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A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

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Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#271

Post by kaybe »

Karunamon wrote: post #219
neilk wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe there should be an "anonymous week" where usernames are hidden. Just to see if there are any different patterns.

This is one of the few things that 4chan has right - by removing names, you take ego entirely out of the question. Then, to avoid turning into 4chan, you can have posts be anonymous on the front end, but accountable to a user id on the back end only visible to the user themselves and the site staff. It would be an interesting experiment.

But then it's nice to know you're at least talking to the same person over several comments. In 4chan you never really know, because anyone can claim to be op or to have written any other comment.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#272

Post by HarveyKandola »

nkohari wrote: post #102

My Hacker News account is 1859 days old (just over 5 years). Over those 5 years, I've gone through several stages of my entrepreneurial career. HN has been there from the time when I just was dreaming about launching a startup, through the gut check when I finally quit my full-time job to found a startup, selling that startup to another company, being fired by that company, and finally joining a friend's startup as C…

Nate,

I personally think the problem isn't with HN but us Developers.

We tend to be analytical by nature and hence whenever you show one of us something, our brains are always go into "Yes, but..." mode.

It's that "but" that says we are always looking for flaws. Looking to show others we can find a problem with their plan.

Example: The biz guy tell the devs"we need to get this done for the client"? The devs immediately look for flaws in the plan such as "what about this...", "not sure if it will work because...", "yes, but what about...".

Some of us have seen this too many times.

The minute a Dev starts on the "Yes, but..." path they remain defensive and on the look-out to be smarter than everyone else. Looking for problems. Looking to show we know best.

We do this all the time. In my company I have barred my Devs from "Yes, but..." conversations.

Instead get you mindset into "Let's explore".

It just changes the whole tone of the conversation when we Devs start with a "explore..." mindset and not a "but...".

Try it. Go back and read the top 10 HN posts and keep thinking "let's explore" when you read a post. What kind of post comment can you then come up with then? Much more helpful I would say.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#273

Post by Karunamon »

kaybe wrote: post #271
Karunamon wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the few things that 4chan has right - by removing names, you take ego entirely out of the question. Then, to avoid turning into 4chan, you can have posts be anonymous on the front end, but accountable to a user id on the back end only visible to the user themselves and the site staff. It would be an interesting experiment.

But then it's nice to know you're at least talking to the same person over several comments. In 4chan you never really know, because anyone can claim to be op or to have written any other comment.

Poster ID's. A hash that's created based on your IP address and a seed that changes daily and per thread.

It stops people from claiming to be someone they're not, but I see your point about knowing who you're talking to.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#274

Post by olliesaunders »

I’d like little avatar pictures next to poster’s names. They are much easier to recognize quickly and introduce an extra level of accountability and identity to posting. I wonder if the reason this hasn’t been done is because PG is too busy or it would significantly increase server load.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#275

Post by larrys »

neilk wrote: post #201
larrys wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"HN rockstars would receive hundreds of upvotes for the most minor of comments" It would be interesting to test the same thesis that I have which indicates there is a halo effect on anyone considered a rockstar which allows them to get more upvotes than they would w/o the rockstar status. This is of course the way life operates. The only question is to what extent it happens. People tend to pay more attention to some…

Maybe there should be an "anonymous week" where usernames are hidden. Just to see if there are any different patterns.

A good idea but I think it would have to be random and blind where the poster didn't know when it would happen to them. Would take considerable work so most likely the admins would not go for it.

Perhaps a random anon on a comment here and there to test on a rolling basis.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#276

Post by finalcut »

sliverstorm wrote: post #238
zerostar07 wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that is very insightful. I 'm surprised that even here people are willingly conformists to gain acceptance.

Don't be. People conform everywhere, all the time. HN isn't that special.

I don't think the fact that people conform is surprising. What is, possibly, surprising is that someone laid it out there - that they are being a conformist.

Typically, in my experience, people aren't that honest with themselves.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#277

Post by simon »

apl wrote: post #268
simon wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. It's a huge loss. As an ex-atheist who previously believed in evolution and is now a young earth creationist, such conversations have the potential to be very interesting. Sadly, they end up with subtle (if you're lucky) or less subtle jabs about how believers are all anti-science and uneducated and just want to brainwash people, especially children. And that is generally considered to be the ultimate slam o…

> As an ex-atheist who previously believed in evolution and > is now a young earth creationist > loving the Mars missions How on earth do you reconcile this? The mind boggles, although it might just be me missing a healthy dose of sarcasm here. In any case: No, not all discussions of this type are in fact potentially interesting, enlightening, or fostering a culture of whatever. Telling yourself that is feel-good non…

No sarcasm on my part. There is no problem reconciling any part of my statement. Why does it seem strange to you for a Christian to be interested in Mars? The scriptures teach that God created the heavens and the earth and the stars and by inference the planets. I find them very interesting, as apparently do the good folks at NASA and their sponsors the U.S. government.

The rest of your comment then wanders off further into the very attitude that I was commenting on, so thank you for illustrating my point. Discussing creationism does not lower the level of discourse, rather, dismissive attitudes such as yours, stifles intelligent discussion. You could have asked how I came to transition from professing evolution to embracing creationism, but instead you use words like misguided. I don't see any evidence that you'll care, but it was a thoughtful process and we could have discussed it. Looks like my personal policy of silence is the less misguided one.

Outside of my day job, I am a pastor (check my HN profile), so I also work on solving actual problems in my community and my congregation.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#278

Post by finalcut »

I realize I'm pretty late to the game on commenting here. I don't comment often. I've been on HN for 1558 days and have a karma score of 7. But here are my thoughts.

I use reddit for entertainment purposes (for the most part) and I use HN for educational and inspirational purposes. That was why I started using HN and it is still why I do.

Sure, as the community has grown, there have been more comments that add no value - but they are just more obvious now. It isn't that hard to ignore them and to find the meaningful or useful comments.

On the surface the "cost karma to post" idea sounds great - it certainly wouldn't have much effect on me - but I agree with the various others who think it would discourage unpopular but still very useful and (at times very correct) comments.

If the price to pay to get a well rounded discussion is the presence of vapid commentary - then I'm willing to continue to pay it.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#279

Post by hackinthebochs »

snogglethorpe wrote: post #263
hackinthebochs wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But its the media's interpretation that made it popular and widespread, which is the only reason any of us care to "take it back". Seems rather ironic to me.

This is not true, I think. The self-identification with the term "hacker" (in the good sense) is pretty strong amongst a lot of people from "those days." The co-option by the media to mean something else was an annoyance, but really hasn't changed that a whole lot. In other words, it's a personal issue, and nothing to with popularity per-se. It's like you and a group of childhood friends called yourself "the bucket g…

It seems to me that those trying to take it back now aren't the same ones that identified as (good) hackers 30 or so years ago (with a few exceptions I'm sure). The 20-somethings that are fighting for it now are too young to have known the original meaning. They are drawn to the word because of the power it has in our culture. But that power is tied to the negative meaning. It seems disingenuous to argue for its original meaning when the negative meaning is all you've ever known.

Re: A proposal for improving HN : it should cost a user Karma to post

#280

Post by bootload »

wensing wrote: post #261
bootload wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... Would any old-timer care to use the open-source HN code and create a vintage HN by automatically inviting anyone with an age of >N days? ..." 2024 days here @wensing, No. Being here a long time doesn't confer any special status. All it really shows is curiosity and early adoption. Other than having seen a wider range of technology, topics, discussion and behaviour the one thing I've noted is the number of high r…

Special status isn't the point. They're simply cohorts and it would be interesting to see what the conversation would be like when segmented as such.

"... it would be interesting to see what the conversation would be like when segmented as such. ..."

You already can. Just randomly pick a low item id, ie: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20111 and follow up the comments to the article head ie: "How to Build a Web 2.0 Dating Site in 66.5 Man-Hours " http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19988

The sig/noise was different, fewer higher qual comments.

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