2008 is good! Now I want to know what was the first comment saying HN was going downhill.
A few years ago I did a thorough search for "HN is turning into Reddit" posts so I could link them at the bottom of https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. These 4 predate your July 2008 link (the first one by only 6 days):
Ask YC: HN submissions feels like submissions on reddit post sale, do you guys feel the same way? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=225134 - June 2008 (10 comments) (<-- wow, we allowed titles that long?)
How do you separate (1) HN is going downhill, from (2) the world is going downhill, from (3) people always think things are going downhill? It seems hopelessly undecideable. (And yet, being human, I do think that HN is going somewhat downhill. Relative to the world though? not sure)
HN has always had sucky bits, just like human nature. Everyone who thinks it's going downhill is just one of today's 10,000 [1] to discover some sucky corner of human nature.
I'd say the world has gone downhill much faster and is making HN look good in comparison.
A few years ago I did a thorough search for "HN is turning into Reddit" posts so I could link them at the bottom of https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. These 4 predate your July 2008 link (the first one by only 6 days):
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=253657 (July 2008)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=66057 (Oct 2007)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=60767 (Sept 2007)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13852 (April 2007)
Here are some more I found:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1361148 (May 2010)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=259276 (July 2008)
Ask YC: HN submissions feels like submissions on reddit post sale, do you guys feel the same way? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=225134 - June 2008 (10 comments) (<-- wow, we allowed titles that long?)
How do you separate (1) HN is going downhill, from (2) the world is going downhill, from (3) people always think things are going downhill? It seems hopelessly undecideable. (And yet, being human, I do think that HN is going somewhat downhill. Relative to the world though? not sure)