4 ms·
There are really two questions here. The first: why did Hacker News start so successfully? 1) A built in group of YC founders to initially populate it. 2) A fa
by GavinB 17y ago
There are really two questions here.
The first: why did Hacker News start so successfully?
1) A built in group of YC founders to initially populate it.
2) A famous creator with a large following.
3) The strong encouragement of YC applicants to be involved.
4) A clearly defined purpose.
Second: why has it grown so well and continued in its success?
1) Clear guidelines for behavior.
2) Very involved moderation, but without opinion-based censorship.
3) A proliferation of YC-clones and a national increase of interest in entrepreneurship.
And then there's the final question:
What's wrong with Hacker News?
1) After a certain point you level max. There are loads of people here that I could learn a lot from, but the forum is greatly limited and becomes repetitive. The reason new members think that it's devolving is not that HN is changing, but that they themselves are learning.
2) No discussion lasts longer than two days, and all discussions are based around other peoples' news--i.e. reactionay.
3) Thoughtful self-posts are discouraged both by the guidelines and by the unreadable light gray font.
- alex_c 17y ago1) After a certain point you level max. There are loads of people here that I could learn a lot from, but the forum is greatly limited and becomes repetitive. The reason new members think that it's devolving is not that HN is changing, but that they themselves are learning. That's a very interesting point, I never thought of it that way - but it feels right. So what's the next level?
- GavinB 17y agoLonger conversations. A comment thread trailing out to the end of the page kills conversations. How to do this effectively is a largely unsolved problem. Blogs, forums, aggregators, etc each have their own strengths and weaknesses.