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Ask HN: Do you tell other people about HN?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you tell other people about HN?

#21

Post by dustineichler »

pg wrote: post #5

Yes, I tell smart people. If their friends' friends submit stuff that's offtopic, the editors just kill it. Though in fact I think our strongest defense against idiots is to look boring to them. Incidentally, the broken windows story isn't offtopic. News.YC isn't just about hacking, because good hackers aren't only interested in hacking.

likewise, i tell people i think will contribute and/ or involve themselves with the community, not just use selfishly... after-all i think what we're all doing here is valuable. otherwise, just keep you're mouth shut. my dad always said, "loose lips sink ships". it's trite, but still true.

Re: Ask HN: Do you tell other people about HN?

#23

Post by unalone »

markessien wrote: post #20

The first stage of a community falling apart is when it starts getting meta. When your prayer group start discussing about how right their prayer group is, and how wrong other groups are; when K5 started getting lots of articles about K5; when the IQ club starts talking about how IQ makes them different. That's always the step that precedes some type of change. Because when people start looking within, they never see…

That's what it was like with Reddit. Their new subreddits saved themselves from that: AskReddit is an excellent part of the site, now.

Metafiler has AskMeFi. Maybe Hacker News could get something like that? Or perhaps we could choose to filter out self-referential posts?

Re: Ask HN: Do you tell other people about HN?

#24

Post by unalone »

Alex3917 wrote: post #14
Xichekolas wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, seeing has there is no such thing as an XNTP, I'm pretty sure the X in the OP was a variable. ;)

It actually means someone who is both introverted and extroverted, but I meant it as a variable as well.

Are there tests that take X variables into account? I just took INTP, and it describes a part of me well - but just a part. For instance, I rarely feel sympathetic for people, but I empathize with people often and try to help them out, and that's marked down as Introverted. I don't think that's quite accurate.

Or did you just make that up on the fly?

Re: Ask HN: Do you tell other people about HN?

#26

Post by IsaacSchlueter »

My least favorite HN content, by far: Bitching about HN and its content.

Srsly, folks, just don't vote it up if you don't like it. It really is that easy.

This isn't "startup news" or "programmer news", it's "hacker news". It's news that is interesting to hackers. And it delivers quite well.

As it happens, some hackers are into politics or business or meteors or robots or science or economics. Some are not.

You should expect that about 10-20% of the articles will not be interesting to you. Consider that a success.

Re: Ask HN: Do you tell other people about HN?

#27

Post by grag »

unalone wrote: post #23
markessien wrote: post #20

The first stage of a community falling apart is when it starts getting meta. When your prayer group start discussing about how right their prayer group is, and how wrong other groups are; when K5 started getting lots of articles about K5; when the IQ club starts talking about how IQ makes them different. That's always the step that precedes some type of change. Because when people start looking within, they never see…

That's what it was like with Reddit. Their new subreddits saved themselves from that: AskReddit is an excellent part of the site, now. Metafiler has AskMeFi. Maybe Hacker News could get something like that? Or perhaps we could choose to filter out self-referential posts?

I think an option to filter out (or just see) self-referential posts would be great. I actually like AskHN posts a lot, and an option to just see those posts would probably encourage people to post more.

Re: Ask HN: Do you tell other people about HN?

#28

Post by Alex3917 »

unalone wrote: post #24
Alex3917 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It actually means someone who is both introverted and extroverted, but I meant it as a variable as well.

Are there tests that take X variables into account? I just took INTP, and it describes a part of me well - but just a part. For instance, I rarely feel sympathetic for people, but I empathize with people often and try to help them out, and that's marked down as Introverted. I don't think that's quite accurate. Or did you just make that up on the fly?

If you find the original thread discussing Meyers-Briggs on HN, someone used it there.

Re: Ask HN: Do you tell other people about HN?

#29

Post by DaniFong »

pg wrote: post #15
Alex3917 wrote: post #7

None of my friends would like it. As unscientific as the Meyers-Briggs test is, I really do think this site appeals mostly to a small subset of XNTPs. And there aren't that many of those around.

I just tried one of those tests. It said I was an INTJ. Are the letters in order of significance? I.e. is INTJ the next door neighbor of INTP?

It's a weird theory, but it is somewhat coherent. INTJ is very close to INTP, just not really for that reason. ENTP is the classic entrepreneur. INTP/INTJ is the classic hacker; there was a poll on here and nearly 60% of the people 662 people who voted were INTP/INTJ, whereas they're each around 2-3% in the ordinary population. 10% of the rest were ENTP. (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=204240)

Basically, the Myers-Briggs type determines your preferences for particular cognitive functions. The four letter indicator is like an extreme Huffman coding of those preferences:

Your information-gathering, perceiving function (that is, input.) This can be either i(N)tuitive or (S)ensing. Roughly, a sensing person trusts their senses, directly what they see and hear from the world. And an intuitive person trusts, or looks for knowledge, in their subconscious and conscious cognitive models.

Your decision-making, judging function (that is, output.) This can be either (T)hinking or (F)eeling. Roughly, the thinking person is at ease when they can make a decision supported by a logical process, and the feeling person prefers to make the decision according to their gut.

(E)xtroverted and (I)ntroverted describes the social attitudes of each of the 'functions,' in other words, whether you, when information-gathering, or decision making, prefer to focus on behavior, action, people and things or the internal world of ideas and reflection. There is only one letter for this, even though each function is supposed to have its own attitude. This is because Isabel Myers believed that there was always a balance; if you are introverted in information-gathering, you're extroverted in decision making.

Finally, the last letter, (P)erciving or (J)udging, specifies which side of yourself; perception (information-gathering) or judgment (decision-making), you tend to show to the world. Perceiving types prefer to "keep decisions open." Judging types prefer to "have matters settled." The YCombinator practice of deciding quickly, while it may be a definite plus for both sides, is a judging characteristic, for example.

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