Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#1

Post by daenz » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:17 PM UTC

On Reddit, just from this month alone, there have been some great AMAs that I personally think HN would be great participants in:

Stevin Levitt from Freakonomics http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18tp7t/i_am_steven_levitt_author_of_freakonomics_ask_me/

Bill Gates http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/

Peter Sunde of ThePirateBay http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/187iwo/i_am_peter_sunde_cofounder_of_tpb_ama/

SpaceX Software Engineers http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1853ap/we_are_spacex_software_engineers_we_launch/

Do you think this this is something we could start on HackerNews?

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#2

Post by stephengillie » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:18 PM UTC

Isn't that what Quora was made for? To have longer Q&A style discussions with other HNers and (legitimate) technology celebrities?

Edit: I guess the downvotes mean I'm wrong?

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#3

Post by duggieawesome » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:20 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #2

Isn't that what Quora was made for? To have longer Q&A style discussions with other HNers and (legitimate) technology celebrities? Edit: I guess the downvotes mean I'm wrong?

Ha. Quora's signin/signup wall is enough for me not to use it.

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#4

Post by adelevie » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:21 PM UTC

Why this poll? I'm sure there'd be no problem if tomorrow morning we see "I'm #{@name}, founder of #{@awesome_thing}, AMA".

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#5

Post by nathanpc » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:22 PM UTC

I like the idea of having AMAs here in HN.

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#6

Post by davidw » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:23 PM UTC

There are already a bunch of well known "technologists" who don't just show up to do one Q&A session, but regularly participate in the community, which is, IMO, even better.

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#7

Post by achompas » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:27 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #2

Isn't that what Quora was made for? To have longer Q&A style discussions with other HNers and (legitimate) technology celebrities? Edit: I guess the downvotes mean I'm wrong?

Quora is most definitely not for this, although it's a potential side effect. I'd argue it's actually the opposite: by design, Quora focuses on a single question open to answers by any number of users that do not have to be the question's target.

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#8

Post by meritt » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:27 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #2

Isn't that what Quora was made for? To have longer Q&A style discussions with other HNers and (legitimate) technology celebrities? Edit: I guess the downvotes mean I'm wrong?

Quora is basically Experts Exchange 2.0. One of the biggest letdowns given the build-up and expectations it once had.

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#9

Post by sirhacksalot » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:28 PM UTC

No, we need Reddit's r/gonewild instead

Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?

#10

Post by netaustin » Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 10:28 PM UTC

I'm an infrequent enough Reddit user that their odd argot and mile-long discussions about ponies are really a disincentive for me to read past the intro to an AMA. Using HN for topically relevant AMAs provide a welcome relief from Reddit's tiresome fractals of inane comments.