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Why I read Hacker News even though I understand very little of it

alexrosen.com

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Re: Why I read Hacker News even though I understand very little of it

#51

Post by shii »

__mark wrote: post #48
Locke1689 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he's got a point. New members tend to just be going through stuff that older members figured out long ago. This causes reposts or beginner material to be posted and talked about more often, leaving the more experienced members unsatisfied. Eventually, the experienced members leave for greener pastures and bring a lot of knowledge with them. Worse, this accelerates the spiral and degrades the quality of the site f…

So people who want to learn from HN should not? From what you two are saying a person like myself, who is just starting out and therefore not writing much in the way of code or blogposts, should not be reading HN because I can't join the discussion with anything but questions? What about likeminded people discussing a topic that interests them? Is there no room for that?

I think the idea they're trying to convey can be summarized thusly:

lurk moar.

Re: Why I read Hacker News even though I understand very little of it

#52

Post by Dramatize »

Anti-Ratfish wrote: post #45
Dramatize wrote: post #14

I think this is why I love listening to Build and Analyze by Marco - http://5by5.tv/buildanalyze

The other 5by5 shows often have stuff to offer too. Although I'm sure you know this...

I'm subscribed to 8 of them :)

B&A is relevant because I'm not a iOS developer (though I do like coffee).

Re: Why I read Hacker News even though I understand very little of it

#57

Post by hackermom »

pknerd wrote: post #41

Best thing about HN that it filters out crap and produces quality stuff. Just because of HN I came across two entrepreneurs who are more than helpful to guide me offline whenever I need. Thanks PG and Team to give such a quality site. Now I don't visit TechCrunch etc to find out Information. HN does it for me and saves my time P.S: I am already a techie but a Biz noob and HN is helping me to become an entrepreneur.

That's a very subjective view. A year ago, Hacker News really was HACKER News. Today it's not. It's Startup News, and Popular Blogstar Gives His Lofty Opinion On Something News. I'm glad that it benefits and entertains someone, but I'm also a bit sad that it stopped doing the same for me and everyone else who used to visit this site for HACKER News.

Re: Why I read Hacker News even though I understand very little of it

#58

Post by Hari_Seldon »

I would class myself as an advanced user, not a developer but someone with interest and enthusiasm for technology. The main reason that I visit HN is that for me, the level of debate is higher. Far less fanboyism and trolling than most tech sites and IMHO - up there with slashdot. That's high praise for me \. is my favourite site

Re: Why I read Hacker News even though I understand very little of it

#59

Post by capnbuzzword »

colson04 wrote: post #32
elxrr wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Feel free to send me a message or email me if you want to bounce and ideas off of each other with Python or anything else, I get the impression we are both starting off on the same page" Is that open to all?

I just started LPTHW as well and would like to get in on the discussion too

Would you guys be interested in setting up a "study group", sort of a Procrastinators Anonymous for wanna-be developers?

I can't begin to count the books I've skimmed over and not completed a single exercise. LPTHW was really nice in the way it gave you nothing else to do but exercises. Perhaps something as simple as a small, tight-knit forum (plenty of free forum providers) & IRC channel (something like freenode #python-studygrp) can be useful to bust the barrier of "I'll just start on that exercise/project/book when I'm a bit less tired." Somebody shoots an idea of something they've been meaning to do and others can jump in with brainstorming, ideas, pair programming and general "let's just do it" attitude.

Hell, I know I've been meaning to write a python script to draw a daily histogram of the creation times of Opera bookmarks, but I never got around to it. If I had a twin, I'd prod myself to hunker down and just write those So if anyone's interested in the group thing, just drop me a line so I can set it up tonight (CEST timezone here).

Re: Why I read Hacker News even though I understand very little of it

#60

Post by capnbuzzword »

schme wrote: post #34

I have been the victim of sponge learning for many years now, HN being part of it for about a year. I can talk about a wide range of techy subjects but I've never really made or done anything to show for it. I learn bits from here and there without never going very deep. I've read through (and done most of the exercises from) K&R and Dive Into Python to name a couple, yet I haven't written a project over 500 LOC. I'v…

I just had to register to comment on this one.

Wow, that struck a chord. Pretty much every sentence rings true, especially the peer encouragement one. For me it's the availability of easier entertainment - why write that python bookmark creation date histogram plotter, when I'm tired and can just waste the evening reading Reddit? Oh, and there's the procrastination habit I've been nursing for over a decade.

On the other hand, having someone as a sounding board to bounce ideas off, and additionally to guard me from going off tangents and getting distracted - that helps make some progress.

Have you scouted around for a local hackerspace (http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces)? I did, but I'm using the language barrier (expat) and some leftover social anxiety as excuses to not pursue that road.

All else aside, would you be interested in starting a sort of a study group - just a place one can post their ideas and have others provide brainstorming, feedback and motivation?

I think that may work - I remember my most productive streaks were when a friend had an issue to solve and I would swoop in on the opportunity to help. When faced with a similar issue of my own, I would endlessly procrastinate and often fail. If others have also experienced similar situations, creating such a space to facilitate pair programming could increase everyone's productivity.

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