Hacker News Reader

Comment by pkdpic | Hacker News Reader

I have honestly never met anyone who would defend hacker news or reddit as a good use of their time or pressure their peers to use the platforms more.

Are we saying that all social media platforms are the same? Are there teams working on the hacker news platform trying to tweak the algorithms to drive addictive user engagement? Is the sorting algorithm not a matter of public record?

Correction to my original comment, I am asking about Instagram / Facebook / Twitter.

I know why I (maybe we) go on HN and its because Im bored and weak and Ive never felt manipulated by it or addicted to it or wanted to be on it for more than 15 minutes.

I have chores I should be doing.

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> I am asking about Instagram / Facebook / Twitter.

I find Instagram pretty valuable, and I've tried to create a habit of going on it every day or two for 15-20 minutes (I have to exert effort to do this). I have close friends now scattered around the world, and one of the best ways (per unit of time) for me to keep up with everyone is to check out their posts/stories, send some kind of DM commenting on their activities, and post a story of my own. Then when we do end up talking on the phone I feel like I know what they've been up to.

Me and my friend found our jobs through HN, and the HN common cultural context helped me in that job. It's definitely a value add for my life

> I honestly haven't come across anyone who would advocate for Hacker News or Reddit as a productive use of their time.

Really? I actually encounter such individuals quite frequently, even if it's more subtly expressed through statements like, "Hey, did you catch that discussion on HN about X? You should check it out!"

> Are we implying that all social media platforms are indistinguishable?

In the sense that they all harbor pseudonymous individuals often baiting one another and getting embroiled in futile online conflicts aimed solely at boosting egos (even our current exchange is not exempt from this and I am guilty of it)?

Yes, I believe that's a valid assessment of virtually every social media platform.

> Are we saying that all social media platforms are the same?

Nobody is saying that.

> Are there teams working on the hacker news platform trying to tweak the algorithms to drive addictive user engagement?

Driving addictive user engagement has little to do with being a social media platform, see Netflix for example.

> Is the sorting algorithm not a matter of public record?

Again, that’s irrelevant. Twitter is more open-source than HN.

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