Live data from Hacker News

Too many people have peed in the pool

stephenfry.com

1–10 of 555 posts

Re: Too many people have peed in the pool

#3
post #2

Or maybe you just have to go to a pool in a better neighborhood? After all on Twitter you can choose from whom you're getting status updates, can't you?

1. You can't choose your followers, nor stop them from @mentioning you. 2. That statement is awfully close to (if not outright) victim blaming.

Re: Too many people have peed in the pool

#4
It's a wonder he lasted as long as he did.

I've joined a number of online forums through the years, and I've always ended up leaving them due to a spiral of "tone gets rough / the good people leave".

I'm still in this one, but I guess we'll see how long it lasts here. Seems different somehow, but they all do in the beginning.

What are some innovations in solving the asshole/quality spiral? There's lots of takes on moderation, but what are some interesting ones?

Re: Too many people have peed in the pool

#7
post #2

Or maybe you just have to go to a pool in a better neighborhood? After all on Twitter you can choose from whom you're getting status updates, can't you?

I'd suggest that perhaps fishing out the turds, as Stephen's analogy would likely have it, is not a good solution.

Re: Too many people have peed in the pool

#10
I'm not surprised - I wouldn't be famous for all the money available (not an option anyway, particularly given my lack of talent!) - so many people now think they have a right to you, if they're a fan, or they've bought your work, or they don't like your work, or whatever. Twitter seems to bring those sorts of things much closer (as, of course, does much social media), and I'd think anyone with any opinions on just about anything will end up getting drawn into arguments over just about everything with people they've never met, whose opinions they probably wouldn't care about in any other sphere.

I seriously think there will be a huge backlash against all of this sort of thing in the next few years - people have binged on it ad nauseam, and given the way my two teenage step-kids have reacted (removing themselves almost entirely from most social media, and only using it to talk to people they actually know and like IRL), I'd think there's more to come, in terms of people just leaving such an arena behind.

Post reply on HN