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Hacker News Guidelines

(news.ycombinator.com)
446 points tonmoy | 2 comments | 24 Aug 23 16:25 UTC | HN request time: 1.073s | source
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yjftsjthsd-h ◴[24 Aug 23 17:09 UTC] No.37251581[source]▶
The one thing I wish was added - either in the guidelines or as a change to the actual web UI - was replying to a comment that you're downvoting; it's frustrating both to have one's own comments downvoted without explanation, and to come across a comment that's grey without obvious reason (Was it factually incorrect? Endorsing an unpopular idea? It's not always obvious).

(I'm not saying HN should do exactly the same thing, but one example is Slashdot's system where a comment can get downvoted in a way that tags it specifically as trolling/offtopic/whatever - https://slashdot.org/faq/mod-metamod.shtml seems to describe it alright)

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jedberg ◴[24 Aug 23 17:14 UTC] No.37251672[source]▶
It's an interesting idea, but you'd end up with a situation where the worse the comment, the more discussion it generates due to the forced replies, which is sort of the opposite of what you want.
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arfafaerhgaq5[dead post] ◴[24 Aug 23 17:23 UTC] No.37251821[source]▶
[flagged]
TX81Z ◴[24 Aug 23 17:28 UTC] No.37251883[source]▶
In the market of ideas you’re failing, and that’s the signal you’re getting.

It sounds like you don’t care to adjust to “the crowd”, which is fine, but then you have to deal with the consequences.

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NoMoreNicksLeft ◴[24 Aug 23 18:05 UTC] No.37252451[source]▶
This is not only a "market of ideas", but a virtual world. And in the sense that it is a virtual world, you're also telling him "you can't exist here".

Which is a pretty shitty thing to say regardless, but when the real world withers away from us a little more every year, it starts to become monstrous.

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1. compiler-guy ◴[24 Aug 23 19:06 UTC] No.37253189[source]▶
People who don’t follow a social situation’s rules and norms don’t get invited back. It’s true of parties, shopping centers, and Hacker News. I don’t think that’s a problem.
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2. NoMoreNicksLeft ◴[24 Aug 23 20:53 UTC] No.37254401[source]▶
Well, when you put it that way...

Of course, if we alter your metaphor only ever so slightly, then you don't need an invitation to the public square, the town council meeting, or the bus stop bench.

And internet forums have certainly been happy to take the place of those things when it suits them, but without the inclusivity they require. They want the benefits of being those things, without the tradeoffs. We see no effort being made for them to not be those things.

I suspect a strong correlation between those who see no reason to be concerned by that, and HOA members who sneak out at 5:45am to measure your front lawn's grass with rulers.