HN Explorer

ThankYouHN: 14 Years

91 points by solarized ↗ HN
I don't remember exactly when I got hooked on HN—probably around mid-2009 or 2010. For the past 14 years, it's been the only serious social media I use and love.

HN has changed my perspective on engineering and the world, my life metrics, and ultimately given me wisdom. Anonymous arguments flourish beautifully here. No one cares who you are—only your argument matters.

It's helped me a lot with running my consulting business. I don’t have to repeat other people's mistakes or, even better, I can just copy proven systems and best practices. I've learned so many lessons and found incredibly useful links here.

The text-based format with upvotes and downvotes works beautifully. No fancy web frameworks—just pure HTML and CSS for my browser.

HN is the only tab in my Chrome that uses the least RAM but provides the most benefit to my daily info intake. Text mode keeps me focus to read & write content. No emojis, no stickers, no visual distraction !

I hope HN stays like this forever.

27 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 61.5 ms ] thread
keepamovin
True, Dan Gackle should be rewarded with equity / in kind from so many of the people helped by this platform. The "capture the value you create" really applies here, and the model where that doesn't happen is wrong.
hwbehrens
Truly, dang is the "secret sauce" in maintaining the HN ethos. It certainly helps that the commenters do their part to reflect the ecosystem that they want, but it's easy to underestimate the important role that even a little guidance/nudging plays in making that happen.
windowshopping
Don't know if I'd call this social media. Do people consider it as such?

Wikipedia says:

> Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks.

I guess it is, huh, what do you know. I'm so used to thinking of social media as facebook/twitter/instagram/tiktok, where people have individual feeds.

wadkar
Yes, I would consider HN as social media/networking site
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tim333
Technically it's social media but with a different vibe/community.
srirangr
Unreasonable effectiveness of simplicity and content moderation!

(Apologies for overusing the phrase but it just fits in the context)

Even I have been using it for the last 10 years and it's still the most important source of my information diet.

hubraumhugo
My own startup wouldn't exist if I hadn't made a HN post with a crappy MVP and received feedback from users, founders, and potential customers.

It's a very special place that successfully avoided its "Eternal September". I hope dang knows how much we appreciate his work to not let the quality go downhill.

hislaziness
Same here. Coincidentally I joined in June 2009 and this is the only social media I indulge in.
purple-leafy
I switched to hackernews recently from reddit. I have no other social media now but hackernews.

Though I think I’m shadowbanned for saying “f OpenAI”

tasuki
You're not. So please keep your comments high quality and don't complain about shadowbanning :)
sidcool
HN is an integral part of my life. Not even a day has gone by in years when I haven't at least checked out the front page of HN. HN has had its ups and down, with me sometimes getting disillusioned. But the hivemind course corrects and returns to its roots. Proud to be a part of this self assembled community.

Be kind.

xelxebar
Adding to the foray. HN is one of the few sites actually pleasant to use by edbrowse, a line-oriented browser built and used by blind developers.

Also, you guys in the comments are consistently great. Not only do I learn a ton from you and am delighted to have an appreciative ear for my own arcana, but it's also reassuring to see a reflection of my own quirks and neuroticies lightly peppered throughout as well. You guys remind me that we're all in this crazy world together, trying our best with whatever tools we got.

lxdlam
HN became the go-to place to find and discuss serious technology topics several years ago and still is today.
PeterHolzwarth
As of 9:43 PM pacific, why is this post flagged?
emmanueloga_
For a delicious, full serving of tasty irony? :-p
drcongo
As of 13:48BST, people who have been on HN for 14 years know that posts get flagged by individual users and each of those individual users may have their own reason for flagging. The question "why is this post flagged" is therefore impossible to answer without tracking down every single user who has flagged this post, asking them why, and then collating the answers.
ASalazarMX
As of 18:53 UTC, this is why I think flaggings should require to select why are you flagging, offering options according to HN rules.

The most voted reason could be shown directly in the title, no one would need to ask why a post was flagged... although they'll maybe start asking why was that reason selected.

suchoudh
Thank you HN fellow users and the team who created it.

This place is one of the few I can trust to get info that one can not "bump" into anyplace else.

fury999io
> HN is the only tab in my Chrome that uses the least RAM

You should be using Firefox

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cr125rider
“Flagged” - come on. We can take a second for pats on the back. Thanks dang, et all. This is a good place. It’s appreciated.
NinoScript
I find it funny, but excellent, that this post is flagged. One of the things I love the most of HN is the ability to stay on topic. I too hope HN stays like this forever.