Ask HN: Why not have HN meetups? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why not have HN meetups?

21 pointsamar-laksh27 comments

I know, we're not reddit but would love to know your thoughts on the topic? We're a bunch of curious people, and curiosity blooms in collaborative rooms?

View on HN

I think that the readership is too broad. After running a meetup for a couple of years and being a leader/participant in other organizations, you need to have something which unifies a group. Otherwise there's no reason to hang out together.

Would you have a meetup of <insert newspaper here> readers? That's the breadth of topics covered by HN, and I just don't see it being unifying enough.

Depends.

A HN pub crawl would be cool, you want diversity to keep things interesting while using HN as a broadly similar filter would help to ensure there are some overlapping interests.

More targeted groups are good for learning or specific activities.

Good point. I'd show up for a pub crawl were it within a 30 minute drive from me (front range of Colorado, USA).

How about Hacker News music scene?

People meet and play/jam/work/demo new music.

Focus on anything audio/software related that makes music.

That still requires the "unification" angle - now it's merely alcohol instead of an interest area. :-)

I don't know. It depends on how often and what the expectations are. I think it could be cool as a few times a year thing in different regions/cities just as a meet and greet or mini conference type thing. Maybe a presenter or two, then put some faces to the user names (for people who don't want to be anonymous). Allowing more frequent meet ups to happen organically out of that.

Newspapers aren't a community though. I think the Ask HN section is the closest there is to a community, but the majority will hang out on the front page or even Show HN.

I did become friends with people in my geographical region who read HN. It is a unifying aspect - non-American who reads HN.

The biggest issue is that dang won't be there to moderate us...

There used to be lots of meetup announcements in the first few years of HN. I don't know when that slowed down, but I also lived nowhere near most of them for over a decade (small town, good work, but not a big tech scene).

It's something I've always wondered, as I'd be interested. In the meantime, the "rationalist" sphere, who have similar intellectual interests spanning tech, policy, altruism, economics, etc., are mostly online but do actually have meetups spanning lots of global cities. I imagine you'd find 80% of what you'd want from an HN meetup. (caveat: I haven't been to any though)

https://www.lesswrong.com/community

This sounds similar to 2600 meetings I used to attend in the before times - lots of interesting people and ideas, always coming away from them with a ton to add to my video queue and reading lists. I would maybe say one could get 70% of what you'd want from an HN meetup but I would still be down for an HN meetup if one was organized and not too far away.

https://www.2600.com/meetings/

Very cool. I didn't know those were a thing.

I'd be open to something like that.

Maybe a VC can get drunk and pitch out the strangest idea possible. I know I'm going to build my 3 hour prototype in Flutter, what about you.

I actually LOL'd at this. Epic

That sounds a lot like the Indie Hackers meetups.

Unlike geographically-based meetup groups [0], the readership of HN isn't bound by some arbitrary lines on a map

You want to go get pizza some night and talk about the failing of cryptocurrency? I'm your guy! ...presuming you're within, say, 30 minutes of me (halfway between Lexington KY and Knoxville TN)

I might also be "your guy" if you wanted to discuss theological implications of a cashless society

Or if you want to talk about the pros and cons of an all- (or mostly-) electric vehicle fleet in a given country

Or any of myriad other topics

But if you're not near[ish] me ...I'm not your [in-person] guy

I'd love to get together the next time I'm in Sacramento or Seattle or Chicago or Las Vegas or Miami or any of a thousand other places - but carving out time in my life for people not nearby? It's just not a priority

------------

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30533089

Now I'm interested to know the theological implications of cashless society.

"Render unto Caesar" being a bit confusing for such a society perhaps?

It would certainly bring tithing into an interesting focus: since bitcoin, for example, isn't owned by any single [government] entity, and any increase can only be realized by spending it, should you tithe 10% of your bitcoin to your church? If not, how much should be (presuming you believe the 'tithe' is still binding on Christians today as it was for the Jews of the Old Covenant)?

This discussion could probably also extend to investment portfolios - have you actually "increased" when the value of your investments go up? Or do you only consider any "increase" when it is realized from the virtual to the real?

Sounds great but like always someone needs to go thru the hard work of putting it together. I bet few to none will volunteer.

All you have to do is name some time and place, and that's it.

Saturday, X day of Y month, in Such and Such Park, near West parking lot, 11:30 a.m. BYO everything.

It doesn't have to be a tech conference with presentations and keynote speakers.

Seattle had one. Covid killed it (for now?). https://www.meetup.com/HackerNewsSeattleMeetup/

That's a cool idea. I've been thinking about starting a Unity3D or Indie Hackers meetup here in Indianapolis, but I suspect the turnout may be low because those topics are niche compared to the size of the tech scene here. Maybe I'll give an HN meetup a try instead since that will appeal to a broader group.

For obvious reason there hasn’t been any for two years, but I’ve seen HN Meetup’s around the world, back in the day.

I actually do think this happens more in the YC startup school space. A lot of people who sign up for the cofounder matching are just looking to meet interesting people. I’ve personally gone out to play pool and eat lunch with a couple folks my roommate found via the platform.

Have you seen the HN user map someone put together a while back? All over the map. You can have regional stuff for sure. If YC is ok with it of course.

Once COVID is fully past I'd love HN meetups. But lets give up on the idea that they be monthly. Not only would you burn out leaders but in my case having to drive to Detroit or Ann Arbor would mean I couldn't do it monthly.

I think quarterly would be perfect. Plus in Michigan you could bypass the worst of winter and not have the worry of a blizzard wiping out all your plans.

Because someone might ask us to explain our downvotes

Reply on news.ycombinator.com