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Comment by ld50 | Hacker News Reader

what about your HN experience has made you feel that the community here would not welcome india-related discussions?

i would love to hear about the issues, projects, and things in general that startup founders, hackers, techies, and tinkerers around the world have to deal with.

why slice by region?

as i see it you're segmenting across the wrong vertical. look at the stackexchange model: are they spinning off "stack exchange: china"/"stack exchange: india"? -no, its stack exchange: physics, stack exchange: math, etc. they're differentiating based on general subject matter. is that model something that could be replicated in the context of "all things hacker"? sure (hardware, software, gadgets, networking, cracking, blackhat/whitehat, security, etc). would it succeed? who knows.

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Stuff like maths, programming and physics are pretty universal. A problem in maths is a problem everywhere.

However things like payment gateways, local events, feedback on startups focused on Indian markets are not very global and may not interest a large majority of hackers here.

I never implied HN will not welcome such discussions or disapprove of it. I just feel (as others do too) that its hard for these discussions to get enough visibility here (for the reasons mentioned above).

I don't think anyone here has any issues with you creating a site for the Indian community, I think most people disagree with your use of "Hacker News". Why don't you just create a site, call it something else and link to it from here? That's probably the better approach

I think your argument about visibility is valid. Personally though I would rather see a /india added than a fork of the community here... and ultimately I think we would all benefit more from collective engagement (and perhaps some "technological adaptation"-- a la code pushes from pg/contribs) rather than divisive isolation (HN is niche enough already)

"However things like payment gateways, local events, feedback on startups focused on Indian markets are not very global and may not interest a large majority of hackers here."

I personally would love to read articles or posts on payment gateways, how they differ region by region, who controls what market, major players, how their systems work, how their businesses and pricing schemes work, highlights of their unique adaptations, or things certain providers are doing that set them apart or allow them to succeed in their particular market.

I think that's exactly the sort of discourse that should be taking place here; "what's hot in silicon valley" is great --and we get plenty of that-- but broader discussions on things like opportunities in emerging and rapidly growing markets should as well.

I think there are genuine needs for something like HNI. For instance there was a thread there about good quiet coffee shops for hacking. Its very India specific and I would know the frustration where that thread comes from. I do not think that such threads would be very well received here at HN, in the sense that it is unlikely to float up to the front page.

Its the notion of helping oneself to the brand without earning it in anyway that I find disagreeable.

"I think there are genuine needs for something like HNI."

i agree, however would not a /r/india work as well?

I think it definitely would and prefer it that way. Upvoted for your suggestion.

IMO, this new site could be helpful for the 'Startup Ecosystem' in India.

HN community has been absolutely wonderful all these years, but for startups every geographical region brings in its own set of challenges. If we need to spur on the innovation and startup culture in India, we would have to connect and help each other out whenever required.

For example, check out this link - http://hackernews.in/item?id=182

I never knew about some of these startups and especially who are the folks behind it. This thread would obviously have got lost had it been posted here.

I see the new site's value in setting up a platform for collaboration amongst hackers/entrepreneurs of India. It cannot replace HN for me, but can be a useful add-on forum.

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