What problem does Discourse solve that Hacker News doesn't solve right now?
EDIT: Obviously it has a modern, nice interface. That's a win. But I mean more specifically, what problem of human dynamics does it solve that Hacker News doesn't solve?
EDIT: Obviously it has a modern, nice interface. That's a win. But I mean more specifically, what problem of human dynamics does it solve that Hacker News doesn't solve?
So one persons comment can effectively derail most of the people viewing the thread into a cul-de-sac of discussing one specific point.
And considering other forum options, Discourse has probably a killer feature, which is "Best of" a thread. Forums are horrible for documentation, after a meaningful discussion topics usually go dead, and if you want to read an old topic (but relevantt to you) with 500 pages (or even just 20), it is painful, you don't need to read every single comment, and Discourse's "Best of" will (should) fix that. That is powerful.
Whether used by hackers or not, these design features interest me greatly.
HN relies on a panel of hand-picked moderators, right? It works for HN, but perhaps not in other contexts.
One way to think of this is as follows: what happens when posts get flagged? What's the sequence, who knows about it, and how? For that matter, who can flag?
We do have basic rate limits throughout the app, and they're all configurable as well.
Much of this has to evolve. I'd love your input on it, too!
Looking forward to see it in use. Hopefully this will provide a more modern way to ask all those important questions that needs discussion.