Paul Graham Facts
news.ycombinator.com
news.ycombinator.com
I wonder if it's specifically a geek thing?
There's always software discussion taking place here and if you don't think there's enough, then start a new thread discussing what you think is appropriate. You still have the power to make the site better by contributing worthwhile content. Relevant humor isn't banned here by any means... though I admit that the idea of a Paul Graham Facts meme is much funnier than the facts themselves.
That the system would be based on existing networks would ensure the cross pollination of ideas between different interest groups.
Look at the front page: the top link is this crap, and then of the top 10, we have 5 completely content-free links, and then another 5 links that are vaguely informative, but none of the kind of insightful fascinating long articles that make one's day (e.g. the violin string thing).
That's a ridiculous assertion. You mean that you don't go for this stuff.
If you don't like the links that are on the page, spend some time finding a better link. It doesn't do any good to complain about something you have control over.
As one of the original couple that posted a PG fact, the intent wasn't malicious. Just found it creative, and if anything, good for a little chuckle that originated in the community.
That said, I'm a programmer, and have a background in EE and CS--I see myself as a hacker, though I'm always still learning. And I posted a comment supporting the change from startup news to hacker news, lamenting how I was sick of reading facebook and how to get VC money articles. So I was a little bit surprised by your comment, and made me reflect on my comment.
I think it's very easy to not read your feeds and just rely on hacker news. But then you end up reading what other people think is interesting, and that's a problem if it's not aligned. I agree with rms in this thread. I think if you want it better, you can always submit things you find interesting. That's what I do, and from my list of submissions, you can see it's usually tech things and programming issues.
http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=iamwil
But not everything gets upped that I think is interesting--for example, the Software Radio, and it's something you just shrug your shoulders at.
Of course, in hindsight, one can argue that little slips like this makes it a slippery slope, and pretty soon, we'll get pictures of lolcats fixing computers. That's not an unreasonable argument, considering we have lessons about boiling frogs, and never hire B people that hire C people.
Hacker news is as much my home as it is yours, so all apologies. I'd like to have it tickle my interesting bone everyday. Only serious interesting stuff from now on. >:-|
We can only hope not.
We've got a long way to go before it gets to daily xkcd threads.
I'm hoping weighted voting will solve this, but I don't take it for granted.
This is why Ron Paul is mentioned in every reddit/digg thread.
An authoritarian can minimize the influence of the extremists or other people that vote in a way contrary to the well-being of the community.
Thing is, daily xkcd threads I can handle, daily atheist rants, Ron Paul campaigns and lolcat crap I can't.