Anatomy Of A Hacker-News Story

infrequently.org

26 points·julien··6 comments

This sounds sophisticated, but is it true? Are there any stories currently on the frontpage that this is the anatomy of? Or even in the top 100?

This one is close enough to startle me, at least:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1876621

Hmm, yes, that must have been the one he was reacting to. But he seems to be claiming it's a pattern. So let me modify that question: Are there any stories currently on HN that this is the anatomy of, that weren't themselves the inspiration for the post?

The title and tone do suggest he is making a general criticism of hacker news. Still, it says "A Hacker News Story", not "Any Hacker News Story" so the anatomy could be specific, but the main point more general.

It appears he is accusing us of groupthink.

I'm not sure how much merit that claim has---certainly he has presented no "actual research" himself, but it is an interesting criticism nonetheless.

Assuming that the anatomy here is not so vague in itself and poorly researched that it dies by it's own sword, so to speak...

But it's hard to think of a way to write highly detailed and technical work that even the best and brightest here are going to read. They're simply too busy.

So - like any good marketing copy, an article must have a hook, and then it must follow through on some/ more of these basic principles outlined in the anatomy. Really, all these can just be boiled down to ensuring that the reader will clearly see the benefits to them from reading the article in the first line or two.

For myself - I try to spend a bit of time on the new page voting up more of the technical articles - particularly Python related ones, because that's what I'm interested in.

Sometimes, the truth hurts.

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