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Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

#81

Post by twotwotwo »

simias wrote: post #23

The thing with HN is that there are a lot of interesting threads that get increasingly drowned in "drama" contents: stuff about politics, the NSA, silicon valley drama... See the G+ outrage lately: there are three articles about that at the top of the frontpage that say exactly the same thing with exactly the same comments. It's reddit/4chan tier "pitchforking". The problem seems to be that the community is growing q…

Since technical solutions to things are always fun, a recommendation system could be awesome: look at your upvotes and activity, cluster you with folks who vote similarly, then show you links based on neighbors' votes. There are refinements (maybe there could be other signals--domains, user-added post tags, etc.) but even a basic try at it has the potential to make everybody happier.

I love posts about algorithms and anything about Go or Python 'cause I use those; people's snazzy tech demos are always cool; startup/career stuff can be fine but isn't super relevant to me. It's just weird that to get to the bits I like I load a page that also has a lot of strident arguments about the things I shouldn't or must do, the things people are quitting, the things folks are mad at each other over, etc.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

#82

Post by wellboy »

simias wrote: post #23

The thing with HN is that there are a lot of interesting threads that get increasingly drowned in "drama" contents: stuff about politics, the NSA, silicon valley drama... See the G+ outrage lately: there are three articles about that at the top of the frontpage that say exactly the same thing with exactly the same comments. It's reddit/4chan tier "pitchforking". The problem seems to be that the community is growing q…

Isn't it essential that a monumental topic blows up a community? Isn't this one of the most important purposes of a community, the ability to kick off a movement?

Re: Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

#83

Post by ams6110 »

angersock wrote: post #59

Try going to the "new" section and upvoting content you would like to see. If we all don't do that, of course the site will get overrun with stupid kneejerk posts.

Yeah, I'm guilty of rarely upvoting (or downvoting) items. Are upvotes on the actual submission the only driver of where it ranks, or does comment activity also weigh in? If it does, that would seem to encourage flamewar/ideological topics to float to the top.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

#84

Post by tfigment »

wavesounds wrote: post #75
gabemart wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, only activate voting on comments when new users reach a certain karma threshold (does this exist already?), and only activate voting on stories when users reach a certain higher karma threshold.

You need 500 pts to vote on HN

I only have 63 points and I can vote (but rarely do). Actually I can only upvote. I think 500 is for downvote rights.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

#85

Post by Noxchi »

DavidWanjiru wrote: post #78
Noxchi wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a problem all successful communities face No it's not. It's a problem all large and free communities face. Try looking for private communities, and the quality is much higher. To get into these types of communities, you have to pass an interview or maybe pay monthly (I don't belong to these types, but I've heard good stuff about their quality). e.g. want a good business community? Maybe have a fee for $100/mon…

How does the ability to pay indicate ability to make worthwhile contributions? Or, how does inability/unwillingness to pay or prove yourself in some other way relate to an inability to make worthwhile contributions? (quality of posts, comments, etc)

>How does the ability to pay indicate ability to make worthwhile contributions?

If you can pay something that's related to the niche, it shows you have expertise in the niche.

For example, if you can pay $100/month for a business forum, than that shows you are at least somewhat serious and interested in business, and more likely, you are already successful at it.

If you can pay via open source contributions to the OS community, and that's a requirement for a software community, it shows at least you can code decently.

It doesn't have to be a "Do X" type of test either, it can just be an interview to hear their experience, their attitude, etc..

>Or, how does inability/unwillingness to pay or prove yourself in some other way relate to an inability to make worthwhile contributions?

You design a test to filter out people that you don't want in your community. If people fail that test, then it should already signal an inability to make worthwhile contributions. It might give false negatives for users that would have been good, but the test should not give too many false negatives.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

#86

Post by sebastianconcpt »

twotwotwo wrote: post #81
simias wrote: post #23

The thing with HN is that there are a lot of interesting threads that get increasingly drowned in "drama" contents: stuff about politics, the NSA, silicon valley drama... See the G+ outrage lately: there are three articles about that at the top of the frontpage that say exactly the same thing with exactly the same comments. It's reddit/4chan tier "pitchforking". The problem seems to be that the community is growing q…

Since technical solutions to things are always fun, a recommendation system could be awesome: look at your upvotes and activity, cluster you with folks who vote similarly, then show you links based on neighbors' votes. There are refinements (maybe there could be other signals--domains, user-added post tags, etc.) but even a basic try at it has the potential to make everybody happier. I love posts about algorithms and…

You described an implementation of the Confirmation Bias :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Re: Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

#87

Post by wavesounds »

simias wrote: post #23

The thing with HN is that there are a lot of interesting threads that get increasingly drowned in "drama" contents: stuff about politics, the NSA, silicon valley drama... See the G+ outrage lately: there are three articles about that at the top of the frontpage that say exactly the same thing with exactly the same comments. It's reddit/4chan tier "pitchforking". The problem seems to be that the community is growing q…

HN should require you solve some form of fizzbuzz to get voting/posting rights

Re: Ask HN: What are some good alternatives to HN?

#88

Post by wavesounds »

tfigment wrote: post #84
wavesounds wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need 500 pts to vote on HN

I only have 63 points and I can vote (but rarely do). Actually I can only upvote. I think 500 is for downvote rights.

You're right my bad. 500pts to downvote
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