The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News • Hacker News Board

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#51

Post by epi0Bauqu » Wed, May 28, 2008, 3:48 PM UTC

petercooper wrote: post #44

MetaFilter ( http://www.metafilter.com/ ) is an amazing demonstration of a cohesive online community that doesn't use images to represent users. MetaFilter users tend to be very familiar with each other (more so than other large online communities I've been in). While I agree images can be good, they certainly don't seem to be essential. IRC is another example. People build up personalities and tie nicknames to them…

I can see real time playing a part in IRC. What do you think metafilter does differently (than here) in order to get its cohesiveness?

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#52

Post by mynameishere » Wed, May 28, 2008, 3:48 PM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #23

You asked for it... \/\/\/\/ / \ / \ / \ /\_/ 0 0 \_/\ | | \/ \ |_| / \/ \ / \ \-----/ / \ / \_______/ | |

I can't believe you still sport a late 1980s-style spiky hair cut.

......

Robert Frost suggested that he could write poem/plays in which all of the characters went unnamed, and that the reader would identify the characters based entirely on tone. This idiosyncratic idea has come true to a degree on the internet: There is an accidental feature in some blogs (I think blogspot [1]) where almost everybody winds up posting as "anonymous". Despite this, you can usually tell in a rough way who is who.

At any rate, I don't think pictures ever add anything.

[1] Because it's a pain, depending on the blogger's settings, to log in.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#53

Post by aneesh » Wed, May 28, 2008, 3:50 PM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #23

You asked for it... \/\/\/\/ / \ / \ / \ /\_/ 0 0 \_/\ | | \/ \ |_| / \/ \ / \ \-----/ / \ / \_______/ | |

Maybe it's just me, but I actually do tend to associate usernames with comments, at least for the frequent commenters like edw519.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#54

Post by tumpak » Wed, May 28, 2008, 3:58 PM UTC

i disagree on a pure simplicity view.

I like the fact i can concentrate on the article than on the author or picture or his/her CV (logical trend when you start adding a lot of info about users)

but frankly its the simplicity equation.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#55

Post by tarkin2 » Wed, May 28, 2008, 4:20 PM UTC

If we start to link personalities to comments then we add bias to this site. If we try to refrain from introducing personalities the users must then focus on ideas, far better for the development of them.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#56

Post by ArcticCelt » Wed, May 28, 2008, 4:23 PM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #20

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digg comments aren't bad because they have pictures. They are bad because they are from that set of commenters. If you supposed the set of Hacker News commenters didn't change, I think pictures would clearly be a win. What you seem to be suggesting is that by adding pictures, we would attract bad commenters. I just don't think that is true.

"Digg comments aren't bad because they have pictures. They are bad because they are from that set of commenters." I think it's as much the social norms as the user base. For example, we have kind of an unspoken humor armistice here. Normally humor is used to demonstrate intelligence. However, it's mutually understood that everyone here is intelligent enough to make the appropriate joke, but that we should refrain bec…

I agree, I constantly refrain from cracking jokes because I don't want to see this turn into what Reddit has become lately.

I think it should be told somewhere what are the goals of the community and explain that we aim for efficiency, knowledge and insightful conversations more than entertainment. Not because we don't like entertainment but because that's not why we are here.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#57

Post by maxklein » Wed, May 28, 2008, 4:40 PM UTC

In my opinion, after the ycombinator rejection letters go out there will be a bunch of people that look very much like goatse commenting on this site.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#58

Post by Alex3917 » Wed, May 28, 2008, 4:48 PM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #26

Alex3917 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oxytocin-free judgment.

I don't see it. By that token, why display usernames at all?

Because they're useful, but without being particularly salient in any given interaction.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#59

Post by justindz » Wed, May 28, 2008, 4:50 PM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #30

pg wrote: post #9

I think it's better if people make their own portraits with their ideas.

Then why have usernames (displayed) at all? Why is a picture so different than a username in terms of degrading the painting of a "portrait" of ideas? You could drop them altogether or replace them with a random string (generated each page view).

Leaving usernames out entirely would make it harder to gain reputation which would probably reduce the amount of incoming content. The reputation aspect tied to a name, the cult of personality, is part of what keeps this thing churning.

Imagine watching the NBA on TV with no names on the jerseys and all the faces blurred out. Writing style without names would be (in some but not all cases) like trying to identify players by their shoes, tattoos or morphology (read: mostly freakish tallness).

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#60

Post by khafra » Wed, May 28, 2008, 4:56 PM UTC

TrevorJ wrote: post #11

I agree that as an option, pictures hold more value than is intuitively understood by most people. I view hacker news as a small community that desires the ability to maintain it's tight focus and not expand too much or too fast (all the "Please block this from showing up on hacker news" posts area good example of the sentiment) On the web, focus is a HUGE commodity and we are right to desire it. I would argue that a…

I'm not certain of that. In every focused forum I've frequented, when a sense of community grows, the focus turns inward instead of staying on the stated subject. I think, for instance, that the chans' insistence on anonymous posting and ephemeral content helps keep most of their boards full of posts focused on the board's topic, rather than the poster's reputation.