How can I help de-politicize HackerNews? | Hacker News Reader

How can I help de-politicize HackerNews?

5 pointsRickJWag7 comments

I'm interested in programming and all things programming related. I hate gratuitous political posts in my RSS reader. Lately, I've noticed some pure political hit-pieces with zero relation to hacking in HN. How can I, as a member, help reduce this?

> How can I help de-politicize HackerNews?

Short answer : Don't try.

There were many fora on the internet before PG created HN and many others have sprung up since then. The allure of HN is its mix of contributors, expert opinions and topics as well as the civility of the conversation(s). A forum focussed narrowly on "hacking" would soon read like a monograph and quite likely die shortly thereafter.

Instead of trying to change the offering, embrace the experience.

Playing Devil's advocate: I personally don't care if you like or dislike political talk, either is fine for me, no strong opinion.

What's inherently wrong with political talk other than it makes [you] feel bad?

Politics certainly impacts technology (and technology politics, see gerrymandering in the US). Technology serves no purpose other than to bring efficiency into our lives (be it for entertainment or productivity, or ... ), so what's wrong with discussing politics as it relates to technology?

Or, what's wrong with discussing political problems, with hope that we can "hack politics?"

This experiment should perhaps be mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13108404

"As a member" - it seems there's not much you could do except not up-vote or comment on them, and make a point to ignore such articles. They're trying to attract people's attention and occupy "mind space", so ignoring them could be a sensible way to respond? Or, counter-post with articles that are more relevant and meaningful to you/us?

how do you feel about articles about raising venture capital?

A solution would be to create 2 new categories on HN. "Tech talk" and "general topics". Then we should be able to subscribe to categories directly.

Unfortunately, user feedback loses its powerful when a product is already "successful".

The best thing any of us can do, as a member, is to ignore it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com