| > It’s not the same. I don’t have an option of who to build my echo chamber with. Maybe not immediately, but Hacker News is absolutely an echo chamber. People who don't toe the line on certain popular opinions (e.g. social media bad) quickly learn not to comment because they know they'll get massively downvoted. Hacker News upvotes and downvotes are supposed to be about whether or not the comment is a quality post that contributes to the discussion, but in practice they tend to function as "agree" and "disagree" buttons. Post something that is disagreeable on certain echo chamber topics and it's immediately met with downvotes, regardless of the quality of the content. This effect is most obvious in posts about social media, big tech companies, drugs, and certain parts of the law. For example, I hesitate to even participate in posts about "LSD cures depression" stories any more because most of the commenters don't even read the studies and any comment that isn't 100% enthusiastic about psychedelics curing depression is met with a wave of downvotes. Likewise, when I see a story about social media I can tell before clicking on the comments that it will be full of comments that start with "I don't use social media but..." and then a straw-man caricature of social media that doesn't match reality. These comment sections are absolutely an echo chamber. People who disagree are barraged with downvotes and abusive comments, so they simply leave. I actually had to change screen names on HN once already because I pointed out some flaws in a certain author's books, and one of that author's fans tracked me down and tried to argue with me on my personal e-mail address. Nothing like that has ever happened to me on any other social media site. |
That’s not special to social media. There have been unpopular opinions among communities since before the internet. This all part of being in a large community based on interests. Learning how to deal with that is critical to learn how to function in society.
The other components of your reply complaining about the community having emergent plurality opinions completely misses the point. HN is better because these biases and things you disagree with are right in your face.
> I actually had to change screen names on HN once already because I pointed out some flaws in a certain author's books, and one of that author's fans tracked me down and tried to argue with me on my personal e-mail address. Nothing like that has ever happened to me on any other social media site.
People get stalked and harassed due to their Twitter posts all of the time by using their real name. Swatting is a thing. An argument over email is tepid in comparison to the real violence that happens from people using real identities on public social media every day.