6 ms·
As a recent Reddit convert who would like to follow the rules, why?
by TheFunkyMonk 15y ago
As a recent Reddit convert who would like to follow the rules, why?
- ashamedlion 15y agoI don't want to speak for him, but I'll give my opinion of why: Reddit tends to be overrun with memes and jokes, and HN has always been more about lively discussion and facts. Reddit used to be like that a couple of years ago.
- todayiamme 15y agoBecause it is easier to create slapstick than meaning. Humor may be a part of life and discourse, but in certain cases, and especially on the internet, it distracts from the real issue at hand, as most slapstick fails to convey meaning. If you can make me laugh and then think, then more power and karma to you, but most of us are unable to produce such witty insight on the fly all the time. We try. We fail, and we spam. That's why HN doesn't like slapstick jokes. If one person starts using slapstick then it creates a chain reaction that distracts from the real issue at hand. Such slapstick doesn't create meaning. It ends up destroying it. I hope that made the issue clear to you.
- mkr-hn 15y agoThe initial criticism and long discussion any time someone cracks a joke isn't much of an improvement.
- ehsanu1 15y agoExcept that it at least prevents the discussion devolving into a long chain of jokes, like you see on Reddit, and generally keeps this kind of thing to a minimum overall on HN. There's a place for those chains of jokes, and that's mostly on Reddit (which I enjoy browsing often). But I would prefer to keep the discussion here on HN a bit more meaningful.
- mkr-hn 15y agoLinking one of my other replies in this subthread is better than trying to come up with a unique answer: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2865270 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2865270
- telemachos 15y agoI think mkr-hn's point, though, is that Reddit may have joke chains, but HN has "tell-people-why-they-should-not-joke" chains. They're probably both equally time-wasting (this whole thread is a good example, and yes I'm aware of the irony of adding to it. Shit happens.)
- Dove 15y agoAh, but we also have threads with neither, or threads where the jokes have simply plonked to the bottom of the page with no discussion.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- mkr-hn 15y agoHN is allergic to humor. It's not entirely unfounded, but sometimes people take it too far.
- egor83 15y agoIt's not allergic; jokes are just off-topic here. I like good jokes, but when I want some, I go to bash.org or the like ('Humour' folder in my GReader has more feeds than 'Technology'); but HN is not for jokes, it's for good discussion, so let's keep it like this.
- georgieporgie 15y agoI find that HN's comment policies seem much more relaxed on the weekends.
- djcapelis 15y agoI find HN's comment quality relaxes on the weekends too.
- georgieporgie 15y agoI find that HN's post quality relaxes on the weekends, too. ;-) There seem to be a lot more reposts and borderline-spammy self-promotion or poorly disguised press releases.