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Hacker News' purpose is not only to bounce ideas off of other startup founders, so if you're reading that signal meter, it will naturally be a bit noisy. From

by ellyagg 17y ago

Hacker News' purpose is not only to bounce ideas off of other startup founders, so if you're reading that signal meter, it will naturally be a bit noisy. From the guidelines: 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.

DanielBMarkham 17y ago
I've been here more than 2 years. I hope I've read/seen the guidelines enough times by now. The question was what was the reason for success. The only way I know to answer that question is to state why I visit, which is what all the options on the poll refer to -- why are you visiting? I imagine each person will respond with their own reason and hence the poll has some value. Because after all, the reason PG created HN and the reason people visit may be two completely different things :) I've said many times that the board is Paul's and it's Paul's to decide what he wants on it. That's all fine and dandy, but it don't mean diddly squat for why or other folks visit. That's a completely different thing. As a side note, one thing I've found from the very beginning is that anything you say can be misconstrued/misunderstood. In a small group, people get to know each other and are able to "fill in the blanks" whereas in a larger group this becomes unworkable. I know on a couple of occasions a year or so ago PG has expressed frustration with comments like "do I have to explain everything!" which I didn't understand at the time but do now. So you either write some super-long comment, trying to cover all the ways you might be misunderstood, or you end up having long threads of conversation which effectively end with "So sure, that's what I've been saying all along!" Yet another force that drives the board towards quick one-liners.

by ellyagg 17y ago

DanielBMarkham 17y ago

I've been here more than 2 years. I hope I've read/seen the guidelines enough times by now. The question was what was the reason for success. The only way I know to answer that question is to state why I visit, which is what all the options on the poll refer to -- why are you visiting? I imagine each person will respond with their own reason and hence the poll has some value. Because after all, the reason PG created HN and the reason people visit may be two completely different things :) I've said many times that the board is Paul's and it's Paul's to decide what he wants on it. That's all fine and dandy, but it don't mean diddly squat for why or other folks visit. That's a completely different thing. As a side note, one thing I've found from the very beginning is that anything you say can be misconstrued/misunderstood. In a small group, people get to know each other and are able to "fill in the blanks" whereas in a larger group this becomes unworkable. I know on a couple of occasions a year or so ago PG has expressed frustration with comments like "do I have to explain everything!" which I didn't understand at the time but do now. So you either write some super-long comment, trying to cover all the ways you might be misunderstood, or you end up having long threads of conversation which effectively end with "So sure, that's what I've been saying all along!" Yet another force that drives the board towards quick one-liners.