Since 2009. I learned stuff about Linux and AI as well as human interest stuff. I like it because our moderator (dang) keeps things civil. The users are fairly adult in their discussions.
Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
11–20 of 28 posts
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#12Probably about 5 years between this account and a prior one. I lurk a lot and frankly can’t comprehend 90% of the posts since I’m not an engineer, but I learn a lot and wish I could contribute more. It’s my favorite community online.
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#13Yes, 'Ask' tab has lot to learn.
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#14Joined 6 years ago, lurking perhaps a year or two before that. Lots of introductions to topics that I may not have come across otherwise, many of which shaped my career. As others have noted, the signal to noise ratio is very high in comparison to other sites. Overall I think it allows you to find "positive" distractions - yes you will come here to deliberately kill time, but more often than not you'll have something to show for it.
In addition, when your particular technical niche comes up you can be assured of high quality discussion.
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#15Joined 6 years ago, lurking perhaps a year or two before that. Lots of introductions to topics that I may not have come across otherwise, many of which shaped my career. As others have noted, the signal to noise ratio is very high in comparison to other sites. Overall I think it allows you to find "positive" distractions - yes you will come here to deliberately kill time, but more often than not you'll have something…
>Overall I think it allows you to find "positive" distractions - yes you will come here to deliberately kill time, but more often than not you'll have something to show for it.
Yes! If you're going to spend time in unguided leisure reading, why not make it something interesting, and informative, instead of click-bait stuff that rots your mind. 8)
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#16Been here since 2015.
Like others, I most value HN for the discussions. They‘re civil, and there are often serious domain experts participating. I like how that exposes me to quite a breadth of knowledge and opinions.
In terms of learning, it‘s very much a breadth-first approach. You‘ll hear about plenty of topics and new developments (and thankfully not just from tech), but it‘s the wrong place if you want to learn about any one topic in detail.
Also, over time you‘ll figure out the various likes and dislikes of the „HN crowd“. Like any other community, we have our preferences and biases, our little squabbles and unspoken taboos, that do quite strongly influence the topics you‘ll find here amd the way they‘re discussed.
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#17New readers should note that it’s a very pessimistic community that doesn’t represent the average person in tech. For example the very loud minority with disabled JavaScript (because it’s the enemy) complaining that sites don’t work without it and that the web is dead. While in the real world no one cares. I _have_ learned a lot and continue to use this site every day. The negativity can be mentally draining though.
I don‘t find it pessimistic as such, although there is a vocal nostalgia for „the web as it used to be“ (i.e. pre-2000).
My bigger gripe is the prevailing tech-hubris, thinking that any problem can be solved with the right technology if you throw sufficiently smart people at it.
I‘m not sure how useful the concept of an „average person in tech“ is. HN is certainly not average in that it does have a strongly pronounced dominant subculture, but at the same time there is a very wide variety of people on this site.
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#18New readers should note that it’s a very pessimistic community that doesn’t represent the average person in tech. For example the very loud minority with disabled JavaScript (because it’s the enemy) complaining that sites don’t work without it and that the web is dead. While in the real world no one cares. I _have_ learned a lot and continue to use this site every day. The negativity can be mentally draining though.
I don‘t find it pessimistic as such, although there is a vocal nostalgia for „the web as it used to be“ (i.e. pre-2000). My bigger gripe is the prevailing tech-hubris, thinking that any problem can be solved with the right technology if you throw sufficiently smart people at it. I‘m not sure how useful the concept of an „average person in tech“ is. HN is certainly not average in that it does have a strongly pronounce…
P.S. I think the key to understanding „HN culture“ is to realise that it sees itself as a continuation of the „hacker culture“ started by the earliest computer nerds, back in the 50s. There is a pretty direct line that can be drawn from those early computing labs, through the early Internet and the FOSS movement, to Silicon Valley startup culture, to HN.
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#19I think I've been lurking for almost 8 years. I only recently started an account.
Hacker News has helped me learn to be a better programmer in mostly two ways:
1) Be enthusiastic and write honestly about what interests you. Keeping notes is helpful.
2) Hacker News is a community. The dialogue is mostly good for the topics I'm interested in. It is easier to do things and learn things when you listen to people.
Re: Ask HN: How long have you been on HN and have you learned a lot
#20New readers should note that it’s a very pessimistic community that doesn’t represent the average person in tech. For example the very loud minority with disabled JavaScript (because it’s the enemy) complaining that sites don’t work without it and that the web is dead. While in the real world no one cares. I _have_ learned a lot and continue to use this site every day. The negativity can be mentally draining though.
>For example the very loud minority with disabled JavaScript (because it’s the enemy) complaining that sites don’t work without it and that the web is dead. While in the real world no one cares.
I'm one of those people. I guess people with slow connections, security-conscious, screen-reader users, users of text-mode browsers, and users of older devices, are not part of the real world for you.
Many people outside of HN care about this issue, they just don't know how to verbalize it because they don't know what JS is. Instead, they see it as "site doesn't work" or "site tells me to fuck off because my browser isn't good enough."
It's not "negativity", it's wanting to make the Web an accessible place for everyone, not just people with fast hardware on fast connections.
To me, "negativity" is writing off an opinion because I don't know how to writer a proper website with progressive enhancement.