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Ask HN: Great online forums?
61–70 of 70 posts
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a shame, and also a quite lazy form of prejudice. Yes, 4chan and it's analogues are full of worthless shit and the quality has gone to the drain, but they are also full of different & unique people, some of whom share similar ideas that those of the HN community (privacy, anti-mainstream, anti-corpo, etc; but you can also find the polar opposites in either). It has in the past also acted as one of the few plac…
If you want free speech go yell about UFOs and gays on the public square where it's protected. Free speech doesn't mean people have to give you a platform. Your version of free speech would actually coerce other people into using their resources to propagate your speech, which doesn't sound free to me. Arguing 4chan is a positive valuable place because they are good at making memes and organizing raids and harassment…
Several of your recent comments to HN have been uncivil. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all.
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want free speech go yell about UFOs and gays on the public square where it's protected. Free speech doesn't mean people have to give you a platform. Your version of free speech would actually coerce other people into using their resources to propagate your speech, which doesn't sound free to me. Arguing 4chan is a positive valuable place because they are good at making memes and organizing raids and harassment…
Wow, you're a full on biggot with reading comprehension problems. Why don't you read my post again? I never said any of the things you claim. Also, good job on equating free speech with yelling about UFOs and gays. That really tells us a lot about yourself.
Personal attacks aren't allowed on HN, regardless of how bad someone else's comment was, and will get your account banned on HN, so please don't do that.
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you define those terms for those of us who are unaware?
Yes an astroturfer aka shill I would personally define as someone portraying themselves to be a neutral observer/participant when in reality they are paid/sponsored/incentivized by a state, company, or organization pushing a specific agenda. They are intentionally planted to deceive, distort and sway those unsuspecting of such activity. There is an excellent TED talk [0] on the subject. The problem is rampant and whi…
> The links and comments on Reddit and HN are prime mediums to infiltrate and carry this out.
I don't know about Reddit but we see comparatively little on HN that appears suspicious once we look at the data (e.g. which users have voted on a post). Anyone who suspects astroturfing on HN is welcome to email us so we can look into the matter—which we always do—but not to accuse other users directly, because both the odds and the cost of an unfair accusation are much higher than people realize when they do that.
I listened to that talk you linked to. At the end the speaker mentions four "hallmarks of astroturfing": (1) use of inflammatory language; (2) use of charged language to "debunk myths"; (3) attacking an issue by controversializing the people around it rather than addressing the facts; (4) reserving all public skepticism for those exposing wrongdoing rather than wrongdoers. It seems to me HN is in pretty good shape here: the first three violate the site guidelines, and the fourth seems rather rare and is not received well by the community.
Maybe there are astroturfers getting away with it on HN. If they exist, though, they're being clever about it, so we'd be interested in anything the community can figure out. Just please don't accuse each other directly without real evidence.
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
The world of online forums is much more diverse than those three. Some of the best forums I've been part of have had very little in the way of voting.
I think traditional forums are different than sites like reddit and digg where votes and participation change what is shown.
Yes, they are different, but they're still actively used, which is why leaving them out seemed odd to me.
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried Imzy, and I wanted to like it, I really did. However, I found it slow, bloated, very unnecessarily political (in a deeply polarising way, which is bad for something that isn't going to be an echo chamber), and the signal to noise was absolutely atrocious. I get what they were trying to achieve (and I hope things have improved since I left), but I think there's as much a risk of overestimating what Imzy can ac…
You should take another look.
With respect, why? Also, why Imzy over somewhere else?
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#67For programming and IT-related reckless fun and hilarious rants I recommend https://what.thedailywtf.com.
If you happen to play keyboards: http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/18/1/The...
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many of the default subs on reddit are pretty terrible. It seems like as the number of users increase, the quality goes down. Reddit also has a problem with "super mods" who are pretty fast an loose with their powers. These seem to be normal problems with trying to appeal to large groups (lame watered down meme low effort crap) and the effects of power on individuals (bans, shadowbans, bias, agenda pushing, etc)
I am from outside US. I grew up watching American TV shows and movies and had a really positive impression about US and its people. I actually used to look down on my culture and its ways most of the time. The 4 years I spend on Reddit exposed me to so much racism and hatred that I have only negative feelings left now. I am leaving US next month, a good part of my decision was based on those feelings.
I would argue that your day to day interactions are more indicative of the average person's feelings of racism and hatred than reddit trolls. And if this is the only reason you are leaving the U.S. I would reconsider.
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#69Would love to have you trying HelloBox [disclaimer - I run it]. HelloBox was originally designed as "Create your own HN" and has now become an online tool for creating and managing communities. If you can't find a community that you like, often the best approach is to create one! Would love to help you out along the way.
Re: Ask HN: Great online forums?
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be frank, I dont take any website with "chan" in it seriously. Think the absolute disgust coming out of 4chan is the reason
"chan" is simply short for "channel" and is left over from nomenclature used by the original Japanese imageboard users. Nothing nefarious, just a way to identify the site as an imageboard the same way "XyzBlog" would be identified as a blog. It is up to the moderates\users to control the content.
It appears to be a specific style of image board, inspired by the anonymous nature of 2ch. Do you know of any 'channel' style image board that doesn't offer user anonymity?