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The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

blogs.cornell.edu

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Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#51

Post by Groxx »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #30
Groxx wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No longer viable for many / for new entrants on the majority of the social internet, which is facebook, twitter, etc other giga-sites. You can do it if you have other means to jump-start your followers (pre-existing popularity elsewhere, $$$$$ advertising, interaction-farming bots, etc), but they're all catering for celebrity accounts ("real" and manufactured, i.e. facebook spammers) and drowning out newbies because…

This seems like a tautology, by definition most people do not have significant differentiating factors between them. Because only the most noteworthy fraction of the population are well… noteworthy. So the only reliable factors to boost the vast majority of the population way above their peers would be money, endorsements, etc…

It being a difficulty in general in any multi-billion-person environment: seems very likely yes.

It's not a tautology for a site to bias for it though. That's a decision.

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#52

Post by joshdavham »

kedarkhand wrote: post #44
joshdavham wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great comment. I almost downvoted it by mistake ;)

There is a downvote button here??

> There is a downvote button here??

Haha yes. You get access after getting a bunch of karma.

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#53

Post by zanderwohl »

joshdavham wrote: post #33
manoweb wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you are confusing "effective" with "ugly" There is only one thing that could improve HN interface, and that is an NNTP mirror feed, so you could use any NNTP client you like.

> I believe you are confusing "effective" with "ugly" Oh no, I truly believe it’s ugly.

What makes it ugly? It's very functional, straightforward, and minimal. No huge padded tailwind components or anything.

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#54

Post by _yb2s »

I think about this a lot- many of the online spaces I used to enjoy have been completely overrun by people that are a particular combination of mean, ignorant, and 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final. Anyone not fitting into those 3 in the same way they do, quickly gets fed up and leaves.

In particular, I am not sure why people are so mean online. I try to be kind to other people even if I disagree with them, but pretty much cannot find anyplace with other people that feel the same. I feel like it is infecting me, and I am not as kind to other people as I used to be or would like to be. I probably need to just stop talking to people online entirely for my own mental health, and contribute to the evaporative cooling of the entire internet.

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#55

Post by MichaelZuo »

Groxx wrote: post #51
MichaelZuo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a tautology, by definition most people do not have significant differentiating factors between them. Because only the most noteworthy fraction of the population are well… noteworthy. So the only reliable factors to boost the vast majority of the population way above their peers would be money, endorsements, etc…

It being a difficulty in general in any multi-billion-person environment: seems very likely yes. It's not a tautology for a site to bias for it though. That's a decision.

How do you know for sure they are biased ‘for it’ instead of being roughly on the ball, reflecting the natural gradient?

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#56

Post by JumpCrisscross »

_yb2s wrote: post #54

I think about this a lot- many of the online spaces I used to enjoy have been completely overrun by people that are a particular combination of mean, ignorant, and 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final. Anyone not fitting into those 3 in the same way they do, quickly gets fed up and leaves. In particular, I am not sure why people are so mean online. I try to be kind to other people…

> 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final

The internet isn’t great for nuance. When commenting or communicating online, I’ve often tightened up my language for succinctness.

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#57

Post by _yb2s »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #56
_yb2s wrote: post #54

I think about this a lot- many of the online spaces I used to enjoy have been completely overrun by people that are a particular combination of mean, ignorant, and 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final. Anyone not fitting into those 3 in the same way they do, quickly gets fed up and leaves. In particular, I am not sure why people are so mean online. I try to be kind to other people…

> 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final The internet isn’t great for nuance. When commenting or communicating online, I’ve often tightened up my language for succinctness.

The problem is that the world itself is just too complex that without nuance, you're not talking about anything meaningful- so what's the point?

On HN this is particularly challenging because we get a mix of experts and non-experts (and people that have different levels of pedanticness) - so almost any possible statement is going to be attacked for both lacking nuance or being too detailed (and frequently both at the same time). However the people here are nicer, more open minded, and more accepting of nuance than most places online.

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#58

Post by bdangubic »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #56
_yb2s wrote: post #54

I think about this a lot- many of the online spaces I used to enjoy have been completely overrun by people that are a particular combination of mean, ignorant, and 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final. Anyone not fitting into those 3 in the same way they do, quickly gets fed up and leaves. In particular, I am not sure why people are so mean online. I try to be kind to other people…

> 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final The internet isn’t great for nuance. When commenting or communicating online, I’ve often tightened up my language for succinctness.

does this work? I find when I try the same to be “worse” in some sense, but perhaps I am not “doing it right” for the lack of better explanation…

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#59

Post by JumpCrisscross »

bdangubic wrote: post #58
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final The internet isn’t great for nuance. When commenting or communicating online, I’ve often tightened up my language for succinctness.

does this work? I find when I try the same to be “worse” in some sense, but perhaps I am not “doing it right” for the lack of better explanation…

Yes. Broadly speaking, in one:many messaging, speaking with conviction (and later qualifying) lands better than constant qualification.

Re: The Evaporative Cooling Effect in Social Networks (2010)

#60

Post by Lammy »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #56
_yb2s wrote: post #54

I think about this a lot- many of the online spaces I used to enjoy have been completely overrun by people that are a particular combination of mean, ignorant, and 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final. Anyone not fitting into those 3 in the same way they do, quickly gets fed up and leaves. In particular, I am not sure why people are so mean online. I try to be kind to other people…

> 100% sure their opinions on everything are objectively correct and final The internet isn’t great for nuance. When commenting or communicating online, I’ve often tightened up my language for succinctness.

Voting/karma systems changed the nature of communication compared to traditional forums. Despite supposedly replying to each other, the participants become mere props for the real conversation which is between each participant alone and the larger crowd.
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