undefined | Better HN

0 pointsjjmarr1y ago0 comments

The more people join a social media site the worse the conversation gets.

This is already happening to HN as tech people flee Reddit.

Most of the new comments on any given post are people that didn't read the linked content and complain about stuff addressed in the second paragraph.

This is an evolutionary process where the commenters that get the most engagement are those that are first to respond or react. First-mover advantage entrenches itself as those posts are boosted higher due to the engagement they receive.

Those that think deeply before responding are discouraged when a well-thought out comment is buried beneath a sea of first impressions.

This reward cycle is amplified by more people, because engagement is very unequal on platforms that share a top comment or front page for everyone. You either make it to the first few comments or get nothing at all.

Sites like Discord or Facebook try to counteract the monopolization of engagement by an impulsive few by splitting users into smaller groups. Less competition for social interaction creates more diversity in winning strategies. Evolutionary pressures still exist, but you don't need to perfect a "winning strategy" solely to interact with other people on the platform.

Contrast Reddit or YouTube videos. The concentration of attention means it has monetary value due to SEO, product reviews, or advertising. The value of a large audience makes a platform more competitive. Competitiveness means many YouTubers and Redditors professionalize attention-seeking behaviour. This comes at the cost of quality.

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wruza1y ago

Most of the new comments on any given post are people that didn't read the linked content and complain about stuff addressed in the second paragraph.

Almost everyone does that since I’m here and that is at least for 10 years. We even have a thread about it from time to time. HN is absolutely fine and didn’t change that much cause it disincentivizes attention seeking, at least cheap one. They may slip in from time to time but mostly get a cold shower from users and mods. Also this forum is much more tricky than it seems, from a technical standpoint.

Karrot_Kream1y ago

Yes but that's okay at a smaller scale where all the users are more aligned and there's less karma to get. HN now is big enough that gaming the karma system by commenting quickly with rage or nostalgia bait is a winning strategy and for most general appeal topics on the site these days that's exactly what happens.

wruza1y ago

Part of that may be you learned to detect these behaviors and not always correctly. Another part may be old commenters getting nostalgic and/or angry (a thing in life).

Did my homework though and checked top ten threads and their first comments where all these karma people should be. All top comments are pretty HN spirited. One of these may be called nostalgic but has a specific request in it and doesn’t look like a bait.

Part of that may be my perception problem.

1 more reply

whartung1y ago

> Those that think deeply before responding are discouraged when a well-thought out comment is buried beneath a sea of first impressions.

A specific capability oh HN, that I take advantage of often, is being able to skip thread branches. It’s not uncommon for me to go a few messages, think “Nah”, tap “root”, then “next”, and, boom, a 100 first impressions vanish in a click of disinterest.

It’s a really great feature and can act as a crude filter for first impressions.

wruza1y ago

Exactly. Sometimes you see that a subthread goes sideways and just parent/root [-] it, and you’re back in the thread without parsing through non-interesting parts.

johnchristopher1y ago

That feature hasn't been around for very long though (12 months ? two years ?)

dangerlibrary1y ago

Like our ancestors before us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

WA1y ago

> This is already happening to HN

This is an ongoing theme since I first checked out this website, which was in 2008 or so.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsjjmarr1y ago0 comments

The more people join a social media site the worse the conversation gets.

This is already happening to HN as tech people flee Reddit.

Most of the new comments on any given post are people that didn't read the linked content and complain about stuff addressed in the second paragraph.

Those that think deeply before responding are discouraged when a well-thought out comment is buried beneath a sea of first impressions.

0 comments

wruza1y ago

Most of the new comments on any given post are people that didn't read the linked content and complain about stuff addressed in the second paragraph.

Karrot_Kream1y ago

wruza1y ago

Part of that may be you learned to detect these behaviors and not always correctly. Another part may be old commenters getting nostalgic and/or angry (a thing in life).

Part of that may be my perception problem.

1 more reply

whartung1y ago

> Those that think deeply before responding are discouraged when a well-thought out comment is buried beneath a sea of first impressions.

It’s a really great feature and can act as a crude filter for first impressions.

wruza1y ago

Exactly. Sometimes you see that a subthread goes sideways and just parent/root [-] it, and you’re back in the thread without parsing through non-interesting parts.

johnchristopher1y ago

That feature hasn't been around for very long though (12 months ? two years ?)

dangerlibrary1y ago

Like our ancestors before us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

WA1y ago

> This is already happening to HN

This is an ongoing theme since I first checked out this website, which was in 2008 or so.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse