People (and myself) can rag on this website a lot but it really has changed the trajectory of my professional life. It’s where I:
* first learned about CRDTs, kickstarting an interest in distributed systems
* first learned about TLA+, kickstarting an interest in formal specification
* first saw the book Quantum Computing Since Democritus recommended (in a post about Professor Sussman’s reading list), kickstarting an interest in quantum computing
* first learned about the LEAN theorem prover, kickstarting an interest in machine-checked proofs of correctness for mathematical theorems
* first learned about tree-sitter, leading me to write a tree-sitter grammar for TLA+
All of these (well, except quantum computing really - that remains a pleasant side-hobby although I did work in Microsoft’s quantum program for a bit) are now things I use in the contracts I work on as an independent software engineering consultant, and the open source work I do in between. TLA+ especially has had an enormous impact. Five good posts over the course of ten years is still a pretty good signal/noise ratio!
Hey thanks for this comment! It reminded me that I wanted to play with TLA+ some years ago. Now, for the first time, I got a couple of models checked :)
Took me a while to find out where the cool kids had gone from Slashdot back then ;)
Speaking of which, let's keep HN a liberal and welcoming place also for corps/startups (but not astroturfers) where key developers, experts from non-IT, CEOs/CTOs can have a voice as that's what makes HN unique IMO.
Ah, I miss the old Slashdot. It took me a while to become a regular here as well. Slashdot got a bit too serious/corporate at some point and the founders eventually got out and at some point I just moved on as well. The last time I left a comment there was twelve years ago or so. I actually just logged in just to see if my account is still there. Karma still excellent :-).
I like HN, but it could do with people being maybe a bit less uptight and a bit lighter sometimes. The comment section seems to have quite a few pedantic know it-alls taking themselves way to seriously; just like slashdot used to. Welcoming is maybe not a term I'd necessarily use for this.
There's definitely a contingent in the HN comments with a bit of an antisocial streak. I wish people approached comments they take issue with with more of a pedagogical approach, starting with interpretive charity and trying to help the commenter see things in another way.
I'd actually use the term "welcoming" in this context.
I like HN, but it could do with people being maybe a bit less uptight and a bit lighter sometimes. The comment section seems to have quite a few pedantic know it-alls taking themselves way to seriously; just like slashdot used to.
That's a fair point, but at least the one thing we don't have here (for the most part) in comparison to /. is the steady stream of comments of the
- GNAA
- In Soviet Korea Only Old People Spy You With Email
- Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those
- X is dying, Netcraft confirms it.
- etc.
sort. Not that some of that stuff wasn't funny for a moment, but it definitely grew stale after a while.
Slashdot at the time was turning into a bit of a swamp, partly from its bad threaded commenting system, but mostly because of a constant addition of low-value "first" comments, needless attacks, and dumb links (Goatse, Rickrolling, etc.)
HN came around at the right time, and really had a better community with a good signal:noise ratio. The moderating system (flagging, up/down votes, and of course @dang and his predecessors) really helped.
One thing that's really impressed me as time has gone on is how far the expertise has expanded. I have bookmarked a bunch of users who consistently add solid insights, often with deep domain expertise sometimes from very unexpected quarters (diesel technicians, biologists, farmers, artists, musicians ...). They include @Animats @jdietrich @bkohlmann @nonbel @tptacek @zackmorris @jurassic @tamilama @patio11 @ries @nimbius @breakingcups @noduerme @300bps and many more.
> let's keep HN a liberal and welcoming place also for corps/startups (but not astroturfers) where key developers, experts from non-IT, CEOs/CTOs can have a voice
I agree and I would also like to see more encouragement for solopreneurs. As financial independence through solopreneurship has a better probability of being achieved than creating an unicorn startup; especially when not having a safety-net.
So maybe less of 'Why are you making money' when an indie showcases their product, While defending bad practices of Trillion dollar mEga corps. as 'They have to make money'!
P.S. Happy birthday HN, Congratulations & thanks to P.G, Initial set of users, Current users and of course Dan.
news.yc, like all other mimetic communities on the web, has its flaws. For ex, it reserves plenty wrath and fury for a certain type of corps and upstarts. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing; but, It is a thing.
I’ve been coming here from the beginning. Off and on. Different handles because I rarely saved my passwords. I absolutely appreciate all the gem comments especially from insiders. This is the only place that reminds me of 90s newsgroups.
I want to especially thank Dang for keeping this place consistent.
We need Dang as a Guido style BDFL[1]. At least until the community has grown to fully take on and continue the culture. (Which I am assuming why Guido felt he could step down)
Hope they are taking great care of you at YC!
1. For those unaware, Guido, the creator of Python, who remained the Benevolent Dictator for life until 2018.
It feels like HN still upholds the early promise of the internet (along with Wikipedia and very small number of other websites). But what will the next 15 year bring about?
I also recommend people revisit archives of some high-quality web forums and websites like Geocities. There is a lot of revisionism going on in tech sector right now. Conveniently, it's nearly impossible to challenge in a space where a handful of people can disappear your posts by downvoting and a conversation stays "relevant" only for a few hours.
There was also a lot less diversity (in some ways) however with Web 1. You were fairly likely to be talking to someone quite nerdy or at least with similar hobbies. The barrier to entry is also of course much lower now generally. I agree the upvote / downvote system can SOMETIMES disappear a valid opinion but I cannot currently think of a better way to self moderate discussions like we have here.
The same thing does happen to an extent during in person conversations but the barrier for both making a challenging statement and "downvoting" a challenging statement or action is higher.
HN may not be able to actually BE what Web 1.0 was but it seems to make an honest attempt at it in the modern world.
In a billion years, when an alien species reaches earth and sees the ruins of human civilization, somehow one of the last remaining transmissions is that voice, calmly reminding everyone that anything is possible… at Zombocom
What's the "early promise of the internet" to you?
The Venture Capitalists and startuppers that made HN like the internet to be Free enough that new businesses and services can thrive, and Open Source for the accessible and reusable building blocks for their projects, but clearly like commercialization and being the middleman, like in the good old offline days. The headache of moderating their platforms feels more urgent than thinking about Freedom of Speech.
The early internet, to me, was the promise to remove those middlemen and have us directly connect, and, while using mostly free and low-overhead websites or services, contribute back. I expected real estate classifieds posted in an open format to open databases by now, and the job description of "real estate agent" retired.
When I think if "upholding" anything I might think of Slashdot clearly preaching Open Source and the Evils of Microsoft. Naive by today's standards but hey, it kept the old ethos alive for a little longer.
Edit: No doubt many other excellent values were upheld by HN and the moderators, so thanks for that!
What's the "early promise of the internet" to you?
That should probably be a whole separate post of its own! In fact, I'd encourage you, if you're interested, to consider writing up something on the topic and submit it as a new post. I think there's a lot to dig into with regards to what we all thought the "early promise of the Internet" was, and analyze it in terms of where we were wrong, where we've fallen short of the ideas, and - maybe most importantly - where there's room to take specific action(s) to get "back on the rails" so to speak.
It's remarkable how unchanged the community feel has been on HN -- those headlines would not be out of place on today's front page if you change the company names and tech stacks a bit :) Doesn't seem like there's been an eternal September moment in the past decade and a half (like Reddit's push for mobile adoption, for example). Really a testament to the mods' consistency, thanks @dang!
The consistent design is what's holding HN back. The worst is when the top comment has so many replies, the first page is only reactions on that comment. Someone actually needs to sticky a comment saying there's a next page button with links to it. Oh and the links are unclickable on mobile.
Happy birthday HN. I absolutely love this community. Once I started reading HN somewhat frequently, there is no question that I became a better developer, thinker, researcher, and writer. The topics shared here seem to have no rival anywhere else on the internet ... at least, not as far as I am aware of.
I think this is a good time to admit that when I first came here, I was a bit shy to post anything about tech or programming, but by hanging out here and practicing what I learned here, I eventually felt worthy of contributing.
Wasn’t there a thread recently (can’t find it) about the limit of paging back to the earliest posts and that it actually started in October or similar? And feb is just the earliest the UI will let you click to, so anniversary is actually past already? Not to be a party pooper =|
Readit News
* first learned about CRDTs, kickstarting an interest in distributed systems
* first learned about TLA+, kickstarting an interest in formal specification
* first saw the book Quantum Computing Since Democritus recommended (in a post about Professor Sussman’s reading list), kickstarting an interest in quantum computing
* first learned about the LEAN theorem prover, kickstarting an interest in machine-checked proofs of correctness for mathematical theorems
* first learned about tree-sitter, leading me to write a tree-sitter grammar for TLA+
All of these (well, except quantum computing really - that remains a pleasant side-hobby although I did work in Microsoft’s quantum program for a bit) are now things I use in the contracts I work on as an independent software engineering consultant, and the open source work I do in between. TLA+ especially has had an enormous impact. Five good posts over the course of ten years is still a pretty good signal/noise ratio!
Deleted Comment
Speaking of which, let's keep HN a liberal and welcoming place also for corps/startups (but not astroturfers) where key developers, experts from non-IT, CEOs/CTOs can have a voice as that's what makes HN unique IMO.
I like HN, but it could do with people being maybe a bit less uptight and a bit lighter sometimes. The comment section seems to have quite a few pedantic know it-alls taking themselves way to seriously; just like slashdot used to. Welcoming is maybe not a term I'd necessarily use for this.
Anyway, happy birthday HN!
I'd actually use the term "welcoming" in this context.
That's a fair point, but at least the one thing we don't have here (for the most part) in comparison to /. is the steady stream of comments of the
- GNAA
- In Soviet Korea Only Old People Spy You With Email
- Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those
- X is dying, Netcraft confirms it.
- etc.
sort. Not that some of that stuff wasn't funny for a moment, but it definitely grew stale after a while.
https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=cmdrtaco
I was in high school in the early 2000s and Slashdot was like a haven for me.
I grew up in a town where I didn't know anyone in technology, let alone professional programmers.
But thanks to the internet I could get onto Slashdot and talk to other nerds and interact with real live professional programmers.
I haven't logged into my account in years but in hindsight that site meant a huge amount to me.
HN came around at the right time, and really had a better community with a good signal:noise ratio. The moderating system (flagging, up/down votes, and of course @dang and his predecessors) really helped.
One thing that's really impressed me as time has gone on is how far the expertise has expanded. I have bookmarked a bunch of users who consistently add solid insights, often with deep domain expertise sometimes from very unexpected quarters (diesel technicians, biologists, farmers, artists, musicians ...). They include @Animats @jdietrich @bkohlmann @nonbel @tptacek @zackmorris @jurassic @tamilama @patio11 @ries @nimbius @breakingcups @noduerme @300bps and many more.
I agree and I would also like to see more encouragement for solopreneurs. As financial independence through solopreneurship has a better probability of being achieved than creating an unicorn startup; especially when not having a safety-net.
So maybe less of 'Why are you making money' when an indie showcases their product, While defending bad practices of Trillion dollar mEga corps. as 'They have to make money'!
P.S. Happy birthday HN, Congratulations & thanks to P.G, Initial set of users, Current users and of course Dan.
news.yc, like all other mimetic communities on the web, has its flaws. For ex, it reserves plenty wrath and fury for a certain type of corps and upstarts. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing; but, It is a thing.
I want to especially thank Dang for keeping this place consistent.
Took me 7 years to create an account though. Wish I had done it sooner!
Especially ALWAYS reading the comments BEFORE the actual articles! Thanks!
Hope they are taking great care of you at YC!
1. For those unaware, Guido, the creator of Python, who remained the Benevolent Dictator for life until 2018.
Everyone here would do well to read and understand this essay by Jaron Lanier:
https://www.edge.org/conversation/jaron_lanier-digital-maois...
I also recommend people revisit archives of some high-quality web forums and websites like Geocities. There is a lot of revisionism going on in tech sector right now. Conveniently, it's nearly impossible to challenge in a space where a handful of people can disappear your posts by downvoting and a conversation stays "relevant" only for a few hours.
The same thing does happen to an extent during in person conversations but the barrier for both making a challenging statement and "downvoting" a challenging statement or action is higher.
HN may not be able to actually BE what Web 1.0 was but it seems to make an honest attempt at it in the modern world.
1. Eternal September: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
2. (and what I like to call) Eternal October: https://googlepress.blogspot.com/2000/10/google-launches-sel...
In a billion years, when an alien species reaches earth and sees the ruins of human civilization, somehow one of the last remaining transmissions is that voice, calmly reminding everyone that anything is possible… at Zombocom
The Venture Capitalists and startuppers that made HN like the internet to be Free enough that new businesses and services can thrive, and Open Source for the accessible and reusable building blocks for their projects, but clearly like commercialization and being the middleman, like in the good old offline days. The headache of moderating their platforms feels more urgent than thinking about Freedom of Speech.
The early internet, to me, was the promise to remove those middlemen and have us directly connect, and, while using mostly free and low-overhead websites or services, contribute back. I expected real estate classifieds posted in an open format to open databases by now, and the job description of "real estate agent" retired.
When I think if "upholding" anything I might think of Slashdot clearly preaching Open Source and the Evils of Microsoft. Naive by today's standards but hey, it kept the old ethos alive for a little longer.
Edit: No doubt many other excellent values were upheld by HN and the moderators, so thanks for that!
That should probably be a whole separate post of its own! In fact, I'd encourage you, if you're interested, to consider writing up something on the topic and submit it as a new post. I think there's a lot to dig into with regards to what we all thought the "early promise of the Internet" was, and analyze it in terms of where we were wrong, where we've fallen short of the ideas, and - maybe most importantly - where there's room to take specific action(s) to get "back on the rails" so to speak.
Deleted Comment
Another part is the consistent website design, it helps in focusing on the essentials, i.e. the articles and the discussions.
And last but not least i try to be the best I can when posting here.
Deleted Comment
I think this is a good time to admit that when I first came here, I was a bit shy to post anything about tech or programming, but by hanging out here and practicing what I learned here, I eventually felt worthy of contributing.
Thank You.
> Well its not a totally useless link submission...
Even our earliest comment ancestors had the signature HN venom.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28816110
https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2006-10-09