HN Explorer

Ask HN: What are some communities like HN?

78 points by jrberendt ↗ HN
I really love Hacker News and the content I have discovered on here, but the content is mainly focused around technology and programming. As a programmer, I don’t mind this, but are there other independent sites like HN that focus mainly around politics? Architecture? Music?

55 comments

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[dead] shipscode
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PaulHoule
I remember back in the 1980s when people who liked assault rifles... liked assault rifles. Today the companies that sell 'em will go bankrupt if the Republicans get elected because then the people who buy 'em won't be afraid of getting them taken away anymore.
malermeister
The domain itself suggests overwhelming political bias.
cf141q5325
In all fairness, that might be your bias talking. I dont know the site but have had great talks with weaponry nerds, they generally arent much stranger then train or history nerds. And pack the right amount of pedantry to be interesting.

edit: To give just one example, /r/syriancivilwar had great discussions about armaments across as diverse of a political background as you can come up with. That is before they got overrun by propagandists ofc but the point stands. I rarely encountered caricatures among weaponry nerds while the allegation of bias often comes from people with very entrenched worldviews.

You will likely be able to check if that applies to you if you are able to word what bias you expect in such communities. And how much that matches caricatures your political ingroup spreads.

xNeil
Every forum has an overwhelming bias. You just choose what bias you wish to consume.
wolverine876
> Every forum has an overwhelming bias.

What is that based on? It's not my experience, and it seems like binary reasoning: Either no bias or all bias. Everyone lies, for example, but some are far more honest than others. Every developer writes bugs, but it would be ridiculous to say everyone's code is 'overhelmingly' buggy.

tredre3
That website looks like a billboard. I don't even know what to click to reach the community. I mean I see the "discussions forums" link but it's still drowned in random logos, what the hell?
techn00
The almost same question from 7 hours ago, here you go https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37611708
jrberendt
Wow, I did not see this! Thanks!
ChrisArchitect
A quick search first to read any of the numerous Ask HN:'s of similar topics would help.

or you need to follow an aggregator of top posts from the day on twitter or social whatever like betterHN etc so you see that this was already 100 upvotes in when you posted.

bsimpson
Luiz André Barroso died last weekend. News broke last night, and fell off the front page by the time the US woke up. I'm guessing a lot of people who would have wanted to didn't see it.

We all like new stuff, but it's a shame how much timing matters on these sites.

whycome
HN at like 5-8am EDT can be kinda great. A lot of random but interesting stuff gets to the front page for brief times.
[dead] bobsmooth
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sneed_cat_1566
The administrator of this website is a known fascist. I would seriously advise people do NOT even visit this website.
cf141q5325
>I would seriously advise people do NOT even visit this website.

Please elaborate why.

GRISELDA
its the offsite of /r/subredditdrama
cf141q5325
I appreciate the response, but i have no idea what that means or entails.

Do you mean this as a nsfw warning?

I was more wondering about the advice to not visit the site because of the owner. I hold Daryl Davis in high regards and dont understand the notion of retreating into echo chambers.

richbell
That is incorrect, it is the offsite of /r/drama which is (was?) a totally different community and culture from /r/subredditdrama.
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takoid
What is the forum with lots of business and financial professionals that recently got a bunch of attention? I think it is a four-letter acronym that starts with an E. I’ve tried searching for it but can’t find it. It seemed like an interesting place when I checked it out.
lambdasquirrel
All of the photography forums I've visited have made me nearly regret getting into it as a hobby, so I'd love to hear of some.
spacemadness
Unfortunately for photography, smartphones and apps like Instagram happened. Now everyone is a photographer for good and ill. Low entry point hobbies can be rough to deal with in online communities.
sideproject
https://aihackers.ai

is a recent community built around AI contents (built on a tool called HN+ - https://www.hn.plus)

Zetobal
Oh god the top ten is full of shitty listicles.
joenot443
Is this your own project? Who's submitting these links?

I see lots of links but no comments and no usernames, is this all organic posting or a mix?

jl6
HN is two things: 1) a link aggregator with a tech focus (but not exclusively tech). 2) a large, open community moderated to a high standard of civility.

There are alternatives to #1, such as subject-specific subreddits, but they often to fail at being #2 once they reach a certain size.

The only other site I’ve seen manage to sustain #2 (“civility at scale”) is… Wikipedia.

O1111OOO
> 2) a large, open community moderated to a high standard of civility.

I tried quite a few sites when the reddit issues surfaced a few months ago.

tildes.net easily passes the civility test. Great place for respectful discussion, with the userbase protecting this aspect of the site (much like HN users).

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iancmceachern
They are not necessarily "like HN" but I thought it might be helpful to list communities I participate in, other than HN, which I believe have been a net positive in my life.

The Vlog Brothers - they have a whole community, videos, newsletters, books, podcasts, on and on. They talk about good positive things, make good positive change in the universe.

Corridor Crew - similar, they have videos, content, etc. Group of friends that started a CGI effects house and analyze such. They wholesome for me.

Camping with Steve - a youtube Channel where this guy camps, enjoys the simple things. He's a good guy.

I've also found community in local small business groups.

rickoooooo
I have to second corridor crew. I found then several years ago and now I never miss a video. Gave me new appreciation for film making and vfx.
jeffreyrogers
People are answering this wrong and focused too much on the site needing to have the same functionality as HN. The spirit of the question is where do other professionals (musicians, doctors, real estate developers, lawyers, etc.) congregate online. I don't know the answer for most of those but here are two examples

- SDN for aspiring doctors and med students https://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/

- Wall Street Oasis for people in finance https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum

Not really the same spirit, but Marginal Revolution (https://marginalrevolution.com/) also has its own community around it and is one of the most influential blogs in the world. Also has an active comment section with an interesting cast of characters.

unixhero
Reddit consulting For consultants

Reddit homelab

Reddit selfhosted

Reddit datahoarder

layer8
Not exactly what you’re asking for, but here are a couple of traditional forums:

Pro audio: https://gearspace.com/

PC hardware: https://hardforum.com/

Audio hardware: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/

Everything Apple: https://forums.macrumors.com/

Home cinema: https://www.avsforum.com/

Blu-ray discs and movies: https://forum.blu-ray.com/

Babypopdipstick
Mac rumors is quite possibly the worst place on the internet for BOTH apple fans and haters. What a weirdly toxic and ill informed community.
layer8
What alternative do you suggest?
seryoiupfurds
It's not directly comparable to HN, but as someone who enjoys the discussion style here I also enjoy /r/neoliberal for a political focus.
jimvdv
I really enjoy reading /r/askHistorians. It’s a strongly moderated community with high quality content. Truly and example for what the internet can be.