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Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

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Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#1

Post by Lk7Of3vfJS2n »

HackerNews makes it hard to post anonymously. If you signup and try to post a lot of text or god forbid a Show HN you spent weeks building, it shadow bans you for at least five days. It forces you to wait before you can participate.

Lobste.rs doesn't allow signups without invitation. What if you don't know personally someone who is a user there to invite you?

Many Reddit channels don't let you post unless the account has 10-25 points of karma and is ten days old. This doesn't let you share something important with many people anonymously and quickly.

Do these policies of online forums make you feel excluded? Do you wish these sites ran differently? How would your ideal online forum run?

Re: Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#3

Post by dcminter »

> If you signup and try to post a lot of text or god forbid a Show HN you spent weeks building, it shadow bans you for at least five days. It forces you to wait before you can participate.

Firstly is that actually true? I feel like I've seen any number of interesting posts from brand new accounts.

Secondly, if you have "spent weeks building" something it will not kill you to wait for five days to tell us about it.

> This doesn't let you share something important with many people anonymously and quickly.

Nothing springs to mind that is that important that:

• It can't wait a week or two

• Would be of no interest to conventional news organisations

What specifically did you have in mind?

Because at the end of the day, without clarification, this sounds a lot like "Spammer would like to know how avoid the spam filtering please."

Re: Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#4

Post by Lk7Of3vfJS2n »

edent wrote: post #2

The problem is, without these measures forums quickly get overrun by spam. So they use reputation / points / karma / invitations as a proxy for trust. You don't have the right to demand people's attention. You have to earn that.

These measures aren't the only way to stop spam.

Re: Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#5

Post by edent »

Lk7Of3vfJS2n wrote: post #4
edent wrote: post #2

The problem is, without these measures forums quickly get overrun by spam. So they use reputation / points / karma / invitations as a proxy for trust. You don't have the right to demand people's attention. You have to earn that.

These measures aren't the only way to stop spam.

Sure. But they're the cheapest and easiest.

But, if you don't like it, then it is relatively easy to start your own community site. Something like Lemmy or kbin might be suitable for you. Let us know how it goes - and whether you solve the spam problem.

Re: Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#6

Post by catchnear4321 »

five days is nothing.

invitations are for hype as much as for filtering. diminishing returns. eventually invites get to those “you” didn’t want to invite.

there are subreddits to help you boost karma to get over the karma hump. ten days is still basically nothing.

these policies help deter bad actors. but not well. bad actors can plan ahead.

feel excluded? no.

there is no ideal. there are only attempts to mitigate humanity’s negative impact. some work better than others. none work great. humans are stubborn.

Re: Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#7

Post by tredre3 »

> HackerNews makes it hard to post anonymously. If you signup and try to post a lot of text or god forbid a Show HN you spent weeks building, it shadow bans you for at least five days. It forces you to wait before you can participate.

I don't think that is automatically true, I've seen many new accounts with a single post/comment.

Maybe what happens is that the threshold for your comment to be greyed out is probably lower for new accounts. Same for flagged post, maybe a single flag is enough to kill a submission by a new account?

Re: Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#8

Post by Lk7Of3vfJS2n »

dcminter wrote: post #3

> If you signup and try to post a lot of text or god forbid a Show HN you spent weeks building, it shadow bans you for at least five days. It forces you to wait before you can participate. Firstly is that actually true? I feel like I've seen any number of interesting posts from brand new accounts. Secondly, if you have "spent weeks building" something it will not kill you to wait for five days to tell us about it. >…

> Firstly is that actually true?

I created a new account, posted legit content, and none of the content appeared until ~5 days later.

> it will not kill you

How do you know it will not kill me?

What if I don't have to pay this month's rent and launching the site today instead of five days later amounts to $500? Both of these are true for me right now. The creators of HN can't possibly know the cost to a user to post something.

How did you estimate that "it will not kill me" also means it will not kill my spirits to not try again? How do you measure this cost?

> Nothing springs to mind that is that important that:

Merely because nothing springs to mind isn't proof that no such thing exists.

> What specifically did you have in mind?

I have different things in mind for different sites.

Re: Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#9

Post by Lk7Of3vfJS2n »

edent wrote: post #5
Lk7Of3vfJS2n wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These measures aren't the only way to stop spam.

Sure. But they're the cheapest and easiest. But, if you don't like it, then it is relatively easy to start your own community site. Something like Lemmy or kbin might be suitable for you. Let us know how it goes - and whether you solve the spam problem.

How did you measure that they're the cheapest and easiest? And cheapest and easiest for whom?

I did and I did.

Re: Ask HN: Do you feel excluded from HN/Lobste.rs/Reddit?

#10

Post by dave4420 »

Lk7Of3vfJS2n wrote: post #9
edent wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. But they're the cheapest and easiest. But, if you don't like it, then it is relatively easy to start your own community site. Something like Lemmy or kbin might be suitable for you. Let us know how it goes - and whether you solve the spam problem.

How did you measure that they're the cheapest and easiest? And cheapest and easiest for whom? I did and I did.

If you already have access to such a great forum, why do you also need access to HN, Reddit, Lobsters etc?
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