[jokermatt999]

I've noticed more new users making poor comments, but I feel like I've also seen fewer joke/one-liner comments at the top. I think it's more an influx of new users than just a decrease in quality. Perhaps the guidelines should be made more visible, and updated some. For one, the community norms about humor/snark aren't actually in there (from what I recall), but they're an important part of how to comment on HN.

Edit: Hmm, that gives me an idea. Perhaps give new users a few "sample comments" of what's good, and a few of which are bad. IE: "This comment by grellas comes from an informed background, and is free of snark despite contesting some of the claims in the article. Goofus sees the same article, and decides he can make a good pun on the title, and throws in an insult to the author based on something he sort of remembers hearing about a while ago. Be a grellas, not a goofus!" Well, perhaps less hokey, but you get the idea.

[user24]

> fewer joke/one-liner comments at the top

One of us is misremembering the old HN. I remember joke/one-liner comments were a real rarity on HN. I might be wrong though.

[andywood]

I started reading HN about 2 years ago. Jokes and "Internet snark" were extremely rare, if I ever saw them at all. To me, that was the single greatest thing about HN - much more important even than the articles. Subjectively, I've noticed a gradual decline in comment quality starting about a year ago, and a much more drastic, rapid decline into a more Reddit-like culture going back only about 4-5 months.

[jokermatt999]

I'm only a 2 year user, so I can't speak for old old HN, but I meant HN in the months before the change.

[user24]

> I meant HN in the months before the change

me too, I'm about the same age-user as you.