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(Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

mattmaroon.com

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Re: (Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

#51

Post by RivieraKid »

diminish wrote: post #17
rawland wrote: post #13

Matt's reasons: 1. Lack of down-vote means vocal minorities are disproportionately represented. 2. Votes on comments are used to express agreement or disagreement rather than value, perhaps because many people simply cannot see the difference between the two. 3. The community is full of ideologues to the point where the comments are most often just predictable talking points being regurgitated ad nauseum. 4. The comm…

> Votes on comments are used to express agreement or disagreement rather than value, perhaps because many people simply cannot see the difference between the two Does that mean that we better down-vote whenever we see a comment does not add value to the topic?

No, only comments with a sufficiently negative value should be downvoted.

Re: (Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

#52

Post by RivieraKid »

RivieraKid wrote: post #50
rawland wrote: post #13

Matt's reasons: 1. Lack of down-vote means vocal minorities are disproportionately represented. 2. Votes on comments are used to express agreement or disagreement rather than value, perhaps because many people simply cannot see the difference between the two. 3. The community is full of ideologues to the point where the comments are most often just predictable talking points being regurgitated ad nauseum. 4. The comm…

> 1. Lack of down-vote means vocal minorities are disproportionately represented. Allow downvotes for submissions. > 2. Votes on comments are used to express agreement or disagreement rather than value, perhaps because many people simply cannot see the difference between the two. Downvoter has to write a short explanation of the downvote. He's warned that admins can ban people who downvote just because they disagree.…

Reason for the downvote?

Re: (Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

#54

Post by crusso »

The news consolidation on HN is great, for the most part.

Participating in the threads is like gambling in Vegas. It can be a fun way to spend some time, but you aren't really winning anything in the long run. The little wins you get here and there are ground away by the House, which always gets its cut. In the HN case, that cut comes in the form of your time - which could really be better spent doing your work, trying out a new idea in software, or visiting with loved ones.

Re: (Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

#55

Post by sumeno »

Adding a downvote seems potentially dangerous to me. Sure a lot of "groupthink" articles rise to the top now, but a downvote means that the same vocal minority could suppress stories that don't fit into their ideology. Definitely a double edged sword

Re: (Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

#56

Post by debacle »

Hacker News used to be brimming with content. I would regularly read 50-60% of the articles.

Now I read it much more like I would read Time or a newspaper - lots of fluff, lots of "marketing," and maybe 1-2 stories a day that I actually want to read.

Re: (Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

#57

Post by icantthinkofone »

jacquesm wrote: post #6

Only he's back. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7834690 We all quit HN at some point in time and those who haven't will do it too. And then we find that there is nothing better. It's a bit like democracy.

I only come here scanning for links to interesting stories. Rarely do I read the comments or even post (though I've done a few lately).

Re: (Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

#58

Post by RankingMember »

debacle wrote: post #56

Hacker News used to be brimming with content. I would regularly read 50-60% of the articles. Now I read it much more like I would read Time or a newspaper - lots of fluff, lots of "marketing," and maybe 1-2 stories a day that I actually want to read.

I thought so too, but I think it's just that the "newness" wears off and we start to realize that what we once thought was novel and interesting is seen as less so when the theme stays the same week after week.

That and, well, there's clearly some runoff from Reddit: "Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'" Really?

Re: (Why) I quit Hacker News (2010)

#59

Post by RankingMember »

jacquesm wrote: post #33
iopq wrote: post #28

I still can't downvote after more than a year of commenting. I guess not enough people agreed with my comments so I don't have this power.

How many 'points' you have is mostly a function of how much time you spent here. If you really crave downvoting that much you have to wonder why, it's the least positive element of a HN presence. Think about it: you want the power to take points away from others in the same sentence that you want to get points enough to have that power!

He who controls the spice...

It's more that those of us without down-vote capability feel neutered to know that we don't have power that others do. It feels better to have power and not use it than to simply not have it to begin with. ;)

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