In all fairness, shouldn't this be something to ask pg about instead of a poll?
I think the OP realises pg would not go for this easily, so by making a poll that's a ahem run away success the OP hopes to present pg with evidence.
Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
161–170 of 187 posts
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#162Was Reddit's AMA feature a result of paving the cowpaths? I'm thinking of it as something that organically sprouted from the community, and then became an institution. Kinda like hashtags and @-mentions on twitter. If people post AMA submissions on Hacker News and they do well, great. That's a sign the users would like more of it. Or are these being actively discouraged by admins (e.g. by editing “AMA” out of titles)…
Yes. At first the appeal of the AMA was the insight it provided into the lives of other redditors who just happened to have an interesting job or experience. It was only after it became "a thing" organically that it started to become a PR tool for celebrities and politicians--a direction that sadly seems to be accelerating.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#163Bigger problem at hand: too much non-technology related articles are being posted on Hacker News.
I know timing has a lot to do with number of upvotes, but I posted an off-topic[1] article that got 59 votes and over 100 comments (and, thankfully, was heavily flagged); and I posted an on-topic article that got 4 votes and no comments.
It's easy to see why bad articles get posted.
[1] I was under the influence of Zopiclone!
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> by participating in AMAs, they enrich Reddit's community That's the part I'm skeptical of, at least keeping in mind what community means in the HN sense. They don't really seem to be part of the Reddit community at all; they're more like the "content" that the Reddit community is discussing any given day. What's more interesting about the HN community to me is that some pretty accomplished people are actually part…
> they're more like the "content" that the Reddit community is discussing any given day.
I think this sums them up nicely. This is also why I feel they would be out of place in a forum centered around discussion, like HN.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#165Yes
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#166I'd rather see HN move in the direction of Quora: High-quality questions that any notable technologist can answer.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#167I think it's a good idea as long someone moderates (maybe PG) moderates who all can do it.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#168I don't think HN's comment voting/sorting algorithm is up for AMA style discussions. So often a single top-level reply dominates the discussion.
Actually, the sorting part is probably fine. It's hard to judge, anyway.
But for an AMA, it's not as much the sorting, but also the interface: Check any random AMA thread on Reddit and try to imagine what it would look like without all the "load more comments" links. Also try to imagine how differently the discussion would flow with all threads and replies completely unfolded.
It's a complex and interdependent balance, that, I think, the way it is handled on HN isn't particularly suited for AMA style discussion. The most interesting questions need to float to the top. But without comment folding, the two or three most interesting questions will gather a vibrant discussion and replies, causing many people to not even get past them, and the other questions won't get sorted properly because so much less people vote on them.
But, why not get the best of both worlds? Get an interesting person to do an AMA on Reddit, then invite HN to come along for the discussion? For those worried about the quality of discussion, my experience is that the more "grown up" a topic is, the more "grown up" replies you will get (and childish ones voted down), so if you get someone that's big in start-up land, you'd get a good discussion just fine, unlike what you'd get with a pop-star/TV-personality.
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#169Isn't there already enough hero worshiping on HN as it is?
Re: Poll: Would HN benefit from Reddit's AMA-style posts from technologists?
#170I think the only case where I would like to see AMAs on HN would be AMAs by YC funded startup founders. I mean, that's what the site is ultimately about, networking and getting to know other startups and their people.
But AMAs from random (internet) celebrities can stay at Reddit. I see no reason to split them here.