One of the great parts of HN is the subdued conversation. It would be great to have say a Bill Gates AMA without the "Can you give me a million dollars" questions.
Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
81–90 of 187 posts
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
It can be both. An AMA is "Ask me anything" which is more focused on somebody (Or something that happened).. which is very different than the same person posting a meaningful comment on a discussion. As far as I know, PG regularly comments on HN and there are often links to his essay or interviews. An AMA isn't so much different than an interview...
To me, it would be ideal if AMAs were split off into their own site, rather than piggybacking off HN or Reddit. Same with ELI5. (Also, the meta-implications of the fact that this poll is asking about AMAs rather than ELI5 amuses me.)
ELI5: what are the meta implications that amuse you - for someone that just had to google "ELI5" :)
(explain like I'm 5)
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#83No, I like how HN works right now.
I'm here. That's like me saying "Hi, I'm jgrahamc, AMA"
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#84I really like this idea but I'm not clear on how this would fit into the current UI. Reddit does threads a little better I feel.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#85Why don't we let Reddit be Reddit, and HN be HN? Why would I want HN to be a megaphone for Famous Joe Blow X when I'd much rather have him actively participating and helping out in the threads with the rest of us? This is a very bad idea in my opinion. Since I have no clue how to run a busy site, that means it'll probably happen. :)
I think your estimate of their interest or availability regarding being a regular HN participant for some of these folks is is a bit misguided.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#86No, you will be diluting your brand. Pick one thing to do and do it well. If you want AMA, head to Reddit. They already do that.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#87What I would like to see (if we are having a meta conversation on HN) is a view for the "Show HN" posts (like the "Ask" link above). What I enjoy the most here are the posts where people show cool stuff they've done, and it would be nice to have a separate view just for those (when I don't feel like wading through articles covering the Tesla/NYT scandal or whatever is the melodrama of the week)
Have you checked out http://www.hnshowcase.com ? While it's a separate site, they have a collection updated daily featuring Show HN posts.
The infinite scroll bothers me (an option to fallback to a text list would be nice) but otherwise this is basically what I've been looking for :)
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#88Yes, but leave the visionaries and successful entrepreneurs the door. I want to hear from engineers and creative people who've built something interesting and really get a chance to ask them about the nitty gritty of it. HN comments often become more interesting that the topic linked, directing that discussion isn't a bad thing at all.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#89No, I like how HN works right now. I'm here. That's like me saying "Hi, I'm jgrahamc, AMA"
Ask me anything VS discuss the topic at hand leads to two very different discussions.
In an AMA the point would be for us to ask you questions, whereas if I started asking you questions here most would probably be deemed off-topic.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#90Cheap content attracts cheap commenters. The comments and questions in AMAs rarely express novel insight -- usually, someone pipes up with a popular sentiment, like asking President Obama to stop using drone strikes. Commenting in such threads, which are inevitably mobbed, gives you the illusion of significance ("Wow, X answered my question!") or worse yet they give you actual significance ("Wow, it's X, he did an AMA") both of which function as an invitation to horse-sized-duck trolling and celebrity obsession. Do we want the users who join because Tim Cook did an AMA here once, or people who join to discuss hacking?
As the old saying goes: small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, great minds discuss ideas. HN has always been a place for great minds -- let's keep it that way.