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Poll: Would you like to see this site become CS/Startup related only?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: Would you like to see this site become CS/Startup related only?

#31

Post by mattmaroon »

hendler wrote: post #19

It's simple: Hacker news is an open community right now - and the time policing the content would be a bigger waste of time than the current proportion of less interesting content, which you only need to skip. I'm glad I don't police the site - because I can't get into LISP and I would block all LISP content. And that might hurt some one's feelings.

I'm sort of with you, sort of not. I tend to skip a lot of the more technical articles, stuff about LISP, stuff on raganwald, etc. But I also wouldn't vote it down, because I don't have anything against it, I'm just not part of the audience for which it is intended. I'm not entirely sure I'm part of the audience for which this site is intended.

Re: Poll: Would you like to see this site become CS/Startup related only?

#32

Post by greendestiny »

CaptainMorgan wrote: post #3

This is a tough vote for me, because I enjoy spending my time with CS/hacker related content and yet I fancy politics. But what I do have a problem with is the links to subscription-only content. Very often, it appears that the Wall Street Journal articles are submitted and approved to HN, but when I go to try and view this article(usually with a great title- often that might be something I would like to read), it tu…

Surely its not a CS/politics dichotomy? Really the voting system works quite well except for those articles where we vote to show our support.

I think staying away from American politics is a good rule of thumb - there is little chance that articles will be rated on their quality or relevance.

Re: Poll: Would you like to see this site become CS/Startup related only?

#33

Post by mattmaroon »

tjr wrote: post #12

Ambivalent. I began reading this site for the startup/programming articles and discussion, and if the site were to adhere strictly to such topics, I wouldn't mind at all. However, folks here are generally quite intelligent and civil. I do enjoy seeing and participating in discussions on a wide variety of topics here -- from religion to politics to economics to whatever -- where the discussion stays mostly kind and th…

Right. I feel that even as this site covers slightly more mainstream topics, it does so in a much different way than Reddit. The bar is higher, the discussion more intelligent and civil.

You really can't go to Reddit/Digg for intelligent "mainstream interests". You can go there for unintelligent ravingly liberal interests. I find myself slightly left of center, but those sites seem to border on socialist.

Re: Poll: Would you like to see this site become CS/Startup related only?

#35

Post by Locke »

I'd like it if the site were a little less self conscience. As a lot of sites like this grow, it seems like they all go through a sort of navel gazing, meta lovefest.

This is odd to me because the whole voting thing should mean that whatever the site is, is what we want. There should be enough wiggle room for the site to magically change with our changing interests. And, yet, not so much wiggle room that it can be completely taken over by people with completely different interests (politics, etc).

But, it's never been clear to me what use there is in talking about this...

Re: Poll: Would you like to see this site become CS/Startup related only?

#36

Post by mattmaroon »

vaksel wrote: post #4

if you want cs/hacker + politics, go to reddit. I personally think the way the site is no is perfect, sure some offtopic stuff goes to the front page, but almost all of the content is cs/hacker/startup only

Reddit is cs/hacker + socialist politics + flamewars.

Also, I find that comment to be very akin to "if you don't like something about America, move to another country."

Re: Poll: Would you like to see this site become CS/Startup related only?

#38

Post by mattmaroon »

pedalpete wrote: post #18

I think how the community defines itself should drive the decisions of what gets submitted. How would you describe 'hacker news' to a friend who hadn't heard of it before. I'd say 'it's a social news site like digg or reddit, but it focuses on cs/it/hacking and start-up technology news'. I think having a tagline which describes hacker news might guide new members to post appropriate items. If you came to Hacker News…

I would say it's like Reddit but with a more intelligent audience.
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