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Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

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Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#11

Post by ericb »

edw519 wrote: post #6

I thought that THIS forum was what you're talking about. What am I missing?

Hi edw519, Mainly that Hacker News isn't a forum. The format makes discussions here ephemeral. Hacker news is a niche site for posts of general-interest to that niche.

A forum is topical, so narrow interest posts are channeled into topic areas. In a forum you might have a topic "Co-Founders Wanted" but only people interested in being/finding co-founders at a given time would read and post in that topic. If Hacker news was mainly narrow-interest postings (ever seen this bug?, co-founder wanted) the signal to noise ratio would degrade.

A Hacker News Forum would be great because 1-this community is great and 2-I could browse topics I'm interested in at the point in time they're of interest to me.

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#12

Post by axod »

I like forums, but for some things they are a bit stale. It's like having a pen pal as opposed to going down the pub with some friends. Some great ideas are born from discussions at the pub over a drink.

I created #startups on irc.freenode.net so feel free to come and chat/hang out there.

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#13

Post by cellis »

transburgh wrote: post #5
inovica wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not to me :) This site is obviously filled with people who are passionate. Some of the startup sites are terrible and not focused on web/online startups. Programming forums are generally that but a fusion site, mixing programming, design and business would be great.

Good idea inovica. That would be a great mix for a forum.

and what makes you think that there are no biz dev, designers, and programmers here?

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#14

Post by marcus »

axod wrote: post #12

I like forums, but for some things they are a bit stale. It's like having a pen pal as opposed to going down the pub with some friends. Some great ideas are born from discussions at the pub over a drink. I created #startups on irc.freenode.net so feel free to come and chat/hang out there.

The problem I have with IRC is that there is no decent search/logging option (and please don't mention bots). And I hate having to nag everybody with a question that was asked a few days ago or answering a question that was already asked unless there is some new twist.

How about setting up a 37sigs campfile account? The only problem is that I'm not sure that we'll fit in there (the premium account only supports 60 users simultaneously chatting)

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#15

Post by inovica »

cellis wrote: post #13
transburgh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good idea inovica. That would be a great mix for a forum.

and what makes you think that there are no biz dev, designers, and programmers here?

You've completely missed the point. I'm saying that the people who post and read here ARE these people, but that its not always the best mechanism for all meeting up or getting advice from one another.

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#16

Post by inovica »

ericb wrote: post #11
edw519 wrote: post #6

I thought that THIS forum was what you're talking about. What am I missing?

Hi edw519, Mainly that Hacker News isn't a forum. The format makes discussions here ephemeral. Hacker news is a niche site for posts of general-interest to that niche. A forum is topical, so narrow interest posts are channeled into topic areas. In a forum you might have a topic "Co-Founders Wanted" but only people interested in being/finding co-founders at a given time would read and post in that topic. If Hacker new…

Much more eloquently said than me, but thats what I was getting at. If some kind of forum mechanism was added to Hacker News I'd use it straight away

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#17

Post by cellis »

inovica wrote: post #15
cellis wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and what makes you think that there are no biz dev, designers, and programmers here?

You've completely missed the point. I'm saying that the people who post and read here ARE these people, but that its not always the best mechanism for all meeting up or getting advice from one another.

No, I think you've completely missed the point. Anytime I've had a question, I've posted here. Sure, there are other forums, boards, groups, etc that you can go to, but if you tried to bring them all together, it would get muddled and all the good hackers would leave. Kind of like digg, reddit.

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#18

Post by cellis »

cellis wrote: post #17
inovica wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've completely missed the point. I'm saying that the people who post and read here ARE these people, but that its not always the best mechanism for all meeting up or getting advice from one another.

No, I think you've completely missed the point. Anytime I've had a question, I've posted here. Sure, there are other forums, boards, groups, etc that you can go to, but if you tried to bring them all together, it would get muddled and all the good hackers would leave. Kind of like digg, reddit.

http://forums.techcrunch.com/forums/category.jspa?categoryID...

Check that out if you are really interested. Thats what I assume you're thinking of.

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#19

Post by inovica »

cellis wrote: post #17
inovica wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've completely missed the point. I'm saying that the people who post and read here ARE these people, but that its not always the best mechanism for all meeting up or getting advice from one another.

No, I think you've completely missed the point. Anytime I've had a question, I've posted here. Sure, there are other forums, boards, groups, etc that you can go to, but if you tried to bring them all together, it would get muddled and all the good hackers would leave. Kind of like digg, reddit.

The question was "What interests me is what forums / sites people on here use to discuss startups?" as I'm curious at what other mechanisms (other than this site) people use in their daily routine. It would be interesting to see if there are certain sites which stand out. For me posting too much on this site - if everyone did it - would seriously increase the noise ratio when this is primarily a.... news site

Re: Ask YC: Where's the best place for online discussion?

#20

Post by axod »

marcus wrote: post #14
axod wrote: post #12

I like forums, but for some things they are a bit stale. It's like having a pen pal as opposed to going down the pub with some friends. Some great ideas are born from discussions at the pub over a drink. I created #startups on irc.freenode.net so feel free to come and chat/hang out there.

The problem I have with IRC is that there is no decent search/logging option (and please don't mention bots). And I hate having to nag everybody with a question that was asked a few days ago or answering a question that was already asked unless there is some new twist. How about setting up a 37sigs campfile account? The only problem is that I'm not sure that we'll fit in there (the premium account only supports 60 us…

Yeah I agree. For question/answers a forum is probably better suited. Chat is good for brainstorming and socializing/networking though.
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