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Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

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Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#51

Post by david_p »

Same here. I almost never comment or post. I learn/read a lot here and mostly don't think of a contribution worth posting.

I actually think that most comments add more noise than information, and therefore decrease the value of a thread as a whole. This get worse as commenting gets easier, because easier posting means more comments, but most people don't actually have something interesting to say/write. Information gets diluted and less accessible/visible.

In fact, this applies to the whole Internet and I sometimes wonder how much time it would have taken to learn the same things I learned while browsing through tech-related blogs by, for example, reading books (which are, often, denser in terms of information).

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#52

Post by cfaubell »

> How many of you soak up all this knowledge like it's nicotine but don't comment much or post at all?

That perfectly describes my relationship with Hacker News.

As another first time commentor but long time lurker, I'd like to thank those of you who do comment. You've created a truly great resource.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#53

Post by ww520 »

I used to comment but found that I got dragged into heated "discussions" that were big time sink. I then tried short responses/comments, attempting to leave the investigation part as homework for the interested readers, but I was called as troll and asked to clarify things in long posts again. Also similar to frevd's case, my points of view don't usually align with the mainstream trends in HN. I just rather get my stuff done than spending time arguing with people online.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#54

Post by geoffw8 »

gnaritas wrote: post #45
geoffw8 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. That is the biggest pile of bs I have ever read. Just because he starts his posts with a lol,…

> What you've done is no different to this scenario - your at school, your one of the popular guys But this is exactly the kind of thing he's referring to, sloppy writing and sloppy grammar generally mean sloppy thinking. If you're going to take the time to write something, you must want it to be read; have respect for your reader and use proper capitalization, punctuation, and correct contractions. There are a lot o…

Not that I do, but what if I said I had learning difficulties? Or never went to school. Your saying I'm not allowed to contribute?

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#56

Post by SamReidHughes »

geoffw8 wrote: post #37
SamReidHughes wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. In your comment history, other posts have it worse, and your writing style and mannerisms make…

> You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. That is the biggest pile of bs I have ever read. Just because he starts his posts with a lol,…

> Just because he starts his posts with a lol, and a smiley mean NOTHING.

Actually it means a lot. When you read, your neurons get tingled. How this happens is affected by writing style. Not everybody has the time or energy to be a hyperrationalist information absorber that processes data into the same thing irrespective of the order and manner it arrives.

edit: I think you've misinterpreted my post if you think I said anything about whether his writing style is bad -- I've just said that it causes people to react a certain way. (Though, if you want me to declare which side I'm on on that matter of whether it's objectively bad, it's the opposite of yours.)

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#57

Post by geoffw8 »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #47
geoffw8 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. That is the biggest pile of bs I have ever read. Just because he starts his posts with a lol,…

It's "you're guilty", not "your guilty". >_> Seriously though, calm down. Both your post and the post you're referring to have plenty of upvotes, which is a strong indication that they are not unwelcome contributions to HN. Personally I think it's important to maintain civility, writing quality, and professionalism in an online discussion, and I'm glad that HN values that. It's a lubricant that enables more productiv…

I agree with all of your points, except one - when I'm doing something of leisure, i.e. commenting on hacker news, I actually don't think about my grammar or spelling and nor will I begin to.

As far as I'm concerned, people pulling people up on their spelling and grammar is a step to far.

Edit: Spelling and grammer excellence isn't in the guidelines http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#59

Post by lhnz »

I consider myself technical but I can't comment here about that kind of thing since I will not be knowledgeable enough to hold my own... I feel like I'm just about intelligent enough for other non-technical discussions.

I actually agree, I find it a lot easier to learn here than I did at University. I think it's because I'm mixing with people that care about knowledge.

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