HN Explorer

Where is HN headed?

6 points by danielnicollet ↗ HN
This used to be a site where mostly bright people discussed in a mostly intelligent way, but lately I feel like it's being overrun by people like you who provide words to the database but no content, and that's a shame. (of course I'm doing so myself now, I'll justify that to myself by saying that it's buried so deep in an article way off the front page that it won't bother many people any more, but I fully recognize that that's cognitive dissonance too).

I may have deserved this rant, or maybe not. That's not the point. I won't name the user, that's not my point either. If you want to find out more about the context, be a good hacker and track it down ;-)

The point is that I feel (no statistical inference here) I have seen more and more of these "YC News used to be great and now it's bad" type comments lately. The point is that I got this and other more aggressive comments back for what I felt was an genuine, honest and fairly well informed comment thread.

It got me thinking about HN as whole and where the community's culture was headed. After 181 days here and having really loved it, I also wonder what this community's direction is. I am sure I will keep wanting to be part of HN for a while but:

Where do YOU think YC's Hacker News is headed? If such a thing as a life cycle exists for online communities (I believe so, be it an eternal somewhat repetitive life cycle) wher is HN in its own life cycle?

10 comments

[ 4.1 ms ] story [ 24.3 ms ] thread
gdl
I don't think it's so much that HN is getting worse, but that it's old enough now (in Internet years) for people to start reminiscing about the "good ol' days" because people like to do that kind of stuff. It's a bit more populated and faster now, a bit less exclusive, a bit more noise to the signal. But the signal is still very much there, easy to find thanks to voting, and better than pretty much anywhere else on the web as far as I'm aware.

I'm not too worried about it. If it starts to suck, there will always be a considerable faction ready to saturate the front page with articles about the innards of Erlang to drive away those that don't really belong here. (Ahh, those were the good ol' days...)

minalecs
this time I think we need to do erlang stories for a week.
RiderOfGiraffes
Replying out of courtesy, so you know the thoughts of at least one participant.

Yes, there are more people saying "it's all going to hell in a handbasket". The biggest problem - as I see it, personal opinion only - is items that people are interested in and believe everyone would be interested in, but which are not really limited in any way to hackers.

Items about stimulants are interesting, but not just, or even primarily, to hackers. Items about injustices, the TSA, virtual strip-searching, and even break-throughs in cancer vaccines are interesting, but not just, or even primarily, to hackers.

The net result is that this one place where I used to come to get news that was specifically of interest to me as a hacker, is flooded with other stuff that I get in other places.

It's no longer special - it's becoming ordinary.

And the major sign of that is the meta-items, talking about the direction HN is going, and how it's all going to hell in a handbasket.

And that's why, with all due respect, I've flagged this item. I just thought I owed you an explanation as well.

danielnicollet
With all due respect also, I feel the way you do but if by "flagged", you mean you felt my post should be deleted, I don't understand anymore. Don't you think that topic should be discussed if the problem is to be resolved by, say creating other HNs with dedicated topics such as "hackers-only" HN...?
RiderOfGiraffes
"Slippery Slope". I think that everything not biased specifically towards hackers (or entrepreneurs) should be flagged. Probably I'm more aggressive and militant about that than most people, but that's OK too - I'm not unaccustomed to being an outlier, and if mine is the only voice then it won't make any difference.

I think that simply raising the issue does nothing. It's creating a discussion - it's not, of itself, adding information. Some people can't see the difference or distinction, but I believe there is one. This item is closer to simply having a moan than it is to making a technical contribution.

If you think things are getting worse then make measurements, do some homework, create a case, and actually make a proposal, don't simply "raise the issue".

I realise my views are regarded as extreme in this matter, but my feeling is that more people with views closer to mine would mean that there wouldn't be the perceived decline, because all the non-hacker-oriented items would die quickly.

And in keeping with this point of view, I will also not contribute further to this discussion unless I think it adds significantly to the discussion. I doubt it will - my opinions aren't that worthy.

gdl
I can see where you're coming from and at least partly agree, but I feel the need to call you out on this one. A few of your own submissions from the past month or so:

Current alert: Airport security remains relevant (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1849017)

Mike Rowe celebrates dirty jobs (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1756098)

Richard Wiseman's favorite optical illusions (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1729036)

Overall, your own submissions don't look all that much different from the current /newest page as hacker relevancy goes.

RiderOfGiraffes
Yes, I agree (and I've upvoted you) that my posts have started to decline in the same way as others have. Or at least, had started to decline. It was recognising that decline that made me write what I did, and I've started to change the things I submit.

I do note that you've gone back over four weeks to get some of those specific examples. I think the balance still shows a strong preponderance of technical items.

And it's for that same reason that, apart from addressing the two immediate questions here, I won't contribute to this thread any further.

minalecs
Well for the most part I agree, and like all other sites HN has attracted an audience different from its initial core users. This happens to all communities as I see it. No way to prevent it, just ask Digg. I think a good idea would be for HN to start sub HN's similar to sub Reddits, but for the most part I find I spend less time here. A good community started by Gabe Weinberg and Hiten Shah, http://techstartu.ps/ , more like early HN.
origoterra
It would be nice to get other ideas about alternatives to HN.
revorad
I see you are referring to this comment thread - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1850917. To be honest, you didn't make very good comments there and argued mostly emotionally without actually explaining your point clearly at all.

Plus, I'm afraid, it is a bit premature to question the direction HN is headed in after using it only for 6 months.

As others have said, the noise may have increased around here, but the signal is still very strong. The best people who make HN a great forum are still actively contributing, having intelligent conversations, building great stuff and helping people. Ask yourself, do you not get good value just reading stuff here? Don't judge it solely based on how your comments are received. And if that really matters most to you, consider taking a break for a while.