Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban • Hacker News Board

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#21

Post by numpad0 » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:25 AM UTC

fivestones wrote: post #5

This also makes me wonder what could be done to make discord (or something similar) a better venue for direct democracy. I know the circumstances in Nepal were exceptional, but I wonder if we will see other countries experiment with Discord for similar purposes. It seems like in Nepal they have essentially used it as a caucus, and I wonder if this could be shaped into a better way to elect leaders (or even legislate…

IMO, the superflat architecture is the opposite of maximum inclusion. The luckiest kid always wins the debate. Ensuring hierarchical mobility by allowing weaker players bunch of small wins is key.

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#22

Post by jjav » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:27 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #10

fivestones wrote: post #5

This also makes me wonder what could be done to make discord (or something similar) a better venue for direct democracy. I know the circumstances in Nepal were exceptional, but I wonder if we will see other countries experiment with Discord for similar purposes. It seems like in Nepal they have essentially used it as a caucus, and I wonder if this could be shaped into a better way to elect leaders (or even legislate…

An IRC server or even a mailing list seems far better suited to the purpose than a notoriously closed and proprietary platform.

Absolutely. Discord is a scourge, a completely closed proprietary platform that is impossible to access via any standard compliant mechanism. Even for their website they demand a phone number just to read anything.

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#23

Post by rimprobablyly » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:36 AM UTC

fivestones wrote: post #5

This also makes me wonder what could be done to make discord (or something similar) a better venue for direct democracy. I know the circumstances in Nepal were exceptional, but I wonder if we will see other countries experiment with Discord for similar purposes. It seems like in Nepal they have essentially used it as a caucus, and I wonder if this could be shaped into a better way to elect leaders (or even legislate…

Well I discussed it with my wife and extended family. We all agreed it was a terrible idea.

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#24

Post by highwaylights » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:36 AM UTC

perihelions wrote: post #9

fivestones wrote: post #5

This also makes me wonder what could be done to make discord (or something similar) a better venue for direct democracy. I know the circumstances in Nepal were exceptional, but I wonder if we will see other countries experiment with Discord for similar purposes. It seems like in Nepal they have essentially used it as a caucus, and I wonder if this could be shaped into a better way to elect leaders (or even legislate…

> "in some sense the most democratic thing any country has ever done" How is one faction holding an internal vote to impose rule on the rest of the people, who have no representation, anything at all like a democracy?

In one sense representative democracy is mob rule scaled up, but yeah this is mob rule scaled way down then applied to everyone else without representation.

(“democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." etc)

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#25

Post by iamgopal » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:39 AM UTC

fivestones wrote: post #5

This also makes me wonder what could be done to make discord (or something similar) a better venue for direct democracy. I know the circumstances in Nepal were exceptional, but I wonder if we will see other countries experiment with Discord for similar purposes. It seems like in Nepal they have essentially used it as a caucus, and I wonder if this could be shaped into a better way to elect leaders (or even legislate…

I daydream about a open source peer reviewed system, that can process votes, control, manage government at every level through general public and open voting system. Distributing control ultimately.

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#26

Post by highwaylights » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:42 AM UTC

monadoid wrote: post #18

nerdright wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blockchain is well suited for this. Polymarket really proved that blockchain can be useful beyond crypto, especially when trust is at stake.

Yeah my thoughts went to DAOs! I'm so excited for a future where we can use DAOs to harness the power of the people :)

I really hope not in their current form, given how inevitable anything based on smart contracts is to be exploited.

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#27

Post by ACCount37 » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:45 AM UTC

fivestones wrote: post #5

This also makes me wonder what could be done to make discord (or something similar) a better venue for direct democracy. I know the circumstances in Nepal were exceptional, but I wonder if we will see other countries experiment with Discord for similar purposes. It seems like in Nepal they have essentially used it as a caucus, and I wonder if this could be shaped into a better way to elect leaders (or even legislate…

Taiwan has been trying to develop web platforms explicitly for facilitating democratic decision-making. Might be something to look into.

Discord is a spectacularly bad fit for that, it was probably only used because the timetable was short and "it was there" and "everyone already had it".

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#28

Post by nature010101 » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:45 AM UTC

FilosofumRex wrote: post #11

[flagged]

resulted in about 7000 prisoners escaping jail. A lot of them surrendered and were captured but It is unsafe out here in a long long time.

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#29

Post by mongol » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:45 AM UTC

fivestones wrote: post #5

This also makes me wonder what could be done to make discord (or something similar) a better venue for direct democracy. I know the circumstances in Nepal were exceptional, but I wonder if we will see other countries experiment with Discord for similar purposes. It seems like in Nepal they have essentially used it as a caucus, and I wonder if this could be shaped into a better way to elect leaders (or even legislate…

> My wife and I were talking about this today and we thought it's possible that what has just happened in Nepal is at least in some sense the most democratic thing any country has ever done.

I don't see that argument at all. What was so democratic about it? Violent overthrowal of the government may sometimes be justified, but it is not an act of democracy.

Re: Nepal picks a new prime minister on a discord server days after social media ban

#30

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 13, 2025, 9:58 AM UTC

buzzin__ wrote: post #13

perihelions wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "in some sense the most democratic thing any country has ever done" How is one faction holding an internal vote to impose rule on the rest of the people, who have no representation, anything at all like a democracy?

[flagged]

[deleted]