I came here from Slashdot, after it turned into too much of a cesspool. And HN was a wonderful place. But over a decade, it slowly became less wonderful. More people showed up just to argue, rather than to have curious conversations. More zealots and shills, less thought.
I think what happened is that HN became a place that was worth influencing. Some people decided they'd do that rather than enjoying it for what it was. The more people on HN, the more valuable it was to manipulate, and so the more people did.
So one solution is just to find smaller forums - ones that aren't big enough to be worth trying to manipulate. That doesn't same HN, though. It doesn't get it back to what I loved.
There's a difference between "why?" to try to understand, and "why?" trying to prove the other person wrong. (If you have kids, you've probably seen this.)
There's a difference between good-faith questions and "gotcha" questions.
There's a difference between thoughtful statements and talking points. (The presence or absence of nuance is a big part of it.)
People who are here to score points don't talk the same way as people who are here for conversation. (Now, it's not quite that simple, because some people here aren't neurotypical, and they don't always talk like good-faith people, even when they're in good faith. Still, most of us here have heard neurodiverse people, and we've heard politicians, and we can often tell which is which. Neurodiverse people are usually committed to the truth. They may be nitpicky, but they will acknowledge an accurate point when one gets made. Politicians are committed to their side; they won't acknowledge that the other side has had a valid point ever in history.)
Smaller forums.
I came here from Slashdot, after it turned into too much of a cesspool. And HN was a wonderful place. But over a decade, it slowly became less wonderful. More people showed up just to argue, rather than to have curious conversations. More zealots and shills, less thought.
I think what happened is that HN became a place that was worth influencing. Some people decided they'd do that rather than enjoying it for what it was. The more people on HN, the more valuable it was to manipulate, and so the more people did.
So one solution is just to find smaller forums - ones that aren't big enough to be worth trying to manipulate. That doesn't same HN, though. It doesn't get it back to what I loved.
>More people showed up just to argue, rather than to have curious conversations.
What is the difference? Just curious...
Whether you listen to someone you disagree with.
There's a difference between "why?" to try to understand, and "why?" trying to prove the other person wrong. (If you have kids, you've probably seen this.)
There's a difference between good-faith questions and "gotcha" questions.
There's a difference between thoughtful statements and talking points. (The presence or absence of nuance is a big part of it.)
People who are here to score points don't talk the same way as people who are here for conversation. (Now, it's not quite that simple, because some people here aren't neurotypical, and they don't always talk like good-faith people, even when they're in good faith. Still, most of us here have heard neurodiverse people, and we've heard politicians, and we can often tell which is which. Neurodiverse people are usually committed to the truth. They may be nitpicky, but they will acknowledge an accurate point when one gets made. Politicians are committed to their side; they won't acknowledge that the other side has had a valid point ever in history.)