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PG: The biggest source of stress for me at YC was running HN

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482 points ilamont | 10 comments | 11 Jul 20 21:53 UTC | HN request time: 1.622s | source | bottom
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sgustard ◴[12 Jul 20 04:01 UTC] No.23808698[source]▶
I started an internet forum in 2006 whose audience was almost entirely female. It grew to a reasonable size, not huge, but what was remarkable was a nearly complete lack of trolls, arguments, and bad behavior. We saw that women just engage differently online, with a premium on expressing positive sentiments and encouraging each other to contribute constructively. Of course I don't want to generalize, but the removal of young men at their testosterone peak age from anonymous forums is remarkable.
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ilikeerp ◴[12 Jul 20 04:53 UTC] No.23808934[source]▶
I've been part of new mother forums when my wife was pregnant - the bitchiness and the flexing on each other was massive. Either you were tone deaf to it or some other factor prevented that on your site.
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1. Nextgrid ◴[12 Jul 20 04:59 UTC] No.23808965[source]▶
I think it's simply because 2006 was a different (and better) time when it comes to social networking on the internet.

Computers were still more niche, more complex and required more effort to use which acted as a built-in filter; if you invest all this effort into getting onto the forum to participate there's a higher chance that you legitimately want to contribute constructively.

Nowadays, every idiot out there has access to an internet browser and already has a social media account (and can use it to log into most other websites which implement social login for the sake of growth) and start spewing bullshit.

I have noticed a similar trend when it comes to online PC gaming. I used to play a shooter game (Crysis) back in ~2008 and the atmosphere on servers was always great; the chat was respectful, there were actual discussions happening in-game and I haven't seen any disrespect, rage or anger. Nowadays I play Battlefield and the chat is mostly empty, only interrupted by insults and the occasional server info message. Console gaming introduces voice chat and seems dominated by kids swearing their lungs out. I guess back in the day the cost of a machine capable to run these games acted as a filter, where as nowadays everyone has access to them, even those that shouldn't.

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2. pfranz ◴[12 Jul 20 05:36 UTC] No.23809123[source]▶
I think sometimes people luck out with the right audience. Online gamers have been obnoxious since well before 2008.

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 (warning: language)

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3. joycian ◴[12 Jul 20 07:19 UTC] No.23809524[source]▶
Perhaps the exorbitant price of a PC that could run Crysis well enough to even think about multiplayer acted as a filtering mechanism?
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4. ilikeerp ◴[12 Jul 20 07:24 UTC] No.23809542[source]▶
I like that the link you posted is for unreal 2004. I used to play that with my mates in 2004 when I was 16 years old.

The server with the least lag and most players was always a French server, when it was the end of my night I'd start yelling "France is shit" into the mic until I got banned. I'd go to bed then play on the same server the next day because my DHCP IP address lease would renew overnight on my 2MB broadband ISP.

I don't know why I used to do that - we all thought it was hilarious though. We were actually quite a good onslaught and CTF team too.

I've not played computer games since.

Thanks for the nostalgia.

5. JohnBooty ◴[12 Jul 20 09:11 UTC] No.23810035[source]▶
There's something to this. Online PC gaming communities can be really problematic, but online console gamers tend to be even worse. I think it's the younger age and lower bar to entry.
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6. baby ◴[12 Jul 20 09:38 UTC] No.23810154{3}[source]▶
The CS 1.6 community could be pretty toxic circa 2007. At least in France.
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7. petra ◴[12 Jul 20 11:26 UTC] No.23810566[source]▶
There's some research about a large decrease in empathy among students since the net(or the smartphone, I don't remember exactly ) happened.

Maybe that's a factor.

8. dredmorbius ◴[12 Jul 20 11:28 UTC] No.23810572[source]▶
The Internet was not yet in our pockets.

You wanted to be online? Park yourself at a desk. Maybe have a laptop and wifi.

But your pants weren't tingling every three minutes.

The immediacy, ubiquity, and temorseless presence of mobile internet shifts psychology (and participation) markedly.

9. kergonath ◴[12 Jul 20 12:17 UTC] No.23810773{4}[source]▶
Toxic does not even begin to describe it. The rampant bullying and misogyny, the stupid machismo... It completely turned me away from pvp and competitive play.
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10. ◴[12 Jul 20 14:43 UTC] No.23811702{5}[source]▶