Does anyone else feel like staying off HN for a bit?

No. There are always a lot of discussions on HN I don't much care about - so I ignore them. Meanwhile, a historical event took place in the United Sates this past week. "Big Tech" has reacted to that event. That reaction is being discussed. Seems like an appropriate topic for HN to discuss. If you don't want to discuss that issue there are still posts such as how the new MacBook Air is the best computer I've ever used. So I suggest ignore what you don't want to read more about and click through the things you do.

Seems you always hated this place: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25044791

I do enjoy hn's discussions even if my opinions are rarely shared.

In general I don't mind reading opinions which are different from mine and I enjoy a window on people in tech and startup on issues that space from technology to politics.

I felt in the past it may be a bit to addictive (I don't do any other social media) and ended up restricting its usage (first fully, then by time, then by device).

Your profile settings have a “noprocrast” option, you could try switching it on and see how that’s goes. By default you get 20mins of viewing time then you’re banned for 3 hours.

It might be worth it until all the politics blow over.

When some group, or citizens of a country, or people in a large "class" goes through culturally-significant events, it is perfectly reasonable for conversation to be pulled in that directly for some amount of time. My experience is that this place will always adjust itself back to it's core topic.

Side note: I've noticed these topics tend to burn out quickly because the post and the posters are getting tons of down votes and, due to the "algorithm" (dang), being slowly pushed away from the top. Speaking of: Moderating is often a thankless job, so thank you.

I don't care for the topic at all, so all of everyday life in the US is getting tiresome. If anything, HN is my break from it as people here tend to be a little more objective and rational than elsewhere online.

Block the site for a while and go make a pizza from scratch, go skiing, or do something outside. The arguments don't change from one deplatforming thread to another, you won't miss anything.

If anyone did, you probably won't be able to reach them this way. They wouldn't be here.

I find it really sad how politics has slowly invaded HN over the past year. And also how anyone with a dissenting opinion has to post with throwaway accounts that will inevitably turn light grey.

Unfortunately, I only see things getting worse from here. It seems inevitable when observing other internet communities that gradually devolved into being pervaded by partisanship and identity politics.

Hopefully a new site comes along at which point the cycle will start over...

I'd prefer to see a politics tag added to hn.

Frankly, the only politics I want to see on HN are the politics of technology itself. I.e., laws about data and data freedom, IP, open source, etc. I really don't want US or World politics in general here.

But I can ignore them when they get posted.

I do, but like most social media sites, I simply cannot quit.

Yes. I'm dealing with it by checking in less often. It's not just the past couple of weeks - the last few months have felt weird.

I'm reading books and listening to long-form podcasts on the consumption side. Writing more is actually helping the most.

No, illegitimi non carborundum.

HN has always had rather poor quality of discussion around politics (though of course it's still way better than Facebook or Twitter, not to mention Parler!). It's not really about Trump or about what has transpired during the past week; that's just the symptom.

OP, join #lobsters on Freenode and request an invite. Mention my username (same as here) and I'll see if I can extend an invite.

You can hide those threads. When the Covid thing took off I seemed to be blocking every other thread.

There's a moderator curated version of HN if you wanted that.

Check out hckrnews.com

I find it easier to read and skip over stories.

Only 5/30 issues on the front page are Trump/free speech. They're easy enough to avoid

This whole thing reminds of the 4 stages of change:

- denial: our capitalistic democratic ways work: we're not China!

- resistance: oh no, FAANG control our lives, we must fight back!

- exploration: what if mastodon blockchain webRTC could save us?

- acceptance: something must be done, X is something, therefore it must be done!

We're currently on the third step. I'd love for there to be a rational, coherent solution for the last step, but I don't have much faith that the for-karma collective in HN is going to agree to stop nitpicking, let alone come up with a remotely workable solution.

Expect to see technology startups claiming to solve the problem without understanding its human aspect, big tech growing more powerful on the back of cacophonous social media "engagement", and China's dominance in the world increasing as the rest of the world becomes less and less able to manufacture anything. That's what the fourth stage is going to be, if things keep going the way they have been.

One of the saddest things on here in my opinion is how vehemently people hate China. No critical thinking ability at all.