HN Explorer

Thank HN: All of you, this place, gives me hope

168 points by pugio ↗ HN
It's been... a year, and the world trends disturbingly. Thank you to this wonderful community for providing an optimistic counterpoint to the gloom-for-clicks deluge parts of the 'net have become.

No matter what's going on, or what new catastrophe those around me are discussing, I know I can come to HN and find hopeful people, creative people, sane people, rational, intelligent, insightful, compassionate, careful people.

This place is special; a daily n=1 proof that healthy communities can exist and thrive, that ideas are discussed deeply and enthusiastically, and that at least some percent of humanity are engaged in building better things, for profit, for the world, or just for the sheer joy of hacking and finding things out.

At the end of a very long year, thank you.

41 comments

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rvz
You're welcome.
[dead] 0xdead
I don’t know what are you talking about. I had to list it in my /etc/hosts to block it. Was literally making me depressed. I feel so much better without it.
hliyan
I've been reading HN almost every weekday for the past six years. It's been consistently great. I have been looking around for other communities (e.g. on subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, basically anything) that have managed to replicate this success. Yet to find a single one that maintains this level of discourse. I'm sure it's in no small part thanks to the moderators.
TheColorYellow
Agreed wholeheartedly. The level of discourse on here exceeds all other forums and has managed to do so while avoiding the increasing trend of culture wars on social forums.

I definitely think the mods are the key. As well as the trend of simplicity. It really keeps things focused on where they should be - good discussion.

dhagz
I think Lobsters[0] is the only other forum to maintain a high-level of discourse like HN, but it is invite-only (and programming/comp-sci focused). I know some people have started other servers running Lobsters's source[1] that are dedicated to various subjects, but I can't speak to their quality as I haven't visited any of them.

[0]: https://lobste.rs/about

[1]: https://github.com/lobsters/lobsters/wiki

type0
If you speak other languages you might find out that there are still buckets of the web where old fashioned forums have some good discourse, the ones that have survived often do have good moderation. Maybe it is just me but it feels that it is much rarer occasion to find those in English, that has to be a cultural thing as well as how easy it is to be attacked by trolls and spammers.
toyg
Tsk tsk man, didn’t you get the memo? HN is a cesspool of trolls! Don’t read the comments! /s

But seriously, cheers man. I agree it’s a pretty unique place. Let’s not forget that a big factor of its endurance is dang’s moderation though! He deserves a lot of praise.

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cvaidya1986
I am grateful for each and everyone of you who is innovating and contributing to moving us forward and giving each other feedback and motivation.
e900542
I just discovered HN within the past couple of months and it is my go to for well rounded news. I enjoy the "hacker" topics but I also like that a large number of the posts have to do with technology and social issues, an evenly divided number of well stated political views, and a host of IT and science and math related subjects that are way over my head but gives me an opportunity to learn something everyday. Most of all it gives me hope by sharing constructive things that are happening in society and a different perspective than the doom and gloom that gets reported by mainstream news outlets. Thanks all for brightening up my day on a regular basis.
thorin
Thanks for the reminder.

Initially I was a bit disappointed HN didn't have more of a political stance on the current myriad issues which seem to affect us. It is what it is and does it well.

I hope you all have a better year in 2021.

seibelj
I specifically like HN because it doesn’t have a political bias and allows people to exit their group think bubble. The range of smart people with varying ideas, and willingness to debate, is enormous. Although I feel like downvotes fly more often than they used to a few years ago...
type0
Agree to disagree on that, political biases and groupthink are still present here but more diluted, what I do value is that people are more open to different points of view from other users.
SkyMarshal
It's probably better that it doesn't have political stances, as 1) that is hard to moderate and maintain high quality discussion, 2) there's plenty of political discussion elsewhere, better to keep HN focused purely on deep tech, and 3) in an overly politicized media atmosphere it's actually a feature and differentiator to not have it and instead be a refuge from it (such venues are scarce).
zthrowaway
The moral demand upon organizations to make political stances needs to stop. I come to HN because it’s empty of that; makes information more free and digestible.
murm
I love you too!
AnimalMuppet
"Gloom-for-clicks". I'm stealing that phrase. It's perfect.
nwotnagrom
Agreed, agreed. I have been reading HN for a couple of months now and just started posting, but really enjoy the insightful feedback on posts. Its great to see different ideas and opinions. Its how the world should be!
x2f10
I agree. HN has shaped the person I am. I don't have friends or co-workers that talk about topics such as depression, burnout, and personal growth. The comments posted often serve as a passive mentorship for me. I wish I didn't have to depend on a message board for help, but I'm happy it's here. I want to thank you all for being open and honest and I want to thank Dang personally for making it all work.
kyawzazaw
what do you think of teamblind.com?
type0
The amount of encouragement in difficult situations that users receive is the main reason I stay on this site, even if it is somewhat unsocial medium the cheerfulness that gets expressed more than makes up for it.
type0
it's meta and who knows why, has to be low levels of gamification, i think bad comments here are easier to ignore. Probably not just because of greying out comments but the civility levels we as all users agree to.
istorical
thank you dang and others who work to keep this community healthy and fight eternal september.
domano
I have seen quite many covid-deniers in the comments here, but maybe that is due to the time difference. I guess those kinds of people tend to be more active at night (or also from europe ;-) )
type0
I haven't read any comments to qualify as covid-deniers, but there's plenty of apologists that express their opinions in cowardly ways on how situations are handled in different places. I still think that it can bring valuable debate but HN is not the best website to discuss it because it always on some point turns political.
doublerabbit
HN is a breath of fresh air when you take a break now and then. If we could get rid of the upvoting system and have a save article button. I would be 100% satisfied.

The whole like-upvote/dislike-downvote needs to come to an end. It's bias, unfair and shite; take reddit for example. Unless you challenge the user with a reason to why they are downvoting, it simply doesn't work.

doublerabbit
Downvoted without explanation, my point exactly. Those who had the power downvote are those who are bias and the ones in wrong.

To know why I have been downvoted would be reasonable but to downvote because you disagree? Well what a poor fool you are.

type0
> To know why I have been downvoted would be reasonable but to downvote because you disagree?

usually it's an expression that usefulness of down-voting in disagreements shouldn't be questioned. As far as I remember HN uses high levels of downvotes/upvotes to give the topic a bad karma (don't quote me on that), it has to be the reason why HN didn't turned into reddits yet.

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SkyMarshal
Thanks @dang and the other HN mods for your work on finding ways to maintain a floor on discussion quality. Hard problem requiring constant vigilance, but much appreciated by all.
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tanseydavid
Thank you for reminding me why I come here. Happy New Year.
mgh2
I wonder if HN can rival Google by indexing all its best articles...it has better sources and vetting without commercial interests...but that might just be a dream

I started reading HN in high school, more than 14 yrs ago...when I read one of Paul's essays :)

minimalismhuh
I wish the whole Internet would become an HN. Imagine an HN-esque YouTube (no click-bait and other BS). Imagine an HN-like Stack Overflow (no toxicity and with its own charm and friendliness). Imagine an HN-esque news outlet instead of the inflationary headline "breaking news". Imagine an HN-style Amazon with sensible and trustworthy reviews.

We need the Dangs everywhere. Dangs help us to stay sane in this gigantic information age. I am happy that this place exists. :)

type0
I sincerely hope that the new year will bring much more luck and peace to you all!

Happy New 2021 everyone!

type0
I sometimes wish that more blogs were like some of the best comments that can surface here on HN. I have yet to find a way to better filter out good quality blogs that can keep the same level as insightful expert comments, any ideas on how to find and evaluate blogs that hold such high standards?
bloodorange
Perhaps people will not like my response but for me, this is where I tend to lose hope and I visit mostly only for the odd interesting tech article or comment.

This is the most materialistic online forum I've been to where I'd not be surprised to see someone declaring that he is building an app to help the hungry homeless folk on his street. There are people reading this who probably already wonder what's wrong with building such an app and that it will scale better than an individual taking food to them etc.

That said, I appreciate that there are fewer clickbait headlines here than most other popular places on the internet.