And now you hang out at HN which is totally different from social media. Where people never seek approval from the masses. Chastising other people as a concept does not exist on HN.
HN, the not-social media, does not even have a concept of likes.
HN, the not-social media, does not even have a concept of likes.
You're merely chastising a few of my opinions. There's so much detachment from the rest of me.
In the early days of Facebook I actually screwed up a relationship as I was worried my first girlfriend would post the wrong thing on my wall, and oh no all my friends would see.
Hacker News isn't really a social media site since there's no concept of followers or friends here.
If in any case you decide to go through my post history to make fun of me, I can just create a new handle. I can do this without even adding an email address.
That’s not at all typical for Instagram. In fact, anyone being called “ugly” would do well to block whoever is making those comments, which is very easy on the platform.
> Hacker News isn't really a social media site since there's no concept of followers or friends here.
Hacker News is absolutely a social media. The comments section is all about social discussion and we have upvotes and downvotes.
You may like it more than other forms of social media because it lacks pictures, allows usernames instead of real names, and replaces likes with upvotes (and downvotes, arguably more toxic than likes). However, it’s still social media.
I'm not sure that matters all that much, it's just one way of doing things.
Would HackerNews be a different beast if it gave you the option of viewing the most recent 40 comments from your 10 favourite commenters? I don't think so. Someone could even build this as a third-party UI if they wanted to.
> If in any case you decide to go through my post history to make fun of me, I can just create a new handle.
HackerNews is well moderated. I imagine the mods would view that kind of thing as harassment and put a stop to it, especially if you contacted them about it.
So, yeah, you're absolutely right. And lately I've been actively considering canceling my subscription and spending more time just reading books.
Call em what you want, but upvotes/downvotes are in the same sphere as likes. Being downvoted into oblivion has the same mental effect as no likes or dislikes on other platforms, despite not being a 1:1 algorithm (1 upvote on HN does not necessarily equate to +1 in your karma) and even if you're the only one that can see them.
Without those things, HN would not have the same allure as it does now. Of course upvotes/downvotes are a core part of HN; they even have a leaderboard. At least one particular "eccentric" character tends to boast about being on it as if it's a status symbol (which it may very well be, particularly if you're frequent on HN).
One advantage with HN over reddit is that buffoonery is generally not rewarded.
Most successful people tend to be a bit above that.
I enjoy HN since the discourse here tends to be fairly intelligent. I've already gained a great deal of very valuable information from this site
You’re not wrong of course, but it feels a bit exaggerated.
To me HN is the final hold out of the old social news sphere. Geeky computer nerds with inflated egos having (mostly) geeky computer nerd discussions. That doesn't sound like much, but at least the average IQ is higher than room temperature and knowledgeable discussion is more popular than puns.
There's also a publicly visible total karma associated with each account, but it's not displayed prominently.
I don't think submission scoring is particularly problematic.
As for other social media, I deleted my Facebook and Twitter and feel like a mentally healthier person for it, and I think it’s a choice everyone has to make for themselves, but we should be providing information and support to people who quit. I would liken it more to alcohol use: many enjoy it in moderation, it’s an addictive problem for some. I strongly dislike the semi-compulsory nature of Facebook groups for activities that only organize on Facebook.