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Comment by gentooflux | Hacker News Reader

Formulate hypothesis, test hypothesis, record results, compare results against previous experiments, adjust hypothesis, share the data. Again, I think the problem you have is with the subject matter.

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I have no problem with the subject matter and routinely hack my own firmware, I'm just clarifying the point that you seemed to miss. This thread is full of the kind of anecdotal evidence that would be laughed out of the room on any other day. That's not a judgement it's just a fact.

And actually, if I do have a problem it's quite the opposite of what you're suggesting: I'd like us to give more weight to the lived experience of others even in other contexts and regarding other subject matters.

On HN it's very common to see a blog post along the lines of "I found this old piece of equipment with no brand name, I used some network traffic inspection to figure out what it does, I hacked around a bit, I got it working and turned it into a self-ringing doorbell with wifi" (or whatever). All of that is anecdotal, N=1, "I did what worked for me, I hope it's interesting to you". And those posts are highly prized and rightly so.

That's great yes, and I'd like us to give even more weight to the lived experience of others even in other contexts and regarding other subject matters.

In contrast I like the fact that there is often an indication of what is not substantiated by strong/provable/scientific evidence and what is not. In fact I quite love both these subjective experience reporting and the more sceptical perspectives. A lot depends on the specific subject and whether evidence exists or is feasible to gather. I would hate to not hear about cool sounding ideas that MIGHT work, but is just not endorsed by rigorous chains of evidence. As long as the discussions are honest and in good spirit. People can point out risks and likihoods and alternative explanations. I really like those too.

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