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Would this community prefer to be under the radar?

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51–60 of 102 posts

Re: Would this community prefer to be under the radar?

#51
post #12

Security by obscurity is not really security at all. Perhaps the TechCrunch exposure has hurt the site in the short term, but if Hacker News can get through these growing pains it will be presumably better off in the long run. The problem as I see it is not the size of the community but the concentration of thinkers. It doesn't really matter what articles make it to the front page; if the comments start filling up wi…

[deleted]

Re: Would this community prefer to be under the radar?

#52
post #30
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the real TechCrunch. I don't mind. Traffic had been growing pretty constantly at about 5x per year anway, so we'd have had to deal with this problem eventually.

I find it odd that you even consider it's a problem. It's odd to hear a founder consider a site growing a problem. The metrics to handle the "problem" should have been addressed during the conception stage of the site. I would be surprised if simple administration could fix the trend.

The difference is that HN was not designed with maximum growth (and hence ads or being acquired) in mind. It seems mostly geared towards bringing people to YC, and motivating hackers to try startups. A big community isn't necessarily worse at this, but neither is it necessarily better.

Re: Would this community prefer to be under the radar?

#53
Certainly. I think you should post a link to my startup on your front page instead. :-)

Seriously, I think this community does have some advantages by staying out of the flow of traffic. I go to TechCrunch as well. It's got worthwhile news and the advantage that only one person can post (and his picks for topics are usually pretty good). This site is actually the same, except that people can join the pool of submitters.

Right now, there is a selection process for submitters. They have to be interested enough to find out about startups by researching a bit. If the doors were opened wide, who knows what might happen. Well, looking at Reddit lately, we have a pretty good idea of what would happen, and it isn't pretty.

Re: Would this community prefer to be under the radar?

#54
post #21
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, because TechCrunch has nothing to do with hacking. Techcrunch is read by a huge percentage of all hackers working on tech startups. This site was previous called "Startup News". I think the TC audience is very well suited.

Let me re-quote the grandparent post for you, perhaps removing a bit of subtlety in the process: > Yes, because TechCrunch has nothing at all whatso ever to do with hacking ( rolls eyes )

You forgot the (wink nudge) an the end!

Re: Would this community prefer to be under the radar?

#56
Wow, I'm glad to see this question be asked here. I don't think you should stop posting as long a the 'fake INSERT FAMOUSNAME' do not begin muddying up threads. You have a lot of readers that could benefit from this community and vice versa although you might create more work for pg and the algorithm :)

Re: Would this community prefer to be under the radar?

#58
post #36

The REDDIT.com community is saying the same thing now. They claim that their website is now polluted and that the quality has gone down. BTW: I found this community via TechCrunch last week and like what I see. Still unsure that I'll fit in with you guys although I like the content.

It's funny -- I've been here for about a year, maybe more. How did I discover it? Digg, or maybe reddit. One of Paul's essays got dugg. Ironic in a way, I think.

Re: Would this community prefer to be under the radar?

#60
post #20
post #12

Security by obscurity is not really security at all. Perhaps the TechCrunch exposure has hurt the site in the short term, but if Hacker News can get through these growing pains it will be presumably better off in the long run. The problem as I see it is not the size of the community but the concentration of thinkers. It doesn't really matter what articles make it to the front page; if the comments start filling up wi…

When it comes to so-called "public knowledge," obscurity (and more largely, apathy) is the only kind of security there is. All websites eventually die (or, at least, all that I have observed); you can't "keep a community alive" so much as you can just let it die peacefully, leaving its children (perhaps under the same ownership!) to continue its legacy.

I agree that forums and sites like this have a lifespan. They don't die outright, but they become less and less useful/interesting as they grow and age. Techcrunch almost certainly reduced the useful life of news.yc, so I would have prefered it not happened. But how much did it reduce the lifespan by? Probably not that much, I suppose.
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