For me, the biggest problem at the moment on the internet are bubbles where people are not being exposed to different viewpoints.
I would stick with HN and live with the downvotes. It also helps to make any criticism polite.
I would stick with HN and live with the downvotes. It also helps to make any criticism polite.
OTOH, one is confronted by corporate interests all day long merely by existing, they're everywhere.
I'm really not sure if I need to see any more of that to get their point.
This place is no exception except it is done under the veneer of being objective (when it rarely is). You can be polite as you like, but if you have an actual dissenting opinion you will be downvoted or even be flagged over nothing.
Please don't do any of that here—it's not what HN is supposed to be for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
That's why you should take care of protecting your identity online.
As for upsides, I see many. If you don't expose yourself to contrary opinions, there can be no development, you basically shut yourself to anything that could be beneficial to you, especially in the long run. I'm very grateful whenever someone makes me realize I made a mistake or didn't see the complete picture, it's priceless.
Yes, sometimes you hit the wall, but it's also important to recognize people have different worldviews and that's one of the things that make life interesting.
In the future, you won't be allowed to be anonymous online. Governments don't like it and sooner or later they won't allow it or make it very difficult to be anonymous.
> As for upsides, I see many. If you don't expose yourself to contrary opinions, there can be no development, you basically shut yourself to anything that could be beneficial to you, especially in the long run. I'm very grateful whenever someone makes me realize I made a mistake or didn't see the complete picture, it's priceless.
I am not talking about intellectual debate which is fine. I am specifically talking about why people end up forming bubbles that don't pay attention to those outside of their group.
What you are saying is fine if you are dealing with honest actors. But I am specifically talking about the times that you aren't. There are mobs, they specifically go after dissenters and they won't stop, they don't get punished (or very rarely there is repercussions) or push back due to this behaviour.
Thus people will go to places that gives them at least pseudo-anonymity and avoid talking to others on the outside because the risk maybe to great for them to simply express a dissenting opinion.
Also some of these dissenting opinions aren't anything normally one would even consider extreme.
I avoid extrapolation because it can be very deceptive. We're talking about this website, now. As it is, it's very easy to have two accounts: one linked to your startup/company/real identity, and another one where you can express your opinions more freely.
Yes, of course there are many people who are aggressive about their views and basically intolerant, but if someone crosses the line they'll be downvoted here too, even if they have leftish/progressive views. Frankly, of many places on today's Internet, HN is one of the nicest to be.
> Yes, of course there are many people who are aggressive about their views and basically intolerant, but if someone crosses the line they'll be downvoted here too, even if they have leftish/progressive views.
The gamification of social interaction creates the intolerant views and all the negative incentives around it. Downvoting / Upvoting is part of that. It is literally the mob deciding whether you have a right to be heard. I rather there were the rules and nothing else.
> Frankly, of many places on today's Internet, HN is one of the nicest to be.
Which is another reason why dissenting opinion is quashed because people self-censor. Sometimes some things have to be said and they have to be said in an unpleasant manner.
It is pretty clear at this point we are just talking past one another though.