Live data from Hacker News

Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

royal.pingdom.com

81–90 of 101 posts

Re: Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

#81
At first I thought this had to be flat out wrong.

Then I realized that the typical HN'er probably doesn't post many comments, and even fewer post comments which make me curious enough to look at their profile.

What tends to make me look at someone's profile is to see if there is a basis for their opinion in terms of experience. My image of an HN'er probably biased in favor of people who post good insightful comments and not necessarily someone who still just clicks on links.

Re: Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty out-of-touch statement. The Web has been around 20 years now. There's plenty of 60+ years olds in many far-reaching corners. Smart startups would be thinking about that.

What I mean is that there aren't many 60+ year old people that think "Hey, you know what, I'm going to develop an Android application." It just doesn't come up. The adoption rate of technology is always slower in older age groups. The way technology is used between 20-40 and 40-60 is enormous. Between 40-60 and 60-80 is even more dramatic.

drhowarddrfine, you appear to have been hellbanned about 150 days ago.

Re: Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

#83
Wait wait wait. I (along with every single other female programmer I know) show up as a male on google's Ad Planner. If the only category they give you is "Computers & Hardware", then you are assumed to be a man. Of course it is going to think most of hacker news is male.

Re: Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

#84
post #78
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, having a wikipedia page that you wrote yourself, doesn't really say anything... I didn't write the Wikipedia page. If you think otherwise, locate evidence to the contrary, like a responsible adult. And if you cannot locate evidence to the contrary, ask yourself whether you really want to go on record saying what you have just said about a named person.

Your personal website is fascinating! Particularly the anti-psychology and Aspergers material. This piece was extremely well written and intructive: http://arachnoid.com/psychology/aspergers.php

> This piece was extremely well written and intructive:

> http://arachnoid.com/psychology/aspergers.php

Thanks, but my latest article is better IMHO, as well as more up-to-date:

http://arachnoid.com/trouble_with_psychology

Thanks again for your support.

Re: Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

#85
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't you proving the parents point? He was saying the only 60+ developers have always been developers... Also, having a wikipedia page that you wrote yourself, doesn't really say anything...

No, he hasn't always been an android developer, plus the guy hasn't always been a developer (designed electronics for NASA before). You really believe anyone can write their wikipedia page and not have it deleted within 10 seconds? Personally i think there's a lot more to learn from seasoned developers who have literally seen it all, rather than the next-instagram-wannabe boys that frequent here.

> Personally i think there's a lot more to learn from seasoned developers ...

Thanks, but for balance, I recently had a conversation with a talented young developer who, unlike me, is fully conversant with modern times. I said, "How do the Angry Birds developers make money if they give away their app?" He patiently replied, "It shows advertisements."

My mid-20th century brain slowly wrapped itself around this idea: an application whose apparent purpose is to entertain, but whose real purpose is to deliver eyeballs to a vendor. Hmm.

Re: Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

#87

This poll from a year ago regarding age is probably more representative: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2175588 Results pasted here: Age Points --- ------ 0-10 39 (0.6%) 11-15 32 (0.5%) 16-20 462 (7.5%) 21-25 1620 (26.4%) 26-30 1945 (31.6%) 31-35 1049 (17.1%) 36-40 488 (7.9%) 41-45 269 (4.4%) 46-50 117 (1.9%) 51-55 54 (0.9%) 56-60 35 (0.6%) 61-65 19 (0.3%) 66+ 19 (0.3%) edit: Found a male/female poll here from ~…

the only way to explain the sudden and highly pronounced drop-off between 29 and 30 not only here but on the year-by-year graph linked a few days ago (from a single cycle) is that PG considers exactly 30 to be "over the hill" but not 29, and, therefore, being 30 is a very heavy marginal disadvantage versus being 29 when trying to gain acceptance to YC.

There is no way there is really that much of a difference in applicant quality and quantity at that margin: it has to be YC's selection bias.

Re: Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

#89
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he hasn't always been an android developer, plus the guy hasn't always been a developer (designed electronics for NASA before). You really believe anyone can write their wikipedia page and not have it deleted within 10 seconds? Personally i think there's a lot more to learn from seasoned developers who have literally seen it all, rather than the next-instagram-wannabe boys that frequent here.

> Personally i think there's a lot more to learn from seasoned developers ... Thanks, but for balance, I recently had a conversation with a talented young developer who, unlike me, is fully conversant with modern times. I said, "How do the Angry Birds developers make money if they give away their app?" He patiently replied, "It shows advertisements." My mid-20th century brain slowly wrapped itself around this idea: a…

That's not really a programming/development concept.

Re: Hacker News is 44% 18-24 year olds, 77% male

#90
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I mean is that there aren't many 60+ year old people that think "Hey, you know what, I'm going to develop an Android application." It just doesn't come up. The adoption rate of technology is always slower in older age groups. The way technology is used between 20-40 and 40-60 is enormous. Between 40-60 and 60-80 is even more dramatic.

> What I mean is that there aren't many 60+ year old people that think "Hey, you know what, I'm going to develop an Android application." It just doesn't come up. Only because you're so sure of yourself, I have to correct you. 1. I'm 67. Here's my Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lutus 2. Here is a list of my recent Android apps: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=paul+lutus&c=apps 3. I was proba…

Hey. I read your sailing book and absolutely loved it!
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