App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
tessrinearson.com
App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
1–10 of 27 posts
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#2"I’m sure that a post bashing HN will be very well received on HN."
Actually, she's right. HN is nothing if not constantly self-introspective, and in the wild fast-paced world of startups, there's no such thing as bad publicity. I'm almost certain that HN as a whole will appreciate the attention.
That said, the way the article brings up HN seems to be a red herring. The barrier of entry to HN is far lower than that of App.net.
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#3"I’m sure that a post bashing HN will be very well received on HN." Actually, she's right. HN is nothing if not constantly self-introspective, and in the wild fast-paced world of startups, there's no such thing as bad publicity. I'm almost certain that HN as a whole will appreciate the attention. That said, the way the article brings up HN seems to be a red herring. The barrier of entry to HN is far lower than that o…
Hah, well, I was surprised to get even FOUR upvotes. Good to know, I guess...?
Anyways, I had meant to bring up HN as more of an example of a bubble--both because it has an exclusive attitude (which is exemplified in part by a non-zero barrier to entry) as well as a self-selecting user base.
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#4"I think that diversity of thought is more refreshing."
Given that Facebook (attempts to) model our existing social networks, and that the vast majority of people socialize with people of significantly similar cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, this diversity of thought is already (for the majority) a lie. We don't go to Facebook to see how the "other" lives -- we go there to get updates on friends that are comfortingly similar to ourselves.
The people that are willing to pay app.net's admission fee are going to largely be people who socialize with other folks who are willing to pay app.net's admission fee. It's no different than the clientele at a high end restaurant, and the existence of such restaurants hasn't precluded the existence or utility of lower end restaurants.
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#5I think "gatekeeping" may be a bit of a strong term for what's happening here.
I get where she is coming from, and it is something that should be acknowledged by the users of the site. The key point here is that the GOAL of App.net is not to cater to a different market (those able and willing to pay $50 to have an ad-free real-time network with control over their data).
This is just the economic impact of charging something for a service - it will limit the audience that will buy/use the product.
In particular, I think the comparisons to Hacker News and Quora are exactly what it will be like. Quora is a fantastic Q/A site, and as much of a fan as I am, it still has not reached the completely 'mass market' that yahoo answers is used by. In the same sense, Hacker News has very different content on average than, say, Reddit.
So long as the content creators (users) of App.net realize their audience and the effects that have been created by the circumstances and economics of the network, then it will still make sense.
So perhaps the call here should be for people simply to realize that App.net will never be Twitter. And /maybe/ that's a good thing.
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#6"I’m sure that a post bashing HN will be very well received on HN." Actually, she's right. HN is nothing if not constantly self-introspective, and in the wild fast-paced world of startups, there's no such thing as bad publicity. I'm almost certain that HN as a whole will appreciate the attention. That said, the way the article brings up HN seems to be a red herring. The barrier of entry to HN is far lower than that o…
Hah, well, I was surprised to get even FOUR upvotes. Good to know, I guess...? Anyways, I had meant to bring up HN as more of an example of a bubble--both because it has an exclusive attitude (which is exemplified in part by a non-zero barrier to entry) as well as a self-selecting user base.
I'll give you another one. Not sure I agree completely though. Most popular communities do deteriorate in the quality of the discussion over time (even this one, spend some time here, you'll see pretty quickly).
The truth is I think it is important for people to "choose" to be real consumers of the services (yes even content services) they feel provide value to them. Otherwise what's the incentive to do anything but pander to the masses to get "eyeballs". Most importantly, there is clearly room for both models, what your post suggests is a false dichotomy.
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#7> It’s [HN] also boring as hell. It’s an echo chamber, a bubble.
Funny... the reason I like HN is because the comments are actually well-thought out and interesting.
I honestly can't understand how Twitter, with it's character limit and lack of threads, can provide more "interesting" "discussion".
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#8Reading this made me wonder why so much concern about segregation due to 50 dollars as an entry fee. You already have segregation on an important part of the world population in terms of:
-access to electricity -access to a computer-like device -access to an internet connection' -free time to participate in social networks
as far as battles against segregation go there seems to be a considerable number of more important causes.
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#9If App.net is anything like HN then sign me up!
Re: App.net: The Country Club of the Internet?
#10> It’s [HN] also boring as hell. It’s an echo chamber, a bubble. Funny... the reason I like HN is because the comments are actually well-thought out and interesting. I honestly can't understand how Twitter, with it's character limit and lack of threads, can provide more "interesting" "discussion".
I agree. I think that there are a lot of situations where homogeneous interests/views can preclude interesting conversations, but I don't think HN is a place where this applies.
The reason is, while HN may be filled with all people who like startups--in fact, it may be primarily white males--so many people know so many different things, and have so many different perspectives, that I consistently fin conversations of a higher quality than anywhere else on the Internet.
I agree with the OP that we should try not to limit who can participate in a forum because of high barriers of entry, but I'm extremely skeptical that said limitations actively lower the quality of conversations on a site like HN.