27
points
I often find myself willing to look at a list of everything that was posted on HN on a particular subject. E.g. machine learning, neuroscience, privacy, education, Android or whatever... Is there such a list somewhere?
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Makes it very inaccessible, and the only ones who stay are those that really want the content.
Acts like an artificial barrier that keeps the more trigger happy out.
The implication here is there are certain well intentioned people who the community would rather not have on HN.
Clearly only tech-savvy people and those with a knack for sticking with things with a learning curve would stay on HN.
This makes the nature on discussion here wired towards people of that kind. These people (for better or for worse) on an average tend to take questions at face value and answer them than assume an ulterior motive behind an opinionated comment.
I like that about HN, and would not want it to become like other internet comment threads.
4chan has an equally simplistic layout with arguably more of a learning curve than here, yet its culture doesn't have the qualities you describe.
The inverse correlation you're trying to draw between the simplicity of a site's layout and the intelligence of its userbase appears to be contradicted by lobste.rs, a more deeply technically oriented forum than Hacker News, which uses tags. Also by simply reading most threads here, you'll find little more depth or intellectual insight to them than a similar thread on Reddit might provide.
The same thing goes for HN. Why would you go through the effort to make an account for an ugly site when there are better looking options available (Reddit, Facebook, etc)?
Yes, it doesn't have much to do with intelligence, but it certainly drives away many of the people who would otherwise make low-effort submissions. In fact, I wish it were even _more_ barebones (e.g. remove the user points in the corner).
I used to think HN should have more features, but then I used Reddit and came back wanting fewer features. I like how it's simultaneously inclusive (anyone can create an account) and exclusive (somewhat ugly, no memes).
You have no idea how much this compliment means to me.
I have a bad habit of being long winded in the way I write and speak.
Part of it is learning English as a 2nd language (only sort of), and using it mainly during class speeches and debates.
I am glad my writing style isn't a road block to getting my point across. :)
Thank you.
It was a TC Disrupt hackathon project that generates tags using AI, and seems to still be functional.
[0]: https://www.hackernewsletter.com/ [1]: https://mailchi.mp/hackernewsletter/424
https://hn.algolia.com/?query=neuroscience%20points%3E10&sor...
https://hn.algolia.com/?query=privacy%20points%3E10&sort=byD...
https://hn.algolia.com/?query=education%20points%3E10&sort=b...
https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Android%20points%3E10&sort=byD...
[0] https://mediatag.io
If HN had sub-lists, I'd feel compelled to use them, and I'd miss out on a whole bunch of things.
I also agree that keeping a simple UI is what helps keep, in part, HN exactly what it is.
https://lobste.rs/