Read less HN • Hacker News Board

Re: Read less HN

#121

Post by johnmurray_io » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 12:06 PM UTC

kabisote wrote: post #99

plasma wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awareness. I'm development lead on my startup and just being aware of new tech, other startups, problems with frameworks, algorithms,... all help me be better informed for my job.

Yes, awareness. I was reading 2+ hours a day of HN at my previous work. I was still more productive than most of my co-workers and was able to introduce useful tools, solutions and practices. One of my fellow developers asked, "How do you find out about all these stuff?" So yeah, how do we find out about all these stuff otherwise?

If you read my article, then you'd know how. Curated content. It gives you the best of both worlds. Being able to dig through less news to find "good" content while still keeping up with today's news. With the added bonus that you can choose your content (wide categories / general tech or specific communities like Android, or HTML5).

Curated content still gives you what you want, but with less work. Additionally, you're reading will be consolidated (in theory) into a larger block of time on a less frequent basis, freeing up more time throughout your week.

Re: Read less HN

#122

Post by johnmurray_io » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 12:09 PM UTC

michaelwww wrote: post #13

I've noticed that a lot of writers in tech generalize their experience to everyone in the community. Several times a day I'm struck by someone who talks about his/her experience like it's a common experience, when it may or may not be. I think it would be safer and more relatable if the author had said "HN - Bad for My Well Being," but of course that doesn't sound as portentous.

I completely agree with you. Way too often to I read articles stating various truths based on their sole experiences. This is just one more thing that devalues HN and warrants curation.

In this particular case, this is not only my experience but the experience of some of my colleagues and friends. That doesn't mean that this applies to everyone and obviously it is an opinion article.

Re: Read less HN

#123

Post by johnmurray_io » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 12:15 PM UTC

mcphilip wrote: post #62

HN, like all news sources, is a mixed bag of content that has varying degrees of relevancy to its readers. Very few people have time to read all of the Wall Street Journal on a daily basis, much less benefit from absorbing that much information, and the same thing applies to HN. However, HN still provides a great source of current and emergent trends in the startup world. If one isn't able to consume this site's cont…

I agree. However, I wouldn't say that this is entirely useless as it does offer some suggested alternatives to help build better habits. What I discuss in my post is something that I've seen friends and co-workers struggle with and the newsletters were something largely unknown to some.

Re: Read less HN

#124

Post by tzury » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 1:01 PM UTC

I live in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Some of the stories I read at HN appears on "mainstream-media" a day or three later. In most cases, Hacker News makes the local technology news "no-news".

As for the author's opinion, media, by definition, usually cover the exceptional stories, great success or failures, but not the daily challenges each of us is coping with, while struggling to generate more leads or turn a lead into a deal (yep, same letters, reads backwards).

I love stay in sync with the remote Silicon Valley and HN, the stories and the comments help me get that.

Thanks PG and the other guys for putting this site together and maintaining this site for us, entrepreneurs all over the world!

Re: Read less HN

#125

Post by edgarallenbro » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 1:52 PM UTC

Segmentation wrote: post #7

Still not nearly as bad as Reddit. Subreddits have value, but look at the front page of Reddit. Zero value. On any given day, of any week, month, or year. Reddit's front page is 100% wasted time. I demonstrate this by asking to myself: Ten years from now what will Reddit's front page look like? Answer: The exact nonsense memes and image macros posted today.

To me, watching Reddit grow has been an interesting perspective on how population size affects democracy.

4-5 years ago, you would more often see long articles or self posts where someone would make a case for something on a topic. People would read the whole thing, try and understand the issue, and talk about it.

As reddit has grown, thoughtful posts have been replaced by one liners and memes. The front page is mostly just a dumping ground for whatever is viral at the moment.

I think this, interestingly, mirrors what happened to democracy in the United States. The democracy that the founding fathers imagined was one run mostly by the educated few, with everyone else also having the ability to voice their concerns.

What its turned into now is a chaotic mess of talking points and rhetoric, with two factions on opposite sides just screaming the same things at each other.

I think its because the more people you get involved in decision making, the simpler you have to make the case for each potential choice in order for the most people to be able to understand it. People will choose an inferior choice that they can understand over a superior one that they can't.

And the problem then is that oftentimes the most important things are the things that are hardest to understand.

Re: Read less HN

#126

Post by sarafiq » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 1:58 PM UTC

HN and proggit are two great sources of consuming technology related information. I usually spent 20 mins in morning and add the interesting looking articles on instapaper for reading in free time. I don't think it's making me less productive at all and HN comments are great at deciding what to read.

Re: Read less HN

#127

Post by conanite » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 2:16 PM UTC

> Something that can curate the top posts and send them to you on a schedule.

When you read a bunch of articles and upvote interesting ones (for whatever your value of "interesting" is), you contribute to the community by making a distinction between articles.

The problem with reading from a curated feed is that you're most likely no longer participating (because it's too late to meaningfully upvote), and hence delegating curation to all the other users. When a majority of all the other users are doing the same, then the power of curation becomes concentrated in fewer voters.

I suspect the value of HN is amplified by the meaningful participation of its users. There are many other ways to be a passive consumer of news.

Re: Read less HN

#128

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 3:16 PM UTC

richforrester wrote: post #28

fhd2 wrote: post #5

I can see how HN is bad for the author's well being, but certainly not for mine. I don't feel bad about reading other people's success stories. I don't feel any need to switch languages/frameworks when reading about new/hyped stuff. It's all just information, what you do with that is up to you.

I'm with you. I'm here as a consumer. I skim most articles. I waste little time. Instead, I get a humongous wealth of information on a great variety of topics. Also, one quick skim of the article list gives you a good idea of what's hot in tech. Even that has great value, and helps you decide what you should and shouldn't read. About 10% of the time I jump into comments straightaway because they give you a good idea…

[deleted]

Re: Read less HN

#129

Post by ChikkaChiChi » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 4:26 PM UTC

zmmmmm wrote: post #69

I have a different problem with it, which is that it invariably makes me feel pretty incompetent, because no matter what subject comes up, people with 10 times my level of skill in fields that I consider myself relatively competent in start discussing things and I suddenly feel quite completely devoid of any skill at all. Even on a simple thing like posts about typing I find people lamenting how they are only able to…

Just because someone can overtake you in the conversational straightaways when it comes to their specific area of study does not mean you cannot outmaneuver them in the chicanes of general knowledge. :)

Re: Read less HN

#130

Post by michaelwww » Mon, Nov 18, 2013, 7:14 PM UTC

johnmurray_io wrote: post #122

michaelwww wrote: post #13

I've noticed that a lot of writers in tech generalize their experience to everyone in the community. Several times a day I'm struck by someone who talks about his/her experience like it's a common experience, when it may or may not be. I think it would be safer and more relatable if the author had said "HN - Bad for My Well Being," but of course that doesn't sound as portentous.

I completely agree with you. Way too often to I read articles stating various truths based on their sole experiences. This is just one more thing that devalues HN and warrants curation. In this particular case, this is not only my experience but the experience of some of my colleagues and friends. That doesn't mean that this applies to everyone and obviously it is an opinion article.

You said HN is bad for my well-being. I'm suggesting that you don't know how HN is for my well-being and my experience as a reader would have been more satisfying if I read your article to satifsy my curiousity about why HN is bad for your well-being. If you had put it as your problem I might have a couple more suggestions, but you instead tell me how I should solve this problem you think I have.