[krapp]

Being a toxic cesspool of the worst aspects of Silicon Valley tech-bro culture - racism, misogyny, antisemitism, conspiracy theory, elitism, aggressively ignorant hot takes and toxicity. For a lot of people - particularly women and LGBTQ+ in tech - this place looks like a den of alt-right creeps and incels, and being posted here is the last thing they want. If you want evidence of this you can just hang around with showdead on for a while in any thread that even vaguely broaches a political topic, or follow moderator dang's account long enough. You can also follow certain tags on Twitter or subreddits that archive the worst of HN. Some of what they discuss is taken out of context, but a lot of it isn't.

And to be fair, Hacker News is a diverse community, not a monoculture. It's entirely possible not to see the worst side of this place, depending on where and how often you post, and it's entirely within anyone's rights to dismiss criticisms of the community (although I think that would be a mistake.) But that reputation also isn't entirely unwarranted.

I'll be in the stocks if anyone needs me.

[arp242]

> If you want evidence of this you can just hang around with showdead on for a while in any thread that even vaguely broaches a political topic, or follow moderator dang's account long enough.

Judging a community by posts that are moderated away seems like the wrong way to go about things. By this standard almost any community is horrible $bad_thing. It's just that on HN you have a bit more transparency than many other sites. If you don't want to see that stuff then don't turn showdead on.

Now, I have my own criticisms of HN, and some (but not all) align with yours. But I don't really want to go in to details about that as I feel that's moving the goalposts from the claims made in the notice: "full of sexism and racism", "hang out with white supremacists", and that "the main moderator approves of it". "Out of touch elitist silicon valley nonsense" is not the same as any of that.

> this place looks like a den of alt-right creeps and incels

But it's not. There sure are some of those people, and their posts rarely do well (i.e. they're typically downvoted, certainly not the top post).

[mardifoufs]

The funny part is that most of that criticism is from techbros from silicon valley that are in a denial and "not like the other tech bros". The statement about HN in the linked article is proof of that, it is a very typical bay area upper middle class white people "ally" discourse. But it's funny that people inside that bubble think that they aren't also techbros from silicon valley lol.

[mongodub]

True that, another tell is how they get more upset about trendy topics like 'misgendering', than old-school misogyny and the like.

[mr_toad]

> racism, misogyny, antisemitism, conspiracy theory, elitism, aggressively ignorant hot takes and toxicity

A lot of people might say the same about America. And many people in America would view that with consternation.

It’s ironic, because I’d bet many of the people tarring everyone on HN with the same brush would be the first to resent being lumped together with their fellow citizens.

[DangitBobby]

I do see some of what I would consider to be objectional viewpoints here (not to be confused with viewpoints that I simply disagree with). But it's also just about the only place I've found that has thoughtful discussion I find engaging (though, not all the time, of course). I have a very hard time finding anything of value on other websites. It's difficult even to find such engaging conversation with people in real life. So I guess I've just decided to take the good with the bad.

[causality0]

Isn't the point that you have to have showdead on to see that stuff, though? Most sites/communities don't let you read what got removed. In fact, every time I see a comment of that nature that's not dead, I don't manage to get done typing a rebuttal before it's been killed.

[krapp]

It's still a problem that they exist and persist as much as they do. If you're transgender or gay and you know every time something you write gets posted here there's going to be a tangential diatribe about your pronouns, mental faculties and secret agenda, it doesn't make this place seem any more welcoming if that stuff has to be constantly voted down, and flagging it doesn't magically separate it from the zeitgeist of this community. It's still a part of what HN is, if it's a part that some people fight against.

It's like living in an apartment with a pest problem. It doesn't matter how much you spray, you still have a pest problem.

[causality0]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a community with a smaller fraction of toxic posts than HN. If you keep showdead turned off you're talking about fractions of a percent. If that isn't good enough I suppose I wish them luck finding a place I suspect may not exist.

[bakugo]

Sounds to me like you just can't mentally handle the mere existence of someone who disagrees with you, even if nobody's forcing you to listen to what they say.

[ThrowawayTestr]

I am a gay man and this forum is a breath of fresh air compared to every other forum I've been on.