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Poll: How Old Are You?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: How Old Are You?

#51

Post by awb »

sph wrote: post #32
awb wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could understand smaller age ranges for younger folks because they’re developing at a more rapid pace. For example 30-40 age range would group together people with relatively similar life experiences, but a 10-20 age range would not.

Sure, but this is a forum for entrepreneurs and software engineers, it does not target the world demographic. To be honest, I don't understand what "they develop faster" means either. One year of age is objectively the same length whether you're 10 or 90. What has growth speed and brain development got to do with anything?

> To be honest, I don't understand what "they develop faster" means either.

Maybe there’s a better way of phrasing it, but I mean the rate of change is faster when you’re younger.

A 10yo will have very different preferences, life experiences, brain development, etc. compared to a 20yo (10y apart). Yet a 30yo and a 40yo (also 10y apart) will be fairly similar in these categories on average.

Because at 10yo the body and brain are changing more rapidly than they would be at middle age.

So if you were doing any kind of marketing or social science report based primarily on age, you’d typically want narrower age bands at lower age ranges and higher age bands at middle and older ages in order to create the most homogeneous groups.

Re: Poll: How Old Are You?

#52

Post by jeswin »

36-45 is just as big as the 26-35 group, I must say I'm surpised!

I'm close to 42 and I've been here for 15 years now (as a reader more than as a contributor); when I joined I certainly didn't expect to be here for that long. Testament to the quality of discussion, although it has gotten a bit partisan of late. I was on Slashdot prior to that for about 10 years. What was most appealing about HN was the information density, and the discouragement of jokes. I guess if you distil a UI down to the basics (HN just being pure text) there is a certain timelessness to it. Slashdot soon felt bloated and stuffy and I never went back.

Having said that, the fact that the 16-20 and 21-25 is so under-represented doesn't bode well for the future of the website.

Edit: I think 36-45 was the largest group when I started writing the comment. It isn't now.

Re: Poll: How Old Are You?

#55

Post by dan-robertson »

qeternity wrote: post #3

> 105-255 > 2 points Why am I not surprised.

Well a similar thing happened with roughly the same poll like 10 years ago. Moderation on this site has improved but it’s still grown a lot and there aren’t really consequences for lying here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5536734

Re: Poll: How Old Are You?

#56

Post by rgbrgb »

Discovered HN looking over a classmate’s shoulder in discrete math class at ~20 or so. Now 33. Quit a bigco tech job, sold a yc startup, married my partner, had a baby. Still here. Lots of appreciation for the orange site and its many serendipities. Still one of the only places on the internet w real discourse between actual biz and technology experts.

Re: Poll: How Old Are You?

#57

Post by TigeriusKirk »

awb wrote: post #18
sph wrote: post #7

The fact that the ranges aren't equal makes it pretty useless to parse, unless entered in a spreadsheet later, and I couldn't be bothered to do that. There's no reason to have one category for the 5 years 16-20, and the most common age group of Internet savvy working age adults to be lumped in two 10 year "26-35" and "36-45" ranges. Oh well. It's just for fun I guess.

I could understand smaller age ranges for younger folks because they’re developing at a more rapid pace. For example 30-40 age range would group together people with relatively similar life experiences, but a 10-20 age range would not.

26-35 is the most difference, I think. Very different stages of life for most people.

Re: Poll: How Old Are You?

#58

Post by Tomte »

twothamendment wrote: post #45
sph wrote: post #7

The fact that the ranges aren't equal makes it pretty useless to parse, unless entered in a spreadsheet later, and I couldn't be bothered to do that. There's no reason to have one category for the 5 years 16-20, and the most common age group of Internet savvy working age adults to be lumped in two 10 year "26-35" and "36-45" ranges. Oh well. It's just for fun I guess.

My first programming job was at a survey place. Once some high paid survey writer flew in to get one out in a hurry. I was told to sit with him and build it while he designed it. Ever since then I've though about surveys differently. The level of thought that he put into not only each question, but every word. Considering how one question might influence another would cause a change in order, etc. Anyway, it was fasc…

Basically what every student in the social sciences learns.

Every introductory textbook on empirical methods has a chapter on surveys and questionnaire design, and there are also specialized books just on that.

Tech would sometimes really do well in listening to people outside its field.

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