6 ms·

I don't get it, why is this on HN? I would like to understand how some irrelevant posts get traction? Please explain? Is it that the poster has 2K+ Karma?

by kelvin0 12y ago

StavrosK 12y ago
It's an interesting post that appeals to our inquisitive nature.
- louhike 12y ago
  Interesting in which sense? Even if I liked it, it is only humor and does not have nothing to do with "hackers". I'm not a better developper or I do not know what will help to launch a startup after reading this. Hacker News is not the Huffington Post.
  - StavrosK 12y ago
    Hacker news is not developer news or startup news. I'm a hacker, and I liked this, therefore it should be here. Read the site's mission statement.
    - kelvin0 12y ago
      Of course hackers all like the same things, and you represent them perfectly? Therefore what you judge relevant is also hacker relevant ... nice.
      - StavrosK 12y ago
        I'm telling you why I upvoted it. If I don't represent hackers perfectly, why are you asking me?
  - philbarr 12y ago
    It actually is a hack in a sense. It's a social engineering attack, for fun.
  - Robin_Message 12y ago
    It's an excellent example of hacking a social system, merely as a prank and with no damage to any individual, and follows a long history that goes back to MIT hacking (http://hacks.mit.edu/ http://hacks.mit.edu/ and http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html). In other words, it has a lot to do with "hackers" and is a very interesting and relevant piece of history. I agree it won't help you start your startup though; get back to building things and talking to people! :-)
    - omegant 12y ago
      Precisely I think that it shows you in a funny way, how far talking to people can take you.
  - doorhammer 12y ago
    I'd say it's a fascinating social manipulation, but mostly it just satisfies my own intellectual curiosity. The HN guidelines on what to submit: > On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. The HN guidelines on asking why something was posted: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. It might be worth reading through the HN Guidelines. They're pretty concise: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html I can't find a guideline that's meta enough to tell me not to mention the guidelines, but I've blundered in worse ways before.
  - venomsnake 12y ago
    HN is great because of the people that lurk here, not because it is great resource for anything.
- kelvin0 12y ago
  Posted this a few months back, it never got the attention the 'hoax' got. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation So all the reasons stated for this post apply to this earlier one, yet some HN posts get 'flushed' down as soon as they appear ... why? How?
hga 12y ago
I would add that anything that stimulates interest in WWI is good. While WWII and on are more studied, so much of the 20th century is founded in WWI and its genesis I think its essential to get a good understanding of it (if you're into this sort of thing, of course). Somewhat coincidentally, I recently started my serious, systematic study of it. E.g. right now I'm working through the English book that's the single, detailed history of all naval actions in what was truly a world war: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0870212664/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0870212664/
venomsnake 12y ago
There is reason why in Western Europe WWI is still known as The Great War. The only thing that rivals the Western Front in its scale is the Eastern Front in WWII.
RankingMember 12y ago
If I wanted to stretch it, I'd say that these young fellas "hacked" the English to achieve their goal, but, really, isn't life a little more interesting when things don't always go according to script, e.g. not every post on HN is another "Powder and Diaper Your Baby with Rust"-esque post?
- tedks 12y ago
  >but, really, isn't life a little more interesting when things don't always go according to script, e.g. not every post on HN is another "Powder and Diaper Your Baby with Rust"-esque post? If I wanted to read about random factoids, I'd go to /r/TIL. I come here for Rust. I flagged the OP FWIW because it's not related to hacking and it's not even news.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    It's merely supposed to be 'of interest' to hackers. Clearly it was, for some at least. Should we flag articles about space telescopes, or medical devices? Just because they're not strictly about computers?
    - tedks 12y ago
      Typically the space telescopes and medical devices articles are related to startups. Those are okay. Startups and tech, that's the bread and butter of hacker news. Anything else is just weird and I don't see why anyone would post about it or read it. What does it matter what some british kids did in the 1850s or whenever? It doesn't help anyone become a better entrepreneur or hacker.
      - TeMPOraL 12y ago
        > It doesn't help anyone become a better entrepreneur or hacker. I disagree. Such stunts are well-known tradition in hacker culture as well.
  - CanSpice 12y ago

I don't get it, why is this on HN? I would like to understand how some irrelevant posts get traction? Please explain? Is it that the poster has 2K+ Karma?

by kelvin0 12y ago

I don't get it, why is this on HN? I would like to understand how some irrelevant posts get traction? Please explain? Is it that the poster has 2K+ Karma?

StavrosK 12y ago

It's an interesting post that appeals to our inquisitive nature.

louhike 12y ago
Interesting in which sense? Even if I liked it, it is only humor and does not have nothing to do with "hackers". I'm not a better developper or I do not know what will help to launch a startup after reading this. Hacker News is not the Huffington Post.
- StavrosK 12y ago
  Hacker news is not developer news or startup news. I'm a hacker, and I liked this, therefore it should be here. Read the site's mission statement.
  - kelvin0 12y ago
    Of course hackers all like the same things, and you represent them perfectly? Therefore what you judge relevant is also hacker relevant ... nice.
    - StavrosK 12y ago
      I'm telling you why I upvoted it. If I don't represent hackers perfectly, why are you asking me?
- philbarr 12y ago
  It actually is a hack in a sense. It's a social engineering attack, for fun.
- Robin_Message 12y ago
  It's an excellent example of hacking a social system, merely as a prank and with no damage to any individual, and follows a long history that goes back to MIT hacking (http://hacks.mit.edu/ http://hacks.mit.edu/ and http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html). In other words, it has a lot to do with "hackers" and is a very interesting and relevant piece of history. I agree it won't help you start your startup though; get back to building things and talking to people! :-)
  - omegant 12y ago
    Precisely I think that it shows you in a funny way, how far talking to people can take you.
- doorhammer 12y ago
  I'd say it's a fascinating social manipulation, but mostly it just satisfies my own intellectual curiosity. The HN guidelines on what to submit: > On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. The HN guidelines on asking why something was posted: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. It might be worth reading through the HN Guidelines. They're pretty concise: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html I can't find a guideline that's meta enough to tell me not to mention the guidelines, but I've blundered in worse ways before.
- venomsnake 12y ago
  HN is great because of the people that lurk here, not because it is great resource for anything.
kelvin0 12y ago
Posted this a few months back, it never got the attention the 'hoax' got. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation So all the reasons stated for this post apply to this earlier one, yet some HN posts get 'flushed' down as soon as they appear ... why? How?

hga 12y ago

I would add that anything that stimulates interest in WWI is good. While WWII and on are more studied, so much of the 20th century is founded in WWI and its genesis I think its essential to get a good understanding of it (if you're into this sort of thing, of course). Somewhat coincidentally, I recently started my serious, systematic study of it. E.g. right now I'm working through the English book that's the single, detailed history of all naval actions in what was truly a world war: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0870212664/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0870212664/

venomsnake 12y ago

There is reason why in Western Europe WWI is still known as The Great War. The only thing that rivals the Western Front in its scale is the Eastern Front in WWII.

RankingMember 12y ago

If I wanted to stretch it, I'd say that these young fellas "hacked" the English to achieve their goal, but, really, isn't life a little more interesting when things don't always go according to script, e.g. not every post on HN is another "Powder and Diaper Your Baby with Rust"-esque post?

tedks 12y ago
>but, really, isn't life a little more interesting when things don't always go according to script, e.g. not every post on HN is another "Powder and Diaper Your Baby with Rust"-esque post? If I wanted to read about random factoids, I'd go to /r/TIL. I come here for Rust. I flagged the OP FWIW because it's not related to hacking and it's not even news.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  It's merely supposed to be 'of interest' to hackers. Clearly it was, for some at least. Should we flag articles about space telescopes, or medical devices? Just because they're not strictly about computers?
  - tedks 12y ago
    Typically the space telescopes and medical devices articles are related to startups. Those are okay. Startups and tech, that's the bread and butter of hacker news. Anything else is just weird and I don't see why anyone would post about it or read it. What does it matter what some british kids did in the 1850s or whenever? It doesn't help anyone become a better entrepreneur or hacker.
    - TeMPOraL 12y ago
      > It doesn't help anyone become a better entrepreneur or hacker. I disagree. Such stunts are well-known tradition in hacker culture as well.
- CanSpice 12y ago