"All That We Have Lost": An HN Experiment | Hacker News Reader

"All That We Have Lost": An HN Experiment

3 pointsomegacombinator8 comments

The things of the past

Often thought forgotten,

Tend to leave a mark.

In the dark corners of the mind,

A tiny seed lies, dormant

Awaiting the light of memory.

This is an HN experiment: to build a poem with a tree-like structure. Starting from the above few lines as seed/parent-node, comments from the HN community (you, dear reader) can transform this into a diverse, branching piece of work.

Comments directly to this post should continue the poem from the above lines, while sub-comments should continue from their parent comments.

I have never really tried any social experiment like this one before, but I think that the result (a living, branching poem) might be an interesting one.

Ready?

View on HN

That was a good experiment. Glad you gave it a go. Reminds of the days when the internet was still fun, and not a combat zone. I think these kinds of things are important and revealing. One lesson perhaps is that HN is not the most interactive of places. There are several structural disincentives to conversational modality.

Yes, I was expecting a much more enthusiastic feedback. I thought that almost everyone would be willing to contribute 3 lines or so, which is sadly not the case. Can you think of any other site where this might gain better reception?

Another factor might be that I posted this one in the morning (IST), when HN is not really at its peak, and the post quickly got lost in the ‘new posts’ list. Do you think it would be OK to repost this link after a month or so?

TBH I cannot think of other sites that are better for a potential cascading run than HN. I've seen some amazing memetic threads here. As you surmise its all about initial conditions. This could easily have gone another way. Time of day, mood, whether there's a another very active thread....HN is very fickle and sensitive. 95% of all my submissions (which are predominantly for our podcast) fall on stony ground. Every now and then maybe you hit paydirt.

> repost

I've found that you can gently bring people round to an idea. Look at how the "algorithm" works here. People post related subjects and they or others post follow-on connections soon after to ride the mood.

So for example you'll see a post about permutations in game theory, and then a post about enumerating chess moves, and then a thread about the differences between Go and chess... there's a subtle logic.

I also note the "Overton window" (or subject attention span) for HN is about 48 hours. So, sow the seeds by submitting topics on "participatory games", "chain letters", "Chinese whispers", "stochastic composition"... and then re-test your experiment with the crowd primed.

Thanks for the ideas :)

My ‘pitching’ was entirely unplanned, and really, I have no experience in audience targeting or anything like that. Well, guess I will just have to try again. Maybe I can get some time for better planning and execution after a few months. Thanks again.

'tween the lines the darkness too shines

A primordial vine all things defined

That which separates also connects

Never beginning, always ending

Too know, one must measure

To measure is to limit

Liberty to do what can't be done

In the sandbox of mind

Does two equal one and one equal all?

Time won't ever tell

For mercy not malice

An answer that would annihilate

Greetings from infinity

It's been so long!

Remember?

Just ride the seed

Nothing can be unwritten

Only unseen

The eye, symbol of all things

And the thing itself an eye

In a blink, we seem to be

Ride the seed.

Some dim the lamps,

Afraid of what they might see

Or perhaps of what might be absent

Flickering shadows delight damp walls

Snuff it out! Let sleep come again.

Beyond the cave, morning calls.

I turn to go; a creaking sound

Something huge looms behind.

“Tiny seed”, what have you done?

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