Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists? • Hacker News Board

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

#121

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:28 AM UTC

enraged_camel wrote: post #47

lmm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That can enhance the discussion. I remember making a spirited reply to Yudkowsky and only noticing who he was when he replied back - but I think my not being intimidated lead to a far more productive thread than if I had seen in the first place. Posts should rise or fall on their own merits, not who has made them.

>>Posts should rise or fall on their own merits, not who has made them. Not necessarily. On a site like this, where everyone has strong opinions on something , credibility matters. For example, I have only a rudimentary knowledge of programming, so when I read a post about JavaScript or something, I want to be able to quickly know whether the person is talking out of their ass or whether their opinion is backed up by…

[deleted]

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

#122

Post by pseut » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:28 AM UTC

bthomas wrote: post #23

I'd rather focus on ideas than personalities. What about "ask me anything about X", where X is a software package/device/publication/etc.

As in [show hn]?

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

#123

Post by pseut » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:32 AM UTC

achompas wrote: post #74

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #31

Why 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. :)

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? Because the odds of getting Famous Joe Blow X to run a HN AMA are much, much higher than getting him to become an active HNer. We're talking about a one-time commitment versus extended involvement in our community. Look at the roster of AMA guests on Redd…

I won't quote the belly aching, but it's relevant. Would reddit's AMAs work without "vigorous" downvoting?

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

#124

Post by pseut » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:36 AM UTC

enraged_camel wrote: post #27

davidw wrote: post #6

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.

Problem is that it's not immediately obvious who they are just from their usernames. So it's easy to skip over their contributions.

It takes about 2s to pull up their profile... If they want the recognition/credibility. Some comments I'll look, most I don't.

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

#125

Post by mtthw » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:39 AM UTC

Yes, but not in excess.

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

#126

Post by cabalamat » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:42 AM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

adelevie wrote: post #4

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

Some folks want HN to be sort of a super subreddit.

We already have a site for that, it's called Reddit. I get the impression that most HNers are also Redditors, so doing AMAs on Reddit makes more sense than trying to make HN into Reddit.

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

#127

Post by thechut » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:44 AM UTC

Don't talk about Fight Club

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

#128

Post by JacobAldridge » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:45 AM UTC

As I write this, the Yes vote is clearly leading (~1350 v ~500) but the first page of comments are almost exclusively No.

If that's indicative of who we are - those engaging in discussion say No and those happier to just answer a poll question say Yes - then I definitely hope the end result is No.

Edit: FWIW, I've seen links to a few Reddit AMAs on the front page here, and clicked through to some as a result. There's no either/or discussion here - we already have both. I see no incentive to change this.

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

#129

Post by tferris » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:52 AM UTC

HN's karma system already makes reputation often more important than the actual message. I think an HN AMA would strengthen this, so I'd suggest to stick to good contents and not focussing to much on the author's identity (since the best contributions come from anonymous accounts).

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

#130

Post by stephengillie » Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 2:54 AM UTC

duggieawesome wrote: post #3

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.

The modal signup wrapper? If I want to read the article, I'll pull it out with console.