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by angersock
4887 days ago
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Personally, I stay for the drinks and ambiance. :) More seriously: tptacek hit it on the head. This isn't an invite-only club where I was required to apply. This is a community where you may be banned for bad behavior (as I am acutely aware), but otherwise you are somewhat free to exist as an independent vendor in the marketplace of ideas. An online community which is exclusive enough that I need apply is probably not going to line up nicely with my preferences or with (I suggest) the idea of offering free debate and discussion. This is especially true given their karma model, which as others here have pointed out somewhat encourages hivemind attenuation especially since it is annoying to get into and join. |
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"Club" does not imply those things though. It only implies membership, and everyone with a working account on HN is a member. I realize I'm being pedantic, but it's to make a point about your earlier comment.
> An online community which is exclusive enough that I need apply is probably not going to line up nicely with my preferences or with (I suggest) the idea of offering free debate and discussion.
OK, so this at least is a point worth making. All you're saying is that you don't like the analogy of living in a gated community. Cool, I can accept that. But that's a personal preference; it doesn't make gated communities inherently bad, and there are still lots of people that prefer to live in them.
(For the record, I dislike actual gated communities.)
> This is especially true given their karma model, which as others here have pointed out somewhat encourages hivemind attenuation especially since it is annoying to get into and join.
I don't think "hivemind" is a smart criticism (see also http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5136265), and I think that we won't know whether or not their karma model will work until it's been tried.
Remember Slashdot's moderation model?