Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#1

Post by l33tbro » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 7:26 PM UTC

Casual user here of 4 years. Still find Hacker News one of the better online communities in terms of quality of discussion and breadth of topics.

However, I'm often frustrated by thoughtless comments before people have bothered to read the articles they are discussing, as well as an overall lack of charity in in the subsequent discussion.

There's a myth that people were once second guessed posting here, given the high calibre of discussion and not wanting to look idiotic. If there's any truth to that, where are those people now?

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#2

Post by leesalminen » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 7:45 PM UTC

I find it fairly easy to scroll past comments I don't care to see, but I am curious about other sites (maybe about different topics?) that has a similar community.

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#3

Post by ramon » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 7:59 PM UTC

Come on, there's no better place than HN for the new stuff, please either just stop comenting or they comment only when they feel it's worth while, we're not required to discuss, so chill and coment only when you feel it's worth it.

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#4

Post by mindcrime » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 8:03 PM UTC

Like any long-standing community, certain aspects of the "flavor" of the community have changed over time, as members have come and gone. @pg and the other HN staff have tried to fight the "eternal september" effect, but you can question how successful they've been. Anyway, more than a few of the members here who have been very popular and valuable contributors have left for one reason or another (and, I'm sure, plenty of less "visible" folks as well).

One community that gathered at least some of the former HN crowd to attempt to maintain a specific culture, is Lobste.rs. It's a smaller community (partly by choice, as you have to be invited to join) so there's less overall traffic and discussion to be had, but it may be that the discussion that is there, is of a level closer to what you're looking for.

https://lobste.rs

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#5

Post by sjs382 » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 8:19 PM UTC

It depends what you're interested in. If your answer is "startups", then this really is the place.

Design? http://news.layervalut.com

Tech & Development? http://lobste.rs

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#6

Post by rms » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 8:36 PM UTC

I feel like a lot of it is that the tech industry itself has become less interesting over time. Four or five years ago, there was more of an outsider status to startups and startup founders, and in San Francisco 2015, tech workers have become the banal mainstream.

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#7

Post by whisdol » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 8:36 PM UTC

sjs382 wrote: post #5

It depends what you're interested in. If your answer is "startups", then this really is the place. Design? http://news.layervalut.com Tech & Development? http://lobste.rs

There's a typo in your first link - it redirects to a scam site. Thanks nonetheless!

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#8

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 8:40 PM UTC

rms wrote: post #6

I feel like a lot of it is that the tech industry itself has become less interesting over time. Four or five years ago, there was more of an outsider status to startups and startup founders, and in San Francisco 2015, tech workers have become the banal mainstream.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#9

Post by Mz » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 8:47 PM UTC

Another forum I like is Metafilter. There are some HNers over there, fwiw.

But, you know, the situation is really complicated. For example, some people didn't "leave," they just changed their handle.

You can never step in the same river twice. If you value HN and want it to be more of a particular thing, you can choose to give your attention to things you value and try to grow more of that.

Re: Ask HN: Alerntatives to HN?

#10

Post by l33tbro » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 10:42 PM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #4

Like any long-standing community, certain aspects of the "flavor" of the community have changed over time, as members have come and gone. @pg and the other HN staff have tried to fight the "eternal september" effect, but you can question how successful they've been. Anyway, more than a few of the members here who have been very popular and valuable contributors have left for one reason or another (and, I'm sure, plen…

Thanks - will check out.

Oh and I hope I don't sound like one of those "used to be better" people, but I've started to notice that 'Eternal September' thing with the general mainstreaming of startup culture in the last few years. That's another discussion though ...

Overall, I think HN is generally pretty great - but been here a while now and thought there may be more progressive alternatives to eclectic discussion

On a side note - I've heard the original Reddit was much like how this used to be.