What I've Learned from Hacker News • Hacker News Board

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#21

Post by edw519 » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:27 PM UTC

vlad wrote: post #11

tsally wrote: post #6

Does the submitter have a script that automatically posts new essays from paulgraham.com? You've submitted the last three in a row almost instantly. Not that I'm criticising; just curious :-).

Years ago, I figured that I could get lots of karma by creating an auto-submit script to submit stories from techcrunch and paulgraham.com. Best of all, if another auto-submit script submitted the same story a bit later, they would actually be voting up your story, so the more auto-submitters existed, the better. Sure, more competition from other scripts and users sounds like it's bad. However, I calculated that the…

I guess my point is that Hacker News is being gamed the way reddit and digg are.

What a sad thought. "Gaming" hacker news to get invited to Startup School.

Here's an idea:

Why not just be yourself. Contribute what you can. Take what you need. Make a few friends along the way. And learn a thing or two that may change your life. I can't think of a better place to do it.

Karma is a very minor byproduct. What you and this community become is the real payoff. But like a planted seed, you may just have to wait a while before you see that result.

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#22

Post by paulgb » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:28 PM UTC

kwamenum86 wrote: post #19

aneesh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I guess my point is that Hacker News is being gamed the way reddit and digg are." Only if you think the "game" is to accumulate karma. For me, the submissions are merely seeds around which insightful discussions grow.

There is a tangible reward for people who have the most karma though.

There is? What is it?

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#23

Post by tptacek » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:29 PM UTC

wallflower wrote: post #18

tptacek wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's a similar problem to Google, then you wonder whether the reputation of the commenters and the comment's responders could factor in. I'd like a system that gave credit to people who start high-ranked threads (in the aggregate).

I would be interested in seeing the total aggregate comment points for a thread. I think some of the most interesting threads take off with unexpected tangents. For example, the recent one on marriage/dating.

A lot of really dumb, risible comments inspire thoughtful, valuable takedowns.

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#24

Post by tptacek » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:30 PM UTC

kwamenum86 wrote: post #19

aneesh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I guess my point is that Hacker News is being gamed the way reddit and digg are." Only if you think the "game" is to accumulate karma. For me, the submissions are merely seeds around which insightful discussions grow.

There is a tangible reward for people who have the most karma though.

No there isn't.

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#25

Post by homme » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:32 PM UTC

What effect has it had on you as far as going from just posting an essay to posting an essay and having it deconstructed? Has instant criticism made you more reticent in what you say, or even annoyed?

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#26

Post by ivankirigin » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:34 PM UTC

  Dilution is a hard problem. But probably soluble;

Best. Pun. Evar.

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#27

Post by releasedatez » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:35 PM UTC

Thanks for this experiment project Paul. I think Hacker News naturally attracts the right people which creates a very good vibe. Most if not all of the comments I read here are constructive and helpful at times. This is unlike any other sites out there.

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#28

Post by paulgb » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:35 PM UTC

aston wrote: post #3

Glad to hear that the orange names won't be back. I think people do more than enough judging based on the poster name as it stands without any highlighting.

Me too, but I'm glad it happened. It was a neat experiment.

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#29

Post by vaksel » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:43 PM UTC

aston wrote: post #3

Glad to hear that the orange names won't be back. I think people do more than enough judging based on the poster name as it stands without any highlighting.

I wouldn't bet on that, since the usernames are gray you never really recognize them. i.e. based on your username, I never heard of you...but looking at your profile, I remember reading that before.

Re: What I've Learned from Hacker News

#30

Post by danw » Wed, Feb 25, 2009, 11:46 PM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #21

vlad wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years ago, I figured that I could get lots of karma by creating an auto-submit script to submit stories from techcrunch and paulgraham.com. Best of all, if another auto-submit script submitted the same story a bit later, they would actually be voting up your story, so the more auto-submitters existed, the better. Sure, more competition from other scripts and users sounds like it's bad. However, I calculated that the…

I guess my point is that Hacker News is being gamed the way reddit and digg are. What a sad thought. "Gaming" hacker news to get invited to Startup School. Here's an idea: Why not just be yourself. Contribute what you can. Take what you need. Make a few friends along the way. And learn a thing or two that may change your life. I can't think of a better place to do it. Karma is a very minor byproduct. What you and thi…

The trouble is a lot of good stuff slips through the new page unnoticed unless you post at the right time or get a friend to bump it. I find just as many tasty links from new as I do the homepage. Perhaps the homepage could shuffle in a few random new unvoted posts too?