New Hacker News Guideline: Avoid Gratuitous Negativity

Post by pain » Sat, Apr 04, 2015, 10:40 AM UTC

jlees wrote: post #447

hyperpallium wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theatre Sports (competitive collaborative dramatic improvisation) has the concepts of offer , accept , and block . Accepting an offer means to build on it in some way, as a real part of the scene - in the way you mean. A block is when you ignore or undermine the offer , denying it instead of building on it. There's temptation to do so for a cheap laugh. The uncharitable negativity of HN seems similar.

One thing that took me a while to understand as a player - accepting doesn't always mean ignoring conflict. If you offer me something, I accept that your version of reality is true; I don't have to agree with specific parts of it. For example, if someone starts a scene with "Isn't it lovely to be here in Paris?", I accept that we are in Paris, but I don't have to think it's lovely. The takeaway from this to non-impro…

Post by ptaipale » Sat, Apr 04, 2015, 11:16 AM UTC

krapp wrote: post #215

SCHiM wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe, just maybe, the looks of HN have helped protect the community against trolls. Everybody knows internet commenting is crude, rude and awful more often than not. In my opinion HN is a glorious example of an online community done right and I'm not sure we should change the site. But who knows, maybe it will even be better if it gets a little make-over.

Trolls exist on HN, I assure you. They're not scared off by the simplicity of the layout.

Post by mlvljr » Sat, Apr 04, 2015, 11:43 AM UTC

pain wrote: post #434

mlvljr wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Push harder, folks, I'd like to see this one at the very bottom :)

I∫ will race you. =∫∫ ∫og will race log. Maybe empathy karma will come around. Empathy comes and goes, money comes and goes, karma comes and goes. Sadly it hurts when it is accellerated by force of will to determine a ruler and winner to feel good versus bad about. Fog of war is very real for hacked news logy, where edit change commit revision history is basic needs remorse remotely administrated by the "unsayable tr…

Post by cpach » Sat, Apr 04, 2015, 12:15 PM UTC

psquid wrote: post #418

cpach wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is actually possible to get e-mail notifications via this external service: http://hnnotify.com/

However, that still makes it a conscious choice to engage with the service that way - the default way is still checking back, and that shapes the general usage patterns of the site, even if some people have concluded it benefits them more to modify their experience.

Post by pain » Sat, Apr 04, 2015, 12:33 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #549

pain wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meet people here fine, some people treat me human. But I/we face a trauma 51% attack. Marginality breaks unconscious voting. I am beaten being treated as a child for saying pain while everyone counts pay to be called adult. I have plenty of appropriate help, what I do not have here is an account that survives talking about #Traumahack #Painhack #Centhack without losing my accounts because people use votes to sort f…

I think if you're losing accounts it might be because those accounts haven't been using the site appropriately. Anyone dealing honestly with pain has my profound respect, but that doesn't mean it's on topic here, or that it's ok to make dozens of posts about it.