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NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

npr.org

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Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#311

Post by mahranch »

xemdetia wrote: post #220
cookiecaper wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should ask ourselves what value on-article comment sections provide. I believe HN is good because it serves a specific trade purpose and caters to a specific high-end niche audience. HN's participants are willing to cross a significant participation threshold to be part of the community here. I believe that kind of structure needs to be in place to get good community participation. I guess I'd summarize it with th…

Mostly everything you described in that list was something that most web forums and usenet provided, but they were supplanted with a mix of on-article comments and social media in it's current state. It is frustrating to have seen most forums end up evaporating but they are just hard to keep momentum in. It would be really nice to see someone figure out a good way to bring forums back in a way that didn't turn into a…

As a heavy forum user (since the late 90s), I find reddit supplanted them. Reddit is basically every forum I've ever been a part of, all on a single website. More importantly, it's every forum I didn't even know existed, on a single website. I found many niche hobbies and interests I wouldn't have otherwise found thanks to reddit.

I think that's why reddit grew so large, so quick. It does what forums do (provides similar discussions), except better.

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#312

Post by labster »

dcposch wrote: post #289
vertex-four wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right-libertarian views are generally most popular here - both "conservative" and "liberal" (American definitions of both) views are generally not popular. And god forbid you have views that would be considered slightly left of center in much of the EU.

That's just not true. For example, universal basic income--a leftist idea even by European standards--has been discussed several times on HN. Lots of substantive comments both for and against.

Are you sure UBI is a leftist idea? The things that go along with UBI read like a right-wing wishlist: eliminate the minimum wage, discontinue welfare and unemployment benefits, and end the food stamp program. In its place, the free market would determine how best to spend basic income.

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#313

Post by aaronblohowiak »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #297
eddieh wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even HN has declined, but what bothers me most is that HN has a definite range of views that are acceptable. This limits useful discourse. e.g. someone should be able to criticize Elon Musk without being downvoted to hell. While HN does stay civil, I think it is too limited in general. Don't get me wrong, the reason I use HN is because the discussion hasn't devolved into /. or reddit. However, HN would do well to enc…

> e.g. someone should be able to criticize Elon Musk without being downvoted to hell. I wish downvoting wouldn't be allowed without a "reply" to parent post, that way if I'm being downvoted nonstop I know why. Sometimes I get downvoted like crazy and have no clue as to why. Or even if I guess it doesn't add to the conversation to just shut me out because you disagree without teaching me why. I wonder how HN would be…

Lobsters gets this right where you have to provide a reason from a drop down when downvoting

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#314

Post by adrusi »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #297
eddieh wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even HN has declined, but what bothers me most is that HN has a definite range of views that are acceptable. This limits useful discourse. e.g. someone should be able to criticize Elon Musk without being downvoted to hell. While HN does stay civil, I think it is too limited in general. Don't get me wrong, the reason I use HN is because the discussion hasn't devolved into /. or reddit. However, HN would do well to enc…

> e.g. someone should be able to criticize Elon Musk without being downvoted to hell. I wish downvoting wouldn't be allowed without a "reply" to parent post, that way if I'm being downvoted nonstop I know why. Sometimes I get downvoted like crazy and have no clue as to why. Or even if I guess it doesn't add to the conversation to just shut me out because you disagree without teaching me why. I wonder how HN would be…

But sometimes the point of downvoting is to bury a comment so that it doesn't dominate the discussion. If downvoting required a reply it would achieve the opposite effect.

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#315

Post by flukus »

labster wrote: post #312
dcposch wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just not true. For example, universal basic income--a leftist idea even by European standards--has been discussed several times on HN. Lots of substantive comments both for and against.

Are you sure UBI is a leftist idea? The things that go along with UBI read like a right-wing wishlist: eliminate the minimum wage, discontinue welfare and unemployment benefits, and end the food stamp program. In its place, the free market would determine how best to spend basic income.

It was originally a right wing idea, often known as mincome (minimum income) or a reverse tax. Milton Friedman was one of the earliest proponents of the idea.

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#316

Post by mdadm »

darkstar999 wrote: post #126
psyc wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's more insidious than that. I've been a heavy Reddit user for 7 years. The situation on most subreddits is now basically all comments being moderator-approved at a fine level of detail. They just do it after the comments appear, giving the impression that free discussion is still happening. Which comments and threads are allowed to persist is becoming very obviously narrower over time, all over the site. The…

> The situation on most subreddits is now basically all comments being moderator-approved at a fine level of detail. Uhh... do you have a source for this?

Agree or disagree with the politics otherwise rampant therein, subreddits like /r/KotakuInAction seem to do a good job of cataloging some instances of this (ex. [1][2] and basically anything else in their [CENSORSHIP] tag/flair). Granted, this is likely not the best source, due to the fairly political nature of such subreddits, as well as that I haven't checked many of these to verify the accuracy of them; I just occasionally like to see what different sides of the debate(s) are up to.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/378smw/a_jo...

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/390bni/user...

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#317

Post by marcos123 »

tetrep wrote: post #304
marcos123 wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? To me, the thing that is most discouraging about HN is the rampant closed mindedness. For example, anyone who questions the long term safety of genetically modifying organisms and eating them, will always be downvoted to oblivion.

It's probably because doubting things isn't very useful. I can question the long term safety of walking up stairs, but unless I can provide an argument such that rational people are convinced they should also be concerned, I wouldn't be surprised at downvotes. Not to knock the Anti-GMO argument[0], but it's similar to other conspiracy arguments. I can make so many rational arguments against it, but I know from the ou…

My questioning the long term safety of GMO's is logical though. Peer reviewed studies on the topic just plain don't address the very real possibility that GMO's can have very harmful effects 20, 30, or 50+ years down the road. Both to our environment and our bodies. Believing that a short term study that concludes they're "safe" also means they're safe in the long term is quite a leap of faith, and illogical.

Edit: To put it another way, I'll bet short term studies concluded that asbestos was "safe" to use as a building material. In the long run though, that didn't really turn out to be the case.

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#318

Post by adrusi »

marcos123 wrote: post #290
losteverything wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our HN can decline 5 x more and it would still be wonderful. With out ever seeing, talking to, meeting any HNer I am connected with smarter, curiouser, open minded (er) people than I work with everyday.

Really? To me, the thing that is most discouraging about HN is the rampant closed mindedness. For example, anyone who questions the long term safety of genetically modifying organisms and eating them, will always be downvoted to oblivion.

That hasn't been my experience. There are views that HN generally opposes, like being anti-GMO, and newcomers who don't know what HN's opinions are might accidentally run into something and get punished for it. But once you know what the standard HN opinions are, you just need to be very clear about exactly how you depart from them when you voice dissent. This means disclaimers and hedging — poor style in traditional writing, but necessary on the internet where you can usually assume that someone protesting GMO foods is committing the naturalistic fallacy.

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#319

Post by tkinom »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #297
eddieh wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even HN has declined, but what bothers me most is that HN has a definite range of views that are acceptable. This limits useful discourse. e.g. someone should be able to criticize Elon Musk without being downvoted to hell. While HN does stay civil, I think it is too limited in general. Don't get me wrong, the reason I use HN is because the discussion hasn't devolved into /. or reddit. However, HN would do well to enc…

> e.g. someone should be able to criticize Elon Musk without being downvoted to hell. I wish downvoting wouldn't be allowed without a "reply" to parent post, that way if I'm being downvoted nonstop I know why. Sometimes I get downvoted like crazy and have no clue as to why. Or even if I guess it doesn't add to the conversation to just shut me out because you disagree without teaching me why. I wonder how HN would be…

I like stackoverflow type of feedback, comments, vote up/down system. Not perfect, but a lot of thinking go into that part of the website design.

But not sure if those ideas for technical focus (with "right" A to the Q) website can be easily applied to more political website such as NPR.

Re: NPR Website to Get Rid of Comments

#320

Post by makecheck »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #297
eddieh wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even HN has declined, but what bothers me most is that HN has a definite range of views that are acceptable. This limits useful discourse. e.g. someone should be able to criticize Elon Musk without being downvoted to hell. While HN does stay civil, I think it is too limited in general. Don't get me wrong, the reason I use HN is because the discussion hasn't devolved into /. or reddit. However, HN would do well to enc…

> e.g. someone should be able to criticize Elon Musk without being downvoted to hell. I wish downvoting wouldn't be allowed without a "reply" to parent post, that way if I'm being downvoted nonstop I know why. Sometimes I get downvoted like crazy and have no clue as to why. Or even if I guess it doesn't add to the conversation to just shut me out because you disagree without teaching me why. I wonder how HN would be…

Also, I think that replies accompanying down-votes should be displayed directly next to the comment as a sort of tag (i.e. you can’t click a down-arrow alone, you have to type out something like “not accurate” or “flame” or “I don’t like his hair” or whatever the reason is) and then the comment appears as: foobar_user 1 hour ago | -1:“not accurate” -1:“flame” -1:“I don’t like his hair”.
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