4 ms·

I'm guessing the submitter is making a suggestion to deal with the _why/Zed Shaw articles.

by gregstoll 17y ago

icey 17y ago
Yes it's the old "fixing the signal to noise ratio by adding lots of noise" gambit.
- hughprime 17y ago
  Not a bad gambit actually -- I'll sometimes turn on my air conditioner to drown out the sound of my neighbour's music. The analogy only works if, like me, you consider Erlang articles to be a sort of white noise that you hardly notice, and the-programmer-formerly-known-as-_why articles as being slightly annoying.
  - hvs 17y ago
    It appears to be working, too.
    - icey 17y ago
      It's kind of dumb since all it takes to get the _why stuff off the front page is for people to upvote other submissions that are arguably more relevant (and current).
      - ErrantX 17y ago
        and flag the _why stuff
        hvs 17y ago
        Which I started doing when it got out of control, but I'm apparently in the minority. I don't really care one way or the other, I just don't read what I'm not interested in.
      - gloob 17y ago
        Front page is a positive feedback loop. People upvote the stories they see.
    - apotheon 17y ago
      . . . if, by "working", you mean "replacing one form of noise with another, much louder form that will probably outlast the likely lifespan of the original form".
noodle 17y ago
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=775727 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=775727
astine 17y ago
I just hope that it doesn't become a weird meme, where submitting an Erlang article is the equivalent of expressing disapproval of the current trend in headlines. "Oh no, people are submitting the same old Erlang articles, the current focus/glorybaiting must be getting annoying!"
- gloob 17y ago
  To be honest, that would probably be one of the best weird memes I've run across.
jcl 17y ago
...which is silly. There were maybe three _why-related articles left on the front page -- now half the articles are Erlang.
- apotheon 17y ago
  It's worse than that, now. I count 78% Erlang on the front page of Hacker News.

I'm guessing the submitter is making a suggestion to deal with the _why/Zed Shaw articles.

icey 17y ago

Yes it's the old "fixing the signal to noise ratio by adding lots of noise" gambit.

hughprime 17y ago
Not a bad gambit actually -- I'll sometimes turn on my air conditioner to drown out the sound of my neighbour's music. The analogy only works if, like me, you consider Erlang articles to be a sort of white noise that you hardly notice, and the-programmer-formerly-known-as-_why articles as being slightly annoying.
- hvs 17y ago
  It appears to be working, too.
  - icey 17y ago
    It's kind of dumb since all it takes to get the _why stuff off the front page is for people to upvote other submissions that are arguably more relevant (and current).
    - ErrantX 17y ago
      and flag the _why stuff
      - hvs 17y ago
        Which I started doing when it got out of control, but I'm apparently in the minority. I don't really care one way or the other, I just don't read what I'm not interested in.
    - gloob 17y ago
      Front page is a positive feedback loop. People upvote the stories they see.
  - apotheon 17y ago
    . . . if, by "working", you mean "replacing one form of noise with another, much louder form that will probably outlast the likely lifespan of the original form".

noodle 17y ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=775727 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=775727

astine 17y ago

I just hope that it doesn't become a weird meme, where submitting an Erlang article is the equivalent of expressing disapproval of the current trend in headlines. "Oh no, people are submitting the same old Erlang articles, the current focus/glorybaiting must be getting annoying!"

gloob 17y ago
To be honest, that would probably be one of the best weird memes I've run across.

jcl 17y ago

...which is silly. There were maybe three _why-related articles left on the front page -- now half the articles are Erlang.

apotheon 17y ago
It's worse than that, now. I count 78% Erlang on the front page of Hacker News.