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How would I get started?

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Re: How would I get started?

#71

Post by tobyjsullivan »

daniel-levin wrote: post #58
apl wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this sort of thing (algorithmic detection of > middlebrow dismissals) possible? I'll give you a middlebrow dismissal: No. Definitely not at the current state of the art. In fact, not many people agree on whether a given comment qualifies as a "middlebrow" dismissal; personally, I consider many of the examples that pg has labeled as such pertinent points. If in doubt, I prefer a good middlebrow dismissal to the s…

What is 'the current state of the art'? Note that I am a total dilettante in the area of machine learning/NLP. And why couldn't the top k HN users (patio11 et al) be given the option to classify comments {dismissive; troll; shallow-cheering; ...;} and this human classification could be the training set of a supervised learning system that could use NLP algorithms to derive useful metrics. Simplistic example: dismissi…

The immediate flaw in that approach is that "patio11 et al" are top contributers because they post a lot and have valuable opinions - NOT because they are always right. They're not (I'm confident they would agree here). Therefore their opinions would be inappropriate as an AI training set.

Re: How would I get started?

#72

Post by drumdance »

apl wrote: post #55
daniel-levin wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of ambitious ideas and 'middlebrow dismissal', I'd like to see the algorithmic dismissal detector that PG wrote about. I'm sure the denizens of HN know a thing or two about computational linguistics. Is this sort of thing (algorithmic detection of middlebrow dismissals) possible?

> Is this sort of thing (algorithmic detection of > middlebrow dismissals) possible? I'll give you a middlebrow dismissal: No. Definitely not at the current state of the art. In fact, not many people agree on whether a given comment qualifies as a "middlebrow" dismissal; personally, I consider many of the examples that pg has labeled as such pertinent points. If in doubt, I prefer a good middlebrow dismissal to the s…

Not an NLP guy by any means, but aren't we at the point where we can at least guess sentiment algorithmically? Couldn't you combine that with the commenter's history, the length of the post and the presence of charged words such as "nonsense" and "silly?"

Re: How would I get started?

#74

Post by drumdance »

crazygringo wrote: post #62

I love this idea. Not as something to realistically help you get started, but purely educational. There's so much knowledge tied up exclusively among people "in the industry", that would be great to get out into the public. I would love to know all the things involved in starting an airline. How are planes actually bought? How are mechanics actually procured? What kind of safety regulations are followed? etc. I once…

As it happens I've been thinking similar questions about the film industry. I was surprised at how hard it was to find good information online, so I started a site that largely consists of interviews with filmmakers.

http://makingflix.com

I only launched it a couple weeks ago so only have a few interviews up, but I've been pleasantly surprised by how many have agreed to be interviewed (still have those in the queue).

A common thing I've heard about that industry is that it's the exact opposite of the collaborative, inquisitive nature of tech startups. For example, I've heard several people say the difference between SXSW Interactive and SXSW Film is night and day.

It may be impossible, but my little site is a small attempt to change the industry attitude from one of "what's in it for me?" to "how can we work together to create great products that people love?"

Re: How would I get started?

#75

Post by daniel-levin »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #71
daniel-levin wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is 'the current state of the art'? Note that I am a total dilettante in the area of machine learning/NLP. And why couldn't the top k HN users (patio11 et al) be given the option to classify comments {dismissive; troll; shallow-cheering; ...;} and this human classification could be the training set of a supervised learning system that could use NLP algorithms to derive useful metrics. Simplistic example: dismissi…

The immediate flaw in that approach is that "patio11 et al" are top contributers because they post a lot and have valuable opinions - NOT because they are always right. They're not (I'm confident they would agree here). Therefore their opinions would be inappropriate as an AI training set.

Sure, totally agree, but a consensus by verified posters was more of what I was aiming for

Re: How would I get started?

#76

Post by drumdance »

chad_oliver wrote: post #51
irahul wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're not the kind of person that can do even the most basic research of how cable companies operate "Ask HN" doesn't qualify as most basic research?

No, it doesn't, because it's asking other people to do your research for you. Asking questions without first trying to learn as much as your can yourself is a minor faux pas on the internet (witness all the 'let me google that for you' replies to elementary questions). Of course, this doesn't mean that asking questions is bad (not at all), but it means that there is generally a social contract at work. It's something…

I disagree. I don't think he was asking everyone on HN to do his research for him. Rather, I think he made a reasonable guess that some people on HN work in the industry he'd like to disrupt, that they may feel the same way, and that they may have good suggestions.

Re: How would I get started?

#77

Post by spion »

daniel-levin wrote: post #75
tobyjsullivan wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The immediate flaw in that approach is that "patio11 et al" are top contributers because they post a lot and have valuable opinions - NOT because they are always right. They're not (I'm confident they would agree here). Therefore their opinions would be inappropriate as an AI training set.

Sure, totally agree, but a consensus by verified posters was more of what I was aiming for

I guess I am going to pitch my potential solution again:

http://gkosev.blogspot.com/2012/08/fixing-hacker-news-mathem...

it would probably have more weight when i release the test code and datasets though...

Re: How would I get started?

#80

Post by astine »

bartonfink wrote: post #50
irahul wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're not the kind of person that can do even the most basic research of how cable companies operate "Ask HN" doesn't qualify as most basic research?

In my opinion, no. In this day and age, there are far better ways of obtaining preliminary knowledge on a subject besides asking another person to fill you in. There's obviously Google and Wikipedia as starting points, and there are any number of paths those might lead to which would help you form a specific ? - e.g. "what would you have to do to make true a la carte channel options from a cable provider profitable?"…

That's ridiculous. RTFM isn't an attitude that arrose apropos of nothing. It comes from situations where newbies asking the same basic questions over and over again exhausting a community's patience with simple questions that can be easily looked up in a FAQ or manual. Asking an open ended question about starting a new kind of business isn't anything like that. There's no FAQ about starting an ISP* so it's difficult to know where to look for info. Asking people who know more than you is not an unreasonable form of preliminary research in most situations. My first stop would have been HN too.

*Amazingly, it looks like there is: http://cgi.amazing.com/isp/ but it's hard to tell how useful it really is.

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