1) YC user is on drugs, has just completed what he considers to be a hacking feat, or is otherwise mentally stoked, and feels the irrepressible need to share what music he likes.
2) YC user realises that he can tell the world what he likes by posting a news item about it under the pretense of asking what other people like, oblivious to the fact that no one really cares. Note that if said user really cared what others liked, he perhaps would not include his own taste in the post. But he doesn't - this is expressive, one-way-only.
3) Some other YC users feel the same need and so congregate on that thread and reply with their own musical taste. Note that there is no actual discussion (how could there be?), just a bunch of people shouting their tastes into a tube with no one at the other end.
4) YC is less valuable for it.
5) Rinse, repeat every few weeks.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=132026 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=61831 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=144666 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=139901 etc, ad nauseam.
Am I the only one who thinks this?
Things like this can change from the last posting.
True, I can get that value countless other ways, and it's not all that hacker-specific, but it's not as bad as you suggest.
If nothing else, someone down the road will be able to use these threads for their Master's thesis on how hackers' taste in music changes over time. :p
I don't think so.
If YC became less valuable every time someone disagreed or posted something questionable, there'd be nothing left. We'll be fine. Lighten up.
However, a thread like this is not a discussion. Of the bunch of replies other than my one (and its associated meta-discussion), every single one is a "me too"-like statement that "this is what I listen to". And how could it be another way? We are all different people with different tastes and there is no singular "hacker music" that's best suited to programming.
So, an Ask-YC like this:
- doesn't bring anything new to the table in the OP (particularly since it's been done many times before)
- brings nothing in the comments
- is theoretically incapable of doing either anyway
Therefore, it's a complete waste of space. There could be an insightful article on the front page in its stead, but instead, all there is is this vacuous nothing. YC is worse for it, not better - YC thrives despite the presence of this kind of thread, not because of it.
Heathen! Your playlist should consist exclusively of death metal, '70s rock and 160BPM techno. Any comprehensible lyrics are distracting and should be banished.
I would be shocked to find any kind of music that some hacker somewhere doesn't listen to.
Therefore, the question is as meaningless as asking what colour hackers' hair is. Or what they eat.
Also, the idea of HN turning into an endless repetition of the same questions that new people ask all the time because they don't know that they've been asked before proves my point quite thoroughly: it's not a good future for HN.
This probably isn't right approach or medium.
Expanding on this: I don't listen to music while programming. If it can be treated as background music, then it's too boring to hold my attention when I need to get distracted for a moment. I try to listen to some challenging music before programming to get focused, and it seems to be working.
http://muziboo.com/song/list/nitindubey23?order=2
Anyone into Indian music here? :)
Disclaimer: Link from my startup.