4 ms·

Dropping a comment here because of all the down votes. I agree with them. I come to HN for interesting and thought provoking articles, or for interesting news.

by Taek 12y ago

Dropping a comment here because of all the down votes. I agree with them. I come to HN for interesting and thought provoking articles, or for interesting news. Pen-and-paper mining is awesome and is totally in the spirit of HN, but single word jokes about "organic" and "fair trade" Bitcoins are clever, but HN is just the wrong place for that. I'd much rather read comments about attempts of other types of cryptography on paper, or perhaps some history about paper based crypto, or anything that adds factual or newsworthy value to the article. Jokes are neiter factual or newsworthy, and I feel are out of place here on HN. Thanks for understanding.

lotsofmangos 12y ago
I think it is a major mistake to reject comedy as it is a vital element of intelligent discussion. Any group that outright bans jokes is only play-acting at being serious for anyone who might be watching.
burke 12y ago
A discussion board where every comment must be factual and newsworthy isn't a discussion board; it's a news feed.
krapp 12y ago
Your complaint adds neither factual nor newsworthy value to the discussion. Arguably, it's even less relevant to the subject than the joke comments you're discussing. The productive thing would have been to simply ignore them and move on, if you had nothing relevant to add.
- rando289 12y ago
  Your complaint about the complaint adds neither... ya, it's hypocritical. Posts are not out of bounds simply because they are meta.
keyanp 12y ago
Interestingly, there was quite a lot of discussion today regarding humor on HN[1]. I for one enjoy the occasional bit of tasteful humor, it would be a shame to restrict the discussion to only "factual or newsworthy" content. As others have mentioned, that wouldn't be a discussion board. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8379973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8379973
retroencabulato 12y ago
Here's another single line joke: You must be fun at parties.
lifeformed 12y ago
Since when was humor disallowed on HN? I think a good unique joke is relevant, as it gets us all excited about the topic. Maybe it doesn't directly add factual information to the subject, but it improves the mood and makes learning more fun. I mean, sure, we don't want it to be like Reddit, where it's a race to post the cleverest puns, but a chuckle once in a while shouldn't be frowned upon.

by Taek 12y ago

lotsofmangos 12y ago

I think it is a major mistake to reject comedy as it is a vital element of intelligent discussion. Any group that outright bans jokes is only play-acting at being serious for anyone who might be watching.

burke 12y ago

A discussion board where every comment must be factual and newsworthy isn't a discussion board; it's a news feed.

krapp 12y ago

Your complaint adds neither factual nor newsworthy value to the discussion. Arguably, it's even less relevant to the subject than the joke comments you're discussing. The productive thing would have been to simply ignore them and move on, if you had nothing relevant to add.

rando289 12y ago
Your complaint about the complaint adds neither... ya, it's hypocritical. Posts are not out of bounds simply because they are meta.

keyanp 12y ago

Interestingly, there was quite a lot of discussion today regarding humor on HN[1]. I for one enjoy the occasional bit of tasteful humor, it would be a shame to restrict the discussion to only "factual or newsworthy" content. As others have mentioned, that wouldn't be a discussion board. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8379973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8379973

retroencabulato 12y ago

Here's another single line joke: You must be fun at parties.

lifeformed 12y ago

Since when was humor disallowed on HN? I think a good unique joke is relevant, as it gets us all excited about the topic. Maybe it doesn't directly add factual information to the subject, but it improves the mood and makes learning more fun. I mean, sure, we don't want it to be like Reddit, where it's a race to post the cleverest puns, but a chuckle once in a while shouldn't be frowned upon.