Do you feel that comment quality on HN is diminishing lately?

Do you have any specific recommendations for improving HN discourse that we could discuss?

The only thing that ever worked in my mind: "Become the change you want to see". The rules are already out there and are pretty good, IMO. Beyond that, the entire experience is a result of audience participation.

Is there an outlet for kinda mindless shitposting that isn't reddit or chanish? Because my M.O. is basically the aforementioned when I post here, and I really don't know of any alternatives. If you have any, advertise them because I don't think I am alone in wanting a space for semi-mindless shitposting. Outside of creating my own instance (eh, maybe), I don't know what to do.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26278011

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1198041

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8947549

Yes, and I see a lot more repeat stories too.

The glory days of HN were really in the 2000s and 20-teens. It’s been very slowly going downhill for a while. It’s still better than almost all other open sites in its subject area though. All open forums and open social media has been going downhill.

Personally I've begun limiting my time here. It has gotten worse. Just my .02.

Things that could make it better, maybe:

-more aggressively axing topics that are outright divisive.

-maybe sticky-ing major topics together more often. Maybe by day?

Nope, I've been reading HN almost daily since my account was created and it feels the same.

I remember people wondering the same as you not long after I started going to HN.

Yes, HN was at its peak around the time I signed up for it.

It started to go downhill after that.

It’s kind of like how SNL was at its peak when I was 17 years old and hasn’t been the same since.

Overall Hacker News is still very good. Two things I've noticed over the past few years.

1.) There are more low-value comments like flip two-word answers or blindly pushing wackadoodle conspiracy theories. They are pervasive in social media, but the moderation on HN keeps them largely in check. That fact is encouraging. HN is an existence proof that you can still have productive discussion and curious inquiry in spite of a flood of misinformation running through Western societies.

2.) On the other hand, HN has a libertarian hive mind that tends to drown out nuance in many of the conversations. There's a constant thread that vested interests are behind corporate decisions such as work from home or media coverage of practically any topic. (Example from today's home page: [0]). Simpler explanations like managers struggling with incomplete information or balancing competing interests tend to get drowned out. This perspective has always been present on HN, but I notice it more and now skip discussions where it seems to be getting out of hand.

These are blips, especially compared to the alternatives. Hacker News has a wonderful diversity of topics and is a great place to learn about new things, aided by insightful commentary from people who actually know what they are talking about.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37023400

Edit: clarity

could be worse, not a lot of "hot grits" yet. people are still fascinated with their new catbots, hopefully that'll fade out in a bit too.