[all2]

HN lacks some features that allow (and focus) conversations in a single medium.

At the very least, we could take notes from this interface for social interaction: things like 1) lack of notifications, for anything, 2) lack of PMs, 3) lack of any sort of 'personalized' stream of information. We have to pick and choose what we consume, rather than being spoon fed.

Coming from the other side: what allows these storms to form? I think part of the root cause is the ease of sharing information. It is very easy to re-blog/tweet/share on many platforms. In some cases (like Twitter or Facebook) a person doesn't even have to interact with the stuff they're passing on. The act is nearly passive.

I think my thesis is this: things are better here (in part) because it is more difficult to interact with content and people.

A partial solution could then be: add friction to things you don't want to see (or disallow them outright, like HN). Alternatively, make the stuff you want to see very easy.

[zestyping]

I agree to some extent with your thesis. I think another factor is how many other words you have to see. This could even be a quantifiable metric.

In order to post a comment on Hacker News, you simply cannot avoid seeing hundreds of other words around it, dozens of comments. It is much harder to read and reply to a single comment out of context.

[zozbot123]

Come on. The Reddit user interface used to be quite similar to HN (it is obviously less so now), and Reddit has certainly seen its own share of detrimental "human flesh search engine" dynamics, if not outright shaming behavior - remember the whole "We Did It Reddit!" fiasco in connection with the Boston bombing?