Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#1

Post by mrleiter » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 8:22 PM UTC

Dear HN,

over recent months I have felt that the quality of the discussions has fallen below previous levels in terms of subject-related talk. Specifically, I find it annoying that more and more top comments or top replies to top comments are puns and/or variations thereof.

A good laugh is healthy, I agree. But, to me, HN feels more and more like reddit. Phrases like "I'll probably get downvoted for..." are nonsensical, as it does not help a meaningful discussion at all.

So, I ask of you - do you have the same feeling?

Kind regards,

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#2

Post by dang » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 9:54 PM UTC

These perceptions are notoriously subject to bias: first, to sample bias, because no one reads all the posts. And second, to whatever the bias is called where we notice what we dislike or annoys us far more than what doesn't, and thus overestimate how much of it there is. We see this most of all in claims of HN's political bias.

Because of that, it's best to post links to specific posts to give examples of what you're talking about. You might find that other people read those posts quite differently, which can be interesting in its own right. Alternatively, if they're posts that break the site guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html), we should moderate them. You, and anyone else, are also welcome to email such links to hn@ycombinator.com.

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#3

Post by hawktheslayer » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 9:59 PM UTC

I personally haven't found that. I find quality typically rises to the top, and only an occasional worthy pun will make it up there. But of course my opinion is anecdotal and heavily subject to bias. I just try to be a good citizen here and add to the quality conversation whenever I feel like my experience on a topic makes me able to contribute something of value.

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#4

Post by oceanghost » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 10:11 PM UTC

I feel that only a very narrow range of opinions are acceptable.

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#5

Post by verdverm » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 10:24 PM UTC

Seems to me like a general trend not limited to HN.

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#6

Post by twouhm » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

You might be noticing the eternal September effect, which is sadly starting to affect HN.

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#7

Post by wpasc » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 10:39 PM UTC

I find that HN discussion are the most relevant, least trolled discussions of most well-known sites. However, I am biased because my exposure to comments and discussions is mostly HN, some reddit, WSJ/NYTimes comments, and the notorious YouTube comment sections.

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#8

Post by jpalomaki » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 11:02 PM UTC

I've had this feeling, but not sure if it's justified. Could be also the result of more users writing comments.

Since the down-voting is the tool we have been given, I have tried to be more active in using it to mark comments that take discussion to wrong direction.

Some UI innovations might help here as well. Sometimes when inside thread, you see it's heading to useless direction. Would be nice to be able to collapse the thread without scrolling back up.

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#9

Post by mod » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 11:12 PM UTC

I don't agree. I love the quality of HN discussions, and frankly it's the entire reason I use the site.

I also hate to see puns and jokes on HN, but I'm glad to report that when I do see them, they are usually downvoted at the bottom of the page.

I'm sure it's happened that a joke made the top comment, but I can't remember ever seeing it in the thousands of comment sections I've read here.

Re: Meta HN: About the quality of discussion or rather the lack therof

#10

Post by DoreenMichele » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 11:33 PM UTC

On days when I am in a lot of pain and throwing up, discussion here often sucks. People are mean to me and they don't understand me. The rest of the time, it's pretty darn good. ;)

Also, some of the humor here makes obscure references and brings to light excellent tidbits of science, history and wisdom I wouldn't otherwise be exposed to.