what I just said, but I figured it didn't really add any value.
joncooper 13y ago
While I'd love to see more of that thing, I don't really think of HN as a technical venue. More like a virtual pub frequented by a variety of folks who participate in the VC ecosystem in one way or another.
- mattgreenrocks 13y ago
  Is there a better technical venue? Hint: it probably isn't /r/programming :)
  - joncooper 13y ago
    I'm not aware of one that's broadly-based though I'd love to find it. Slashdot used to be, although I haven't frequented it in many years.
  - ajtulloch 13y ago
    https://lobste.rs https://lobste.rs has some good content, although the bulk is already on HN.
mattgreenrocks 13y ago
This is common on every aggregator: most content is not selected for depth or insightfulness, but rather ease of consumption. The extreme of this is Reddit's proliferation of images and memes. To be fair, HN doesn't feel like it has a hacker spirit to it. It's too preoccupied with business crap and self-promotion.
elwell 13y ago
Maybe that's a good thing.

timc3 13y ago

That the audience is diverse, but common “softer” articles appeal to a wider demographic.

riffraff 13y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_law_of_triviality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_law_of_triviality (whence the "bikeshedding" expression comes from, AFAICT)

Dewie 13y ago

The softer the topic, the more room for subjectivity. The more room for subjectivity, the more room for controversy. Mountain long threads tend to be highly emotional/opinionated bickering that doesn't go anywhere, because the topic is so subjective that people can easily stick to their own biased worldview, reiterating the same old talking points.

RodericDay 13y ago
case in point: this branch of comment tree, and your post in particular.
- Dewie 13y ago
  oh, you.

munificent 13y ago

There's a difference between comments and upvotes. With articles like this (which I really liked), I certainly upvoted it but because it's so technically detailed, I don't have anything useful to add.

canadev 13y ago
Same here. I really enjoyed reading it, but I don't understand a lot of what it is talking about. I also bookmarked it. When the post had 0 comments I was tempted to post something to the effect of what I just said, but I figured it didn't really add any value.

joncooper 13y ago

While I'd love to see more of that thing, I don't really think of HN as a technical venue. More like a virtual pub frequented by a variety of folks who participate in the VC ecosystem in one way or another.

mattgreenrocks 13y ago
Is there a better technical venue? Hint: it probably isn't /r/programming :)
- joncooper 13y ago
  I'm not aware of one that's broadly-based though I'd love to find it. Slashdot used to be, although I haven't frequented it in many years.
- ajtulloch 13y ago
  https://lobste.rs https://lobste.rs has some good content, although the bulk is already on HN.

mattgreenrocks 13y ago

This is common on every aggregator: most content is not selected for depth or insightfulness, but rather ease of consumption. The extreme of this is Reddit's proliferation of images and memes. To be fair, HN doesn't feel like it has a hacker spirit to it. It's too preoccupied with business crap and self-promotion.

elwell 13y ago

Maybe that's a good thing.