8 ms·

Oh shut your dirty trap, you whiny moron. </sarcasm> I still find HN to be a friendly, positive environment. Let's keep it that way! Edit: Wow. Either starti

by mrshoe 17y ago

Oh shut your dirty trap, you whiny moron. </sarcasm> I still find HN to be a friendly, positive environment. Let's keep it that way! Edit: Wow. Either starting your comment with a joke is somehow no longer OK, or nobody else agrees with me that HN is still friendly and positive. I've been reading HN everyday for a very long time. I think these negative trends are mostly just an illusion due to the novelty wearing off for newer users. "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.)" (http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

sli 17y ago
Oh come on, -3 points? It was a joke, people! I upvoted because he beat me to it AND because I agree with him. I'm not seeing the negative downturn.
- drhowarddrfine 17y ago
  Uh oh. I did the same before seeing yours. Maybe sense of humor is the real problem here.
  - dtby 17y ago
    Disrespect is never funny.
    - Banzai10 17y ago
      I got downvoted one time by the same reason, but getting back to the subject, I really like the feedback guys receive when "asking HN", the community is always there to help who needs, I can't see this bad environment here (maybe few guys with bad sense of humor).
      - alttab 17y ago
        Sometimes, humor is not rewarded here. Even if during the process it is making a point. I've met quite a few hackers/cs guys who take themselves WAY too seriously. Maybe that's why they don't have girlfriends. Sometimes it feels like the vibe here can lean towards "I'm a super serious hacker who knows his/her shit and I'm going to be a millionaire with my start up, so I'm going to ignore the SPIRIT of your post and pick it apart like a trekkie at a convention." In the end, we all need to just get over ourselves.
        dtby 17y ago
        In what spirit should calling someone a 'twit' be taken? Should we pretend that it's an insightful social commentary? Or accept that it's a cheap attempt at humor based in disrespect for others?
        alttab 17y ago
        Theres an important difference between being a sarcastic jerk at someone else's expense and pointing out the irony in situations that results in humor. Its been my experience that either type of humor isn't tolerated here very well.
- scott_s 17y ago
  You're not as funny as you think you are.
  - scott_s 17y ago
    Perhaps I was too terse, and it appeared I was trying to make a (meta) joke. I was not. If you ever find yourself thinking "It's just a joke!" you have to consider that the problem is with you, not the reader. Most people amuse themselves, but few people are actually funny. Your jokes will generally not be appreciated by others, particularly when you go for the obvious, aggressively ironic one-liners. Such things get downvoted as part of the noise.
    - mdemare 17y ago
      True. One of the things I like about this place is that one-liners are frowned upon, even when they're somewhat funny. I feel that policy should be extended to sarcasm. Sarcasm doesn't work very well on the net, and is often rude and dismissive. What I used to like about Slashdot was that you could give the +funny modding a -1 weight. This improved Slashdot discussions quite a bit.
jriddycuz 17y ago
I don't notice HN being that negative at all, although I'm relatively new, so I don't know if I know anything yet. What I do notice, however, is a bit too much self-seriousness, and it can come across as cold or negative at times when you're not used to it.
ncarlson 17y ago
>"If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.)" Sweet. Only 8 more days and then I'll be able to voice my opinion without the "noob" stigma.
unalone 17y ago
I'm at a year and a half. Hacker News is turning into Reddit. It's following the exact same path, albeit thankfully slower, and the causes behind that path—influx of users, need for attention, karma lust—aren't causes that Paul is looking to fix. Reddit's not the worst thing in the world, but make no mistake, we're headed there.
- thenduks 17y ago
  Every online community is naturally inclined to become 4chan. It happened to 4chan, it happened to digg, it's definitely on the cusp at reddit and I expect it will eventually happen to HN. I'm not happy about this :/
  - unalone 17y ago
    Every open, unfettered online community, anyway. Hacker News could save itself with harsher mods and possibly restraints on registration. I think it'll happen if we slide too far, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
    - thenduks 17y ago
      Agreed.
  - potatolicious 17y ago
    Reddit's already there. They are, thankfully, less dangerous than 4chan (i.e., 4chan is likely to firebomb a building for their pet cause, Reddit is more likely to sit and post angry things about it)
    - NikkiA 17y ago
      I disagree, the recent 'my pastor abused me...' posts on reddit proved just how dangerous reddit can be - they found his personal info and called and harassed him, he (possibly) committed suicide a couple of days later.
Freebytes 17y ago
One thing I find interesting is that people will read posts on discussion groups, read articles on blogs and web pages, watch television, listen to music, and over time, they will begin to connect with the person with whom they believe they are interacting. The truth is that the other person that is providing the content for the lurker has no idea who that person is. However, the lurker feels like he knows the poster, the community, the musician, or the actor because he has been involved in a one-way interaction for such a long time. So, the poster may make a small joke that he believes to be harmless because he believes he understands the other person; however, he comes across as a stranger simply telling a negative joke. I have encountered this issue may times. I feel like I have some kind of connection, but that connection does not truly exist unless you actively engage with the target of your interest.
- elblanco 17y ago
  I've received that exact same reception here. I've lurked HN for about a year. And I get challenges like "your karma/post count/profile length/fame level is too low for me to take you seriously". Sorry, I don't measure a person's worth, or the quality of their statements by karma score.

by mrshoe 17y ago

sli 17y ago

Oh come on, -3 points? It was a joke, people! I upvoted because he beat me to it AND because I agree with him. I'm not seeing the negative downturn.

drhowarddrfine 17y ago
Uh oh. I did the same before seeing yours. Maybe sense of humor is the real problem here.
- dtby 17y ago
  Disrespect is never funny.
  - Banzai10 17y ago
    I got downvoted one time by the same reason, but getting back to the subject, I really like the feedback guys receive when "asking HN", the community is always there to help who needs, I can't see this bad environment here (maybe few guys with bad sense of humor).
    - alttab 17y ago
      Sometimes, humor is not rewarded here. Even if during the process it is making a point. I've met quite a few hackers/cs guys who take themselves WAY too seriously. Maybe that's why they don't have girlfriends. Sometimes it feels like the vibe here can lean towards "I'm a super serious hacker who knows his/her shit and I'm going to be a millionaire with my start up, so I'm going to ignore the SPIRIT of your post and pick it apart like a trekkie at a convention." In the end, we all need to just get over ourselves.
      - dtby 17y ago
        In what spirit should calling someone a 'twit' be taken? Should we pretend that it's an insightful social commentary? Or accept that it's a cheap attempt at humor based in disrespect for others?
        alttab 17y ago
        Theres an important difference between being a sarcastic jerk at someone else's expense and pointing out the irony in situations that results in humor. Its been my experience that either type of humor isn't tolerated here very well.
scott_s 17y ago
You're not as funny as you think you are.
- scott_s 17y ago
  Perhaps I was too terse, and it appeared I was trying to make a (meta) joke. I was not. If you ever find yourself thinking "It's just a joke!" you have to consider that the problem is with you, not the reader. Most people amuse themselves, but few people are actually funny. Your jokes will generally not be appreciated by others, particularly when you go for the obvious, aggressively ironic one-liners. Such things get downvoted as part of the noise.
  - mdemare 17y ago
    True. One of the things I like about this place is that one-liners are frowned upon, even when they're somewhat funny. I feel that policy should be extended to sarcasm. Sarcasm doesn't work very well on the net, and is often rude and dismissive. What I used to like about Slashdot was that you could give the +funny modding a -1 weight. This improved Slashdot discussions quite a bit.

jriddycuz 17y ago

I don't notice HN being that negative at all, although I'm relatively new, so I don't know if I know anything yet. What I do notice, however, is a bit too much self-seriousness, and it can come across as cold or negative at times when you're not used to it.

ncarlson 17y ago

>"If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.)" Sweet. Only 8 more days and then I'll be able to voice my opinion without the "noob" stigma.

unalone 17y ago

I'm at a year and a half. Hacker News is turning into Reddit. It's following the exact same path, albeit thankfully slower, and the causes behind that path—influx of users, need for attention, karma lust—aren't causes that Paul is looking to fix. Reddit's not the worst thing in the world, but make no mistake, we're headed there.

thenduks 17y ago
Every online community is naturally inclined to become 4chan. It happened to 4chan, it happened to digg, it's definitely on the cusp at reddit and I expect it will eventually happen to HN. I'm not happy about this :/
- unalone 17y ago
  Every open, unfettered online community, anyway. Hacker News could save itself with harsher mods and possibly restraints on registration. I think it'll happen if we slide too far, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
  - thenduks 17y ago
    Agreed.
- potatolicious 17y ago
  Reddit's already there. They are, thankfully, less dangerous than 4chan (i.e., 4chan is likely to firebomb a building for their pet cause, Reddit is more likely to sit and post angry things about it)
  - NikkiA 17y ago
    I disagree, the recent 'my pastor abused me...' posts on reddit proved just how dangerous reddit can be - they found his personal info and called and harassed him, he (possibly) committed suicide a couple of days later.

Freebytes 17y ago

One thing I find interesting is that people will read posts on discussion groups, read articles on blogs and web pages, watch television, listen to music, and over time, they will begin to connect with the person with whom they believe they are interacting. The truth is that the other person that is providing the content for the lurker has no idea who that person is. However, the lurker feels like he knows the poster, the community, the musician, or the actor because he has been involved in a one-way interaction for such a long time. So, the poster may make a small joke that he believes to be harmless because he believes he understands the other person; however, he comes across as a stranger simply telling a negative joke. I have encountered this issue may times. I feel like I have some kind of connection, but that connection does not truly exist unless you actively engage with the target of your interest.

elblanco 17y ago
I've received that exact same reception here. I've lurked HN for about a year. And I get challenges like "your karma/post count/profile length/fame level is too low for me to take you seriously". Sorry, I don't measure a person's worth, or the quality of their statements by karma score.