Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#1

Post by BCM43 » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 2:27 PM UTC

Hacker News is a social echo chamber
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Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#2

Post by andrewcooke » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 2:49 PM UTC

   Pope remains Catholic
   12 points by BCM43 56 minutes ago | flag | discuss

   Bear shits in wood
   32 points by BCM43 21 minutes ago | flag | discuss

Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#3

Post by jiggy2011 » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 2:53 PM UTC

Is there any online discussion place that isn't to some degree an echo chamber?

Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#4

Post by the_watcher » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 2:54 PM UTC

Flamewars != disagreements. Discouraging flamewars (namecalling, counterproductive arguing that devolves into ad hominem and unrelated attacks) doesn't mean it kills stories that generate disagreement and discussion. I've had many a disagreement in HN threads, been convinced that my original stance was wrong, and (I believe) convinced others that their original stance was wrong (or incomplete, or to change something about it). I've also learned a lot from simply posting what my understanding of an issue is and letting those more familiar add to it. The fact that HN does not want to go the way of Usenet/Reddit/4chan/name a forum doesn't make it an echo chamber.

I hope people disagree with me in this thread and prove my point.

Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#5

Post by vezzy-fnord » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 2:56 PM UTC

Stories that discuss the difficulties faced by minorities in our field are summarily disappeared.

Really?

I've tended to notice the opposite: new ones are constantly appearing, they get lots of comments, inspire heated debates and most sentiments are sympathetic, sometimes to an almost unhealthy and postmodern degree.

Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#6

Post by afreak » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 2:57 PM UTC

jiggy2011 wrote: post #3

Is there any online discussion place that isn't to some degree an echo chamber?

That is exactly it. We're all here to discuss the same thing and as a result you begin to see traits of an echo chamber within the comments. It's unavoidable really.

What I think HN's biggest problem is story repetition, which can lead to the echo chamber being enlarged. It's not a problem today, but when Snowden's news began to hit HN for days on end, it would have been nice to combine the discussion for all the news stories in order to avoid having other stories drowned out. I am certain that other important news stories were drowned out when the front page was effectively 100% Snowden.

This isn't to say that Snowden's story wasn't important (it was and still is), but similar stories from other sources should be able to keep it at the top instead of having multiple discussions on the same topic coming about.

Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#7

Post by myhf » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 2:57 PM UTC

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #5

Stories that discuss the difficulties faced by minorities in our field are summarily disappeared. Really? I've tended to notice the opposite: new ones are constantly appearing, they get lots of comments, inspire heated debates and most sentiments are sympathetic, sometimes to an almost unhealthy and postmodern degree.

Those kinds of stories get attention if they're about a YC company and disappeared otherwise.

Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#8

Post by theorique » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 3:00 PM UTC

In other words, a place focused on particular subjects (technology, programming, science) collects people with similar life experiences, interests, worldviews, etc.

Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#9

Post by tehwalrus » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 3:00 PM UTC

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #5

Stories that discuss the difficulties faced by minorities in our field are summarily disappeared. Really? I've tended to notice the opposite: new ones are constantly appearing, they get lots of comments, inspire heated debates and most sentiments are sympathetic, sometimes to an almost unhealthy and postmodern degree.

I've gotten into several interesting discussions on these topics, only to have them rapidly drop from the front page and/or be killed. In general, I think this should be seen as a much bigger issue than it is on HN.

I generally take the view that if everyone is complaining, then the middle ground is being struck. The classic example is the BBC - the BNP (British National Party, nasty fascists) often claim the BBC has a "left wing bias", which makes activists on the centre left laugh out loud, given how much right-wing bias we detect in programmes like the flagship "today" on R4 in the mornings.

So, unless both sides are complaining (me and you, the OP and the flaggers, PG, tokenadult and stiff,) something is wrong. :)

Re: Hacker News is a social echo chamber

#10

Post by mjg59 » Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 3:01 PM UTC

the_watcher wrote: post #4

Flamewars != disagreements. Discouraging flamewars (namecalling, counterproductive arguing that devolves into ad hominem and unrelated attacks) doesn't mean it kills stories that generate disagreement and discussion. I've had many a disagreement in HN threads, been convinced that my original stance was wrong, and (I believe) convinced others that their original stance was wrong (or incomplete, or to change something…

Reasoned disagreement is obviously easier to deal with than emotional attacks, but topics that incite emotional responses are arguably the most important ones to keep visible - they expose the most contentious points of disagreement in a community. It's certainly true that these angry discussions contain little of value in themselves, but the fact that they exist is valuable. A better compromise would be to limit further comments once a discussion has become overly vitriolic, not to disappear the story that sparked the anger.