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I liked the article, I just hate the inconsistency here on HN when it comes to humorous/evocative submissions and comments. We scold some for violating the gui

I liked the article, I just hate the inconsistency here on HN when it comes to humorous/evocative submissions and comments. We scold some for violating the guidelines, and we bless others. Can we sometimes be more relaxed about what is submitted? If the answer is yes as you are indicating, can we make it this way all the time? Ultimately the evolving community here will make the final judgement. I just feel that the guidelines can be adjusted to reflect what is acceptable.

raganwald 16y ago
We scold some for violating the guidelines, and we bless others. That's really the curse of comedy. The whole point of comedy is to be subversive, to sneak in under the radar of "good taste" and "propriety." But it's hard to do that, a lot of the time it gets rejected out of hand, and it seems very inconsistent.
- charlief 16y ago
  Absolutely, HN has its fair share of inappropriate/bad jokes, but I think it happens more often because the guidelines are fairly agnostic. Comedy is subversive, but the venue is usually not. When a comedian gives a routine on stage, the audience is primed and has certain expectations. When the audience's expectations are not aligned, it is bad for both the comedian and the audience. My limited experiences on HN as a junior user have yielded a certain kind of fuzziness as to what is acceptable. On any given day, there is a lot of variance in the content, but usually HNish and that's a good thing. Officially, the guidelines are posted and they have an emphasis on intellectual stuff/tone, but leave evocative content unexplained. So the community decides, which is usually sporadic, hap-hazard, heavily-dependent on who posted the submission (people have expectations about what Zed Shaw is going to say), and the touchiness of the content. This probably doesn't happen in other communities that are more clearly guided as either relaxed or strict.
  - davidw 16y ago
    > My limited experiences on HN as a junior user have yielded a certain kind of fuzziness as to what is acceptable. I think that's a good thing. It keeps people on their toes, rather than trotting out the same stupid jokes time and time again. I'll vote for something that's funny in a unique way, but downvote anything smacking of a stupid meme that's been done to death.
  - ebiester 16y ago
    That's easy. It's the Picasso rule -- follow the rules until you understand how to break them. It is true that you are given more slack when your name is known. Think of it as a corollary to the Picasso rule -- others have to know that you know the rules before you are given more leeway on how to break them.
    - dasil003 16y ago
      Back in the everything2 days, this was a meme caled "Earn your Bullshit", which they then subsequently expunged from the record because once too many people "earned their bullshit" they realized the proliferation of bullshit was destroying the site. The bottom line is that humour is easy to upvote, and in-jokes are easy to accumulate in any online community, and so we must be ever vigilant. There's nothing wrong with humour now and again, but it requires ongoing, active rejection, and yes, a bit of hypocrisy to avoid becoming Reddit, where every single story has a contentless pun-filled thread 20 levels deep with a reputation of 1000 at the top falling off logarithmically.
- runjake 16y ago
  But this isn't really funny. I know the comparison is highly frowned upon, but this thread reminds of Reddit. Or what I remember of it, anyway, back when I didn't mind wasting so much time.
jacoblyles 16y ago
>>>Can we sometimes be more relaxed about what is submitted? That path leads to http://www.reddit.com http://www.reddit.com
- CamperBob 16y ago
  And what's wrong with that? If I don't like what I'm reading on Reddit, I move on to the next comment, story, or subreddit. Reddit does a better job at support a diverse community of interests and personalities than any single Web forum in the history of computing, IMHO. It could be the next Usenet if it received the funding and infrastructure it deserves. I honestly do not get all the hating on Reddit that takes place on here.
  - syaz1 16y ago
    If you want Reddit, you go to Reddit. Why must HN become one? I can't keep up with Reddit. Too much noise. Good you have time to. HN currently give ~80-100 RSS items daily to me which is good enough to keep me from surfing all day, and still keep up with latest tech news.
Aaronontheweb 16y ago
There a lot of members on HN who take themselves, and HN itself, far too seriously. Lighten the hell up - the message between the lines is that many programming teams are heavier on process than they need to be.

raganwald 16y ago

We scold some for violating the guidelines, and we bless others. That's really the curse of comedy. The whole point of comedy is to be subversive, to sneak in under the radar of "good taste" and "propriety." But it's hard to do that, a lot of the time it gets rejected out of hand, and it seems very inconsistent.

charlief 16y ago
Absolutely, HN has its fair share of inappropriate/bad jokes, but I think it happens more often because the guidelines are fairly agnostic. Comedy is subversive, but the venue is usually not. When a comedian gives a routine on stage, the audience is primed and has certain expectations. When the audience's expectations are not aligned, it is bad for both the comedian and the audience. My limited experiences on HN as a junior user have yielded a certain kind of fuzziness as to what is acceptable. On any given day, there is a lot of variance in the content, but usually HNish and that's a good thing. Officially, the guidelines are posted and they have an emphasis on intellectual stuff/tone, but leave evocative content unexplained. So the community decides, which is usually sporadic, hap-hazard, heavily-dependent on who posted the submission (people have expectations about what Zed Shaw is going to say), and the touchiness of the content. This probably doesn't happen in other communities that are more clearly guided as either relaxed or strict.
- davidw 16y ago
  > My limited experiences on HN as a junior user have yielded a certain kind of fuzziness as to what is acceptable. I think that's a good thing. It keeps people on their toes, rather than trotting out the same stupid jokes time and time again. I'll vote for something that's funny in a unique way, but downvote anything smacking of a stupid meme that's been done to death.
- ebiester 16y ago
  That's easy. It's the Picasso rule -- follow the rules until you understand how to break them. It is true that you are given more slack when your name is known. Think of it as a corollary to the Picasso rule -- others have to know that you know the rules before you are given more leeway on how to break them.
  - dasil003 16y ago
    Back in the everything2 days, this was a meme caled "Earn your Bullshit", which they then subsequently expunged from the record because once too many people "earned their bullshit" they realized the proliferation of bullshit was destroying the site. The bottom line is that humour is easy to upvote, and in-jokes are easy to accumulate in any online community, and so we must be ever vigilant. There's nothing wrong with humour now and again, but it requires ongoing, active rejection, and yes, a bit of hypocrisy to avoid becoming Reddit, where every single story has a contentless pun-filled thread 20 levels deep with a reputation of 1000 at the top falling off logarithmically.
runjake 16y ago
But this isn't really funny. I know the comparison is highly frowned upon, but this thread reminds of Reddit. Or what I remember of it, anyway, back when I didn't mind wasting so much time.

jacoblyles 16y ago

>>>Can we sometimes be more relaxed about what is submitted? That path leads to http://www.reddit.com http://www.reddit.com

CamperBob 16y ago
And what's wrong with that? If I don't like what I'm reading on Reddit, I move on to the next comment, story, or subreddit. Reddit does a better job at support a diverse community of interests and personalities than any single Web forum in the history of computing, IMHO. It could be the next Usenet if it received the funding and infrastructure it deserves. I honestly do not get all the hating on Reddit that takes place on here.
- syaz1 16y ago
  If you want Reddit, you go to Reddit. Why must HN become one? I can't keep up with Reddit. Too much noise. Good you have time to. HN currently give ~80-100 RSS items daily to me which is good enough to keep me from surfing all day, and still keep up with latest tech news.

Aaronontheweb 16y ago

There a lot of members on HN who take themselves, and HN itself, far too seriously. Lighten the hell up - the message between the lines is that many programming teams are heavier on process than they need to be.