5 ms·

Yes, I would love to find that. Less web, less startup, less silicon valley, less brogrammers, but more C++/Fortran/Java, more depth, more performance, more Big

by qznc 11y ago

Yes, I would love to find that. Less web, less startup, less silicon valley, less brogrammers, but more C++/Fortran/Java, more depth, more performance, more BigCorp, more career. With people who are not impressed by the latest fad, because they have seen the same ten years ago. Unfortunately, the interesting guys to fill such a forum do not hang out on social platforms and bikeshed a lot. They are busy. Usually you can find a few on project specific forums/mailinglists.

kluck 11y ago
This sums it up really well.
- Ahgu9eSe 11y ago
  Maybe you can try to find or create a curated multireddit focused on those topic.
ArekDymalski 11y ago
>more BigCorp, more career I'm genuinely interested about topics you would like to read about/discuss in these areas.
- qznc 11y ago
  Career stuff is ok on HN, just very focused on startups and the valley. The embedded world is underrepresented for example, but afaik pretty big. BigCorp other than Google and Apple is underrepresented. Where are the guys who produce 5 billion lines of COBOL each year hanging out? Where are the SAP and IBM programmers?
  - icebraining 11y ago
    Where are the SAP and IBM programmers? Not talking about programming outside of their workplace, in my limited experience. At least for the ones I know, programming is not a lifestyle, it's just a job that pays the bills - they care about doing it well, then leave to meet their (non-programmer) friends and talk about anything else (sports, politics, etc). As far as I know, none of them frequent community sites.
    - albertoleal 11y ago
      This. Those that frequent such community sites would recognize this as the 501 manifesto.
  - teh_klev 11y ago
    > Where are the SAP and IBM programmers? Probably running the big-ass ERP systems [0] on big-ass IBM mainframe iron on behalf of Apple and Google....their dirty little secret no-one is allowed to talk about. :) [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning
  - andrey-g 11y ago
    I feel like the embedded world in particular is represented here in the same proportion as in the real world.
  - ibmer382631 11y ago
    Hi, IBM software engineer here. Myself and most of my colleagues frequent HN and many of us either have or contribute to open source projects. We generally can't divulge anything at all about our work. I, personally, contribute under an anonymous account and stay out of conversations where I'd have to back up my comments by citing specific experiences related to my workplace or work in any way. Many of us also highly value work-life balance. As another commenter suggested, after 5pm I'm probably not on HN and am instead traveling, out to dinner with friends, playing sports, reading some good fiction, or whatever else is interesting this week (and before 5pm, I'm working...) Personal projects take up only some of my time. After a little while, much of the conversation here has become annoyingly tepid and it's only the rare tech-related post that I give more than a quick skim. Edit: I will take issue with the sibling comment that for us, it's just a job that pays the bills. At least in the office I work, there is a very high professional level; we take pride in doing good work and maintaining that level, in keeping up with the state of the art, and implementing best practices. Myself and all my colleagues are all passionate about our work and it is definitely not "just a job". In my personal case, I'm fulfilled enough with my day to day work and develop as a programmer enough to take pleasure in having a varied and full personal life.
sebastianconcpt 11y ago
They are probably employees, and less free to decide how to use their time. If you are more prone to be personally expossed trends start to matter more and influence which stacks you'll get involved into. Sadly that has a self-serving foundation but, what can you do about it? In the other hand, happily, disruption is healthy.
trequartista 11y ago
I suppose Quora could have filled this niche - real people providing candid, real life answers. But for whatever reason, Quora is full of fluff and unfriendly business practices
- ohitsdom 11y ago
  Quora seems dedicated to the age-old question: how many ways can we ask the question of how amazing Elon Musk is?
brudgers 11y ago
The problem for "interesting" people is discussing those topics with you or me, isn't that interesting to them. That's the problem with discussion forums - I'd find discussing Linux with Torvaldes fascinating, but his side of the conversation wouldn't help him solve his problems or forge new ground. It wouldn't just be a waste of his time but it would be boring. I've seen all of those topics you mention gain traction, probably with the exception of "climbing the career ladder at big corp", but that's the broader Zeitgeist not just HN. The way to get more C++/Fortran/Java discussion on HN is to submit good relevant content. If you post something really really good, sometimes the James Gosling of X shows up to comment because HN's diversity keeps them around. But any really good topic is likely to draw comments from people who worked with the James Gosling of X because HN has a lot of those people. HN has grown large enough that there is an audience for just about any tech topic so long as the resource is reasonably good...in fact, that's been the case for a long time, and this from someone who was posting articles about Windows and Microsoft in the days where every time the Macbook got a new 8% faster Core 2, the front page of HN was dominated by the press release and Ask HN was full of "are you upgrading?" treads. In the end, finding or creating good content is the way to increase discussion of the topics one finds interesting and to influence the direction of the community.
ironicaldiction 11y ago
So make one and then try to migrate existing users over if you want that community.

by qznc 11y ago

kluck 11y ago

This sums it up really well.

Ahgu9eSe 11y ago
Maybe you can try to find or create a curated multireddit focused on those topic.

ArekDymalski 11y ago

>more BigCorp, more career I'm genuinely interested about topics you would like to read about/discuss in these areas.

qznc 11y ago
Career stuff is ok on HN, just very focused on startups and the valley. The embedded world is underrepresented for example, but afaik pretty big. BigCorp other than Google and Apple is underrepresented. Where are the guys who produce 5 billion lines of COBOL each year hanging out? Where are the SAP and IBM programmers?
- icebraining 11y ago
  Where are the SAP and IBM programmers? Not talking about programming outside of their workplace, in my limited experience. At least for the ones I know, programming is not a lifestyle, it's just a job that pays the bills - they care about doing it well, then leave to meet their (non-programmer) friends and talk about anything else (sports, politics, etc). As far as I know, none of them frequent community sites.
  - albertoleal 11y ago
    This. Those that frequent such community sites would recognize this as the 501 manifesto.
- teh_klev 11y ago
  > Where are the SAP and IBM programmers? Probably running the big-ass ERP systems [0] on big-ass IBM mainframe iron on behalf of Apple and Google....their dirty little secret no-one is allowed to talk about. :) [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning
- andrey-g 11y ago
  I feel like the embedded world in particular is represented here in the same proportion as in the real world.
- ibmer382631 11y ago
  Hi, IBM software engineer here. Myself and most of my colleagues frequent HN and many of us either have or contribute to open source projects. We generally can't divulge anything at all about our work. I, personally, contribute under an anonymous account and stay out of conversations where I'd have to back up my comments by citing specific experiences related to my workplace or work in any way. Many of us also highly value work-life balance. As another commenter suggested, after 5pm I'm probably not on HN and am instead traveling, out to dinner with friends, playing sports, reading some good fiction, or whatever else is interesting this week (and before 5pm, I'm working...) Personal projects take up only some of my time. After a little while, much of the conversation here has become annoyingly tepid and it's only the rare tech-related post that I give more than a quick skim. Edit: I will take issue with the sibling comment that for us, it's just a job that pays the bills. At least in the office I work, there is a very high professional level; we take pride in doing good work and maintaining that level, in keeping up with the state of the art, and implementing best practices. Myself and all my colleagues are all passionate about our work and it is definitely not "just a job". In my personal case, I'm fulfilled enough with my day to day work and develop as a programmer enough to take pleasure in having a varied and full personal life.

sebastianconcpt 11y ago

They are probably employees, and less free to decide how to use their time. If you are more prone to be personally expossed trends start to matter more and influence which stacks you'll get involved into. Sadly that has a self-serving foundation but, what can you do about it? In the other hand, happily, disruption is healthy.

trequartista 11y ago

I suppose Quora could have filled this niche - real people providing candid, real life answers. But for whatever reason, Quora is full of fluff and unfriendly business practices

ohitsdom 11y ago
Quora seems dedicated to the age-old question: how many ways can we ask the question of how amazing Elon Musk is?

brudgers 11y ago

The problem for "interesting" people is discussing those topics with you or me, isn't that interesting to them. That's the problem with discussion forums - I'd find discussing Linux with Torvaldes fascinating, but his side of the conversation wouldn't help him solve his problems or forge new ground. It wouldn't just be a waste of his time but it would be boring. I've seen all of those topics you mention gain traction, probably with the exception of "climbing the career ladder at big corp", but that's the broader Zeitgeist not just HN. The way to get more C++/Fortran/Java discussion on HN is to submit good relevant content. If you post something really really good, sometimes the James Gosling of X shows up to comment because HN's diversity keeps them around. But any really good topic is likely to draw comments from people who worked with the James Gosling of X because HN has a lot of those people. HN has grown large enough that there is an audience for just about any tech topic so long as the resource is reasonably good...in fact, that's been the case for a long time, and this from someone who was posting articles about Windows and Microsoft in the days where every time the Macbook got a new 8% faster Core 2, the front page of HN was dominated by the press release and Ask HN was full of "are you upgrading?" treads. In the end, finding or creating good content is the way to increase discussion of the topics one finds interesting and to influence the direction of the community.

ironicaldiction 11y ago

So make one and then try to migrate existing users over if you want that community.