The Lonely Work of Moderating Hacker News (2019)

Post by anonAndOn » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:22 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #120

Tossrock wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you're soliciting them, here's a few concrete suggestions: - Avatars. A consistent, recognizable image can go a long way from transforming a faceless internet post into something closer to a person you recognize and would hesitate to harm. With enough time and exposure, usernames can work for this (everyone recognizes when tptacek, or moxie, or you post), but avatars supercharge it. People hate changes to the s…

I don't think we'd go for #1 because it's core to HN that it's a text-only site. And #2 is too shaming. We've found over the years that under punishing people (relative to what they expect) is more effective. There's a nice user report about that somewhere in the current thread. (edit: actually several now, which is pretty cool) #3 I think is a good suggestion though. We should have some means whereby users can exalt…

Post by dctoedt » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:42 PM UTC

cgriswald wrote: post #74

saagarjha wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter can have a very high signal-to-noise ratio if you follow the right people.

Can it? Last I used it (which was a long time ago) Twitter itself added noise to my feed.

Post by DoreenMichele » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:46 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #88

InitialLastName wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relatedly (since we've got you here), rather than blocking bad users it would be nice to be able to tag specific users in a way that shows up on the comment feed. For example, there are a few users whose comments consistently impress me with their depth, and whose commentary in a thread often flags a deeper conversation on a topic. It might just be because I have a terrible memory for usernames, but it would be nice…

Do you mean a private list of your own tags that the UI would then display to you? Interesting idea.

Post by rv-de » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:49 PM UTC

myself248 wrote: post #106

augusto-moura wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is a thread about nonsense jokey comments, have you learned nothing? haha

Remember your roots, you insensitive clod! ;)

Post by pratik661 » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 11:00 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #70

throwaway4220 wrote: post #64

This place is amazing, and I learned so much about a variety of topics. Most of my MD colleagues use Twitter or Facebook, where the signal-to-noise is much, much lower. I assume there have been plenty of spin-offs from HN (I would LOVE to have a similar forum for discussing medical issues; Can I fork the codebase somehow?), but I do think the secret sauce is moderation. Also, politically, I'm "an enlightened centrist…

Twitter can have a very high signal-to-noise ratio if you follow the right people.