HN Explorer

Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

25 points by l33tbro ↗ HN
Casual user here of 4 years. Still find Hacker News one of the better online communities in terms of quality of discussion and breadth of topics.

However, I'm often frustrated by thoughtless comments before people have bothered to read the articles they are discussing, as well as an overall lack of charity in in the subsequent discussion.

There's a myth that people were once second guessed posting here, given the high calibre of discussion and not wanting to look idiotic. If there's any truth to that, where are those people now?

17 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 61.1 ms ] thread
leesalminen
I find it fairly easy to scroll past comments I don't care to see, but I am curious about other sites (maybe about different topics?) that has a similar community.
ramon
Come on, there's no better place than HN for the new stuff, please either just stop comenting or they comment only when they feel it's worth while, we're not required to discuss, so chill and coment only when you feel it's worth it.
mindcrime
Like any long-standing community, certain aspects of the "flavor" of the community have changed over time, as members have come and gone. @pg and the other HN staff have tried to fight the "eternal september" effect, but you can question how successful they've been. Anyway, more than a few of the members here who have been very popular and valuable contributors have left for one reason or another (and, I'm sure, plenty of less "visible" folks as well).

One community that gathered at least some of the former HN crowd to attempt to maintain a specific culture, is Lobste.rs. It's a smaller community (partly by choice, as you have to be invited to join) so there's less overall traffic and discussion to be had, but it may be that the discussion that is there, is of a level closer to what you're looking for.

https://lobste.rs

l33tbro
Thanks - will check out.

Oh and I hope I don't sound like one of those "used to be better" people, but I've started to notice that 'Eternal September' thing with the general mainstreaming of startup culture in the last few years. That's another discussion though ...

Overall, I think HN is generally pretty great - but been here a while now and thought there may be more progressive alternatives to eclectic discussion

On a side note - I've heard the original Reddit was much like how this used to be.

sjs382
It depends what you're interested in. If your answer is "startups", then this really is the place.

Design? http://news.layervalut.com

Tech & Development? http://lobste.rs

whisdol
There's a typo in your first link - it redirects to a scam site. Thanks nonetheless!
l33tbro
Product Hunt is another I look at for startup stuff - but you proably already know it.
rms
I feel like a lot of it is that the tech industry itself has become less interesting over time. Four or five years ago, there was more of an outsider status to startups and startup founders, and in San Francisco 2015, tech workers have become the banal mainstream.
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Mz
Another forum I like is Metafilter. There are some HNers over there, fwiw.

But, you know, the situation is really complicated. For example, some people didn't "leave," they just changed their handle.

You can never step in the same river twice. If you value HN and want it to be more of a particular thing, you can choose to give your attention to things you value and try to grow more of that.

l33tbro
Agree. Also, +1 Heraclitus reference
olympus
MeFi is great. It has a strong focus on quality. It's got a focus on "things that are interesting" and not on startups or technology, so you'll see some different stuff. It takes a while to mesh into the community, but you can enjoy the postings right away. I usually find one or maybe two interesting things there each day, which is about the same as I do on Reddit or HN, but the percentage is quite a bit higher on MeFi considering there aren't as many posts.

It has remained small (relative to an internet scale) and that has allowed it to remain high quality. It is a little more difficult to sign up and post (and charges a one time fee of $5), which makes signing up a much more deliberate thing. Trolls aren't going to waste $5.

A side note, one of my favorite quotes from the internet is originally credited to MeFi user blue_beetle: "If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold." http://www.metafilter.com/95152/Userdriven-discontent