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Ask HN: Great online forums?

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Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#51

Post by mark_edward »

sboselli wrote: post #49
gressquel wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be frank, I dont take any website with "chan" in it seriously. Think the absolute disgust coming out of 4chan is the reason

That's a shame, and also a quite lazy form of prejudice. Yes, 4chan and it's analogues are full of worthless shit and the quality has gone to the drain, but they are also full of different & unique people, some of whom share similar ideas that those of the HN community (privacy, anti-mainstream, anti-corpo, etc; but you can also find the polar opposites in either). It has in the past also acted as one of the few plac…

If you want free speech go yell about UFOs and gays on the public square where it's protected. Free speech doesn't mean people have to give you a platform. Your version of free speech would actually coerce other people into using their resources to propagate your speech, which doesn't sound free to me.

Arguing 4chan is a positive valuable place because they are good at making memes and organizing raids and harassment campaigns is also pretty funny.

Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#52

Post by sboselli »

mark_edward wrote: post #51
sboselli wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a shame, and also a quite lazy form of prejudice. Yes, 4chan and it's analogues are full of worthless shit and the quality has gone to the drain, but they are also full of different & unique people, some of whom share similar ideas that those of the HN community (privacy, anti-mainstream, anti-corpo, etc; but you can also find the polar opposites in either). It has in the past also acted as one of the few plac…

If you want free speech go yell about UFOs and gays on the public square where it's protected. Free speech doesn't mean people have to give you a platform. Your version of free speech would actually coerce other people into using their resources to propagate your speech, which doesn't sound free to me. Arguing 4chan is a positive valuable place because they are good at making memes and organizing raids and harassment…

Wow, you're a full on biggot with reading comprehension problems.

Why don't you read my post again? I never said any of the things you claim.

Also, good job on equating free speech with yelling about UFOs and gays. That really tells us a lot about yourself.

Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#53

Post by grzm »

sboselli wrote: post #52
mark_edward wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want free speech go yell about UFOs and gays on the public square where it's protected. Free speech doesn't mean people have to give you a platform. Your version of free speech would actually coerce other people into using their resources to propagate your speech, which doesn't sound free to me. Arguing 4chan is a positive valuable place because they are good at making memes and organizing raids and harassment…

Wow, you're a full on biggot with reading comprehension problems. Why don't you read my post again? I never said any of the things you claim. Also, good job on equating free speech with yelling about UFOs and gays. That really tells us a lot about yourself.

you're a full on biggot

Personal attacks are never called for, regardless of the thread. Please keep things civil, particularly when discussing free speech.

Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#54

Post by eberkund »

What are your interests?

These are the top forums I visit

Fitness: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/

Computer hardware: http://www.overclock.net/

Camping and outdoorsy stuff: https://campingbabble.com/

Canadian deals site: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/

Mostly about internet but has some good sub-forums: http://www.dslreports.com/

Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#55

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

I tried Imzy, but I can't like it. It's not forum-ey enough, draws too strongly from social networks: if your forum looks like a social media site, you won't have good discussion: that interface isn't optimized for it.

a.f.p on the usenet (that's alt.fan.pratchett for the uninitiated) used to be good, but it seems to be nearly dead now. :-(.

Bits of reddit are good. I love /r/adventofcode this time of year (although that's seasonal and event-specific).

If you're looking for proper, real, actual forums, I can reccomend a few. The xkcd forums are still excellent, give or take. If you like dwarf fortress, the bay12forums are good.

And onto the chans: much maligned as they are.

4chan's /tg/ is shockingly good if you like tabletop games (WH40K in particular): it's a blue board, so it's not totally flooded with porn constantly, and it's also got a decent community and isn't horrifically acidic, unlike, say, /g/.

Also, even if you don't like the chan, the wiki, 1d4chan, has a tvtropes-like stickiness about it, essentially being a best-of reel of the entire community. You should at least read The Tale of Old Man Hnderson, as it is one of the most famous in all of RPing.

7chan (http://7chan.org) was created as a reaction to 4chan, and it shows. Posting quality is enforced, and the mods are quite punishing. But as a result, quality is reasonable, AFAICT (although I am not a regular)

Sushichan (https://sushigirl.us) is a "relaxed" chan.

And than there's Lainchan.

Lainchan is a cyberpunk chan (sort of). It also has a strong programming and anime focus (with a name like lainchan, would you expect anything else?) It bears a semblance to HN in some ways, but it's a chan, make no mistake, and quite different in others. Just go look if you're interested.

Of additional interest is lainzine (https://lainzine.neocities.org), lainchan's official unofficial magazine. The typical immidiate reaction to lainzine, AFAICT, is "what the hell did I just read?" and I speak no hyperbole in saying that it is like nothing else on the internet.

Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#57

Post by jtsylve »

mrschwabe wrote: post #18
jtsylve wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you define those terms for those of us who are unaware?

Yes an astroturfer aka shill I would personally define as someone portraying themselves to be a neutral observer/participant when in reality they are paid/sponsored/incentivized by a state, company, or organization pushing a specific agenda. They are intentionally planted to deceive, distort and sway those unsuspecting of such activity. There is an excellent TED talk [0] on the subject. The problem is rampant and whi…

Thanks. The more you know...

Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#58

Post by mahyarm »

chickenking wrote: post #48
devopsproject wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the default subs on reddit are pretty terrible. It seems like as the number of users increase, the quality goes down. Reddit also has a problem with "super mods" who are pretty fast an loose with their powers. These seem to be normal problems with trying to appeal to large groups (lame watered down meme low effort crap) and the effects of power on individuals (bans, shadowbans, bias, agenda pushing, etc)

I am from outside US. I grew up watching American TV shows and movies and had a really positive impression about US and its people. I actually used to look down on my culture and its ways most of the time. The 4 years I spend on Reddit exposed me to so much racism and hatred that I have only negative feelings left now. I am leaving US next month, a good part of my decision was based on those feelings.

How about the people and community you live in vs. random internet assholes who are a small minority of people and exist in your home country too and curated entertainment?

Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#59

Post by guiseroom »

_b8r0 wrote: post #43
guiseroom wrote: post #12

Imzy is young enough to play a pivotal role in the community. Never underestimate that.

I tried Imzy, and I wanted to like it, I really did. However, I found it slow, bloated, very unnecessarily political (in a deeply polarising way, which is bad for something that isn't going to be an echo chamber), and the signal to noise was absolutely atrocious. I get what they were trying to achieve (and I hope things have improved since I left), but I think there's as much a risk of overestimating what Imzy can ac…

You should take another look.

Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?

#60

Post by brightsize »

I enjoy the City Data[0] forums. It's interesting to read about other cities and locations across the country and across the world, and to read about the thoughts and concerns of the locals. Very often there will be people posting who are thinking about moving to your city and who are asking for help and advice as they contemplate and implement their move. It's rewarding to field these kinds of questions and be able to help out.

[0] http://www.city-data.com/forum/

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