Why has Hacker News become so diluted by None hacker news? | Hacker News Reader

Why has Hacker News become so diluted by None hacker news?

9 pointstaf212 comments

Hacker News recently - really since 2016 has become so diluted with topics unrelated to hacking... Why do we continue to see posts from major news outlets that really have nothing to do with day to day hacking? What can be done to bring things back to higher quality of content e.g. less news spam?

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We the hackers by design are curious beings. So, there is nothing that couldn't potentially entertain and engage our minds.

I am new here but from what I understand the top stories are top because they were up voted by the members. This means the "problem" is not with the act of posting itself but with the act of up voting, which is reflective of the people active. That's democracy at work. The only way to fix it is the wrong way - discriminate and override, whatever those mean in this context.

You sound angry and resentful. And seem to assume 'what you like' = 'high quality'. It sounds like you're just having a nice whine, don't really want solutions. But anyway:

1. Well, you could make your own version that selects out the kind of stories you think are quality and quietly censors the rest. I might prefer that version too.

2. Or you could try changing the guidelines: "On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity."

Hacker News was like that before 2016 too.

It was never about hacking. It was about startup things, and I'm very glad that this isn't very prominent anymore.

HN has never been better!

I think this might be the "hackernews effect". As you go checking and reading HN content, they get less and less esoteric until you start think it became too mainstream.

No idea, but for the few interesting topics that arise, I find it good to keep a pulse on the “zeitgeist”. About 30% of the time. Would you consider contributing articles?

I've noticed FireFox quantum pocket 'recommended stories' are frequently front page HN news spam these days.

I think it's stuff that hackers like to read not stuff related to hacking.

agreed... the worst part is accidentally clicking then the paywall... the culprits are clearly nytimes, wsj, washington post

Psst… archive.org is your friend.

Or you hacker :), Greasemonkey with 33 lines (including filter) and you newer see nytimes, wsj, washington, techcrunch and usual offenders again

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