I think a good point is to avoid jokes, especially weak ones. They're easy and distract from the original topic(s).
HN has a really bizzare, inconsistent relationship with humour. Best to avoid it altogether.
How to Participate in Hacker News
51–60 of 126 posts
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#52Am I the only one who gets tired of the first sentence of so many replies being along the lines of "I understand where you're coming from and I respect you as a person, but..."? Be respectful, but if you disagree, just disagree. Don't patronize.
I disagree -- or, I did. See, in real life, courtesy and avoiding criticism is the most effective way to start a discussion without resulting in an argument. However, I've concluded that on the Internet there is no such thing as a good discussion (oh no, a universal statement! Well, let's say there aren't very many good discussions). Perhaps this is due to the vast amount of research material easily accessible to onl…
Places like Ward Cunningham's Wiki or LtU seem to have good discussions as a rule, but I agree that they aren't all that common.
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#53I particularly like this example, which the author acknowledges is extreme: "3. Be positive. "This can really be hard when smart people debate, but try it anyway. Notice the difference between: "Person A: Water is dry. "Person B: No it's not. You're full of shit. "and "Person C: Water is dry. "Person D: Not in my experience. What data have you encountered to cause you to arrive at that conclusion?" I really like thos…
This struck a chord with me as well, and reminded me of pg's 'How to Disagree': http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#54I've been a long time lurker here. I lurked for several months before creating an account and then I lurked quite a bit longer before participating. Groups of intelligent people are intimidating at first but please don't hold back if you have something to add to a discussion. New voices are incredibly important for preventing groups from merely becoming echochambers for established members. I especially agree with th…
As a long time lurker, let me try to encourage you to write up your projects.
Even if they seem mundane or pointlessly obscure. Not only is writing a fantastically important skill to level up, and the very act of writing about them will help your thinking, but the buzz and help you can get from the community can spur you on further.
And now I need to go practice what I preach ...
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#55Here's another suggestion: flag sparingly. A lot of long-time HN'ers are frustrated at the "flag patrols" -- people of one group who don't like such-and-such author and flag them and their submissions. I've heard several people complain to me about having normal articles flagged and I've done my share of complaining. Don't be the guy who takes out your personal grudges in the form of flagging. Let the votes work. The…
I've been on HackerNews for a little over 2 years, and in that time I don't believe I've ever flagged any submission. I guess I've always thought that the voting process would always take it's course. Curious, if pg is reading this, how often does the flag link generate real actions on submissions?
I believe the flags are acted upon automatically if enough people flag the same item.
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#56Here's another suggestion: flag sparingly. A lot of long-time HN'ers are frustrated at the "flag patrols" -- people of one group who don't like such-and-such author and flag them and their submissions. I've heard several people complain to me about having normal articles flagged and I've done my share of complaining. Don't be the guy who takes out your personal grudges in the form of flagging. Let the votes work. The…
Another thing that goes hand in hand with that is not to worry/complain about n many stories on the front page that suck or seem reddit like. The other 30 - n stories are probably pretty good... and in all reality we probably don't need to be reading that many in the first place. Flagging isn't going to solve anything with regards to this and you have to realize this is a community made up with people with many backgrounds, we all are going to have our own favorites.
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#57What a well-timed post, particularly since reading a bizarre takeover of another thread by a single person who comes off as a bit paranoid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3420845
Thanks for the link.. I find that thread kind of fascinating, not because of anything in particular about the original comment, but because somehow the person causing so much trouble managed to convince a large number of HN posters to jump in and try to reason with him. Usually it hasn't progressed so far. I think it helps that somehow he got to this point with hundreds of points in karma and has some to burn.
I was initially a little worried because he was showing signs of being a paranoid schizophrenic, but then I remembered that I was on the Internet and probably shouldn't be surprised.
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#58Before reading this post, a new user should ask him/herself a question: Do I feel a need for validation? If the answer is yes, go ahead and read the suggestion along with the guidelines of how to act. If the answer is no, stop reading the suggestion after the first point: "Be yourself."
This exactly. Too many people don't say what they think because they are afraid of losing internet points.
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#59" Best article: I'm nothing until the Hacker News community comments on me." Well, sometimes the article is better than the discussion. Sometimes the discussion is better than the article. In my experience, the trivial articles sometimes have the best discussions, and the best articles seem to often have trivial discussions. It'd be fun to get a list of best HN discussions (highest karma average per comment perhaps)…
> It'd be fun to get a list of best HN discussions (highest karma average per comment perhaps)
The now-discontinued SearchYC database had top lists but not the particular metric you want. It doesn't show up in the Google cache or archive.org's Wayback Machine (http://top.searchyc.com)
In my opinion, I think some of the best HN discussions have been/are the ones with hundreds of comments, with divergent threads and replies. They are usually sparked by a fairly controversial topic.
I can't think of an example right now. However, this API to the HN corpus might be able to get you the data you want (not sure how current it is):
Re: How to Participate in Hacker News
#60my suggestions:
1) When a major event occurs that isn't directly related to technology, don't post comments to the effect "I thought this was hacker news, not reddit". This will ALWAYS get you downvoted and nothing good will come of the discussion.
2) When someone makes a detailed post that you don't agree with, don't down vote it, respond.
3) This is just me speaking for myself, but the only comments I really find useful and thought provoking are the ones that expound on or contradict the original story with your own personal experiences.
4) Nobody here cares if you don't like the font or styling used in the article. Likewise if the page doesn't work in chromefox version2079. Email the owner of the article. Besides, you are a nerd, you already have 4 other browsers installed and know how to use readability.
5) don't be afraid to post funny or terse insightful comments, but make sure they are funny or insightful first.