Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by refurb 1469 days ago
Outrage sells. The National Enquirer's entire business model has used this for the past 50+ years. The big difference is that the major news centers have copied that model and the author's thesis that it's a response to the move online makes sense.

But there is something about online discourse that attracts extreme opinions like mice to cheese. This really dawned on me when I checked out the subreddit r/decaf for people quitting coffee.

I mean, how extreme could a subreddit like that be?

Well, it turns out, incredible extreme. It's nothing but posts about "caffeine is just heroin" and "we need to ban this dangerous drug" and "I'm pretty sure caffeine caused my skull fracture".

It's this bizarre mix of every extreme view you could imagine, obsessive thoughts, anxiety and hypochondria. And posters just feed off of each other.

And I was just curious to read some dull opinion about "my sleep is better when cut down to 1 cup of coffee a day".
2 comments
idlehand 1469 days ago
That's the kind of opinion you get in a break room at work when someone asks why you're not chugging your usual fifth cup by noon. For people to look up an online community specifically about something, they'd have to be a bit more interested in it than the average person.

That's something I miss about the forums of old: the off topic sections were generally just regular users commenting on whatever thread was at the top. It was a bit like a break room and could even form into communities.

link
Angostura 1469 days ago
Not really - in the break room there will also be 5 other people saying 'Don't be daft - cafeine doesn't cause skull fractures - talk to a doctor'.
link
TMWNN 1468 days ago
>The National Enquirer's entire business model has used this for the past 50+ years.

Highly relevant: TIL that the National Enquirer was the most reliable news source during the O. J. Simpson murder trial. According to a Harvard law professor who gave the media an overall failing grade, the Enquirer was the only publication that thoroughly followed every rumor and talked to every witness. (<https://np.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/6n1kz5/til_th...>)

link