[leetrout]

As a newer HN user I was surprised that there are no comments on job postings. I've also noticed some interesting posts and think there could be some constructive conversation around them.

I can appreciate why there are no comments but also I think it would be interesting to allow direct feedback to job postings.

Anyone else ever thought this, too?

[minimaxir]

Reddit allows users to comment on ads.

99% of the time it doesn't go well, especially if they are being dishonest.

[corin_]

HN is, at least in theory, a place where being polite when giving feedback is the norm. Reddit, on the other hand, is a place where humour and rudeness is not only expected, but wanted by the majority.

[hkmurakami]

in the mainstream subreddits, yes. But in the more niche ones, the discourse is civil if not heartwarming (I frequent the bicycling subreddit, personally)

[corin_]

Sure, I just meant within the same 99% that minimaxir was talking about regarding the adverts. (I've found plenty of friendly people in sports, gay and classical music sub-reddits myself.)

[jlgreco]

Reddit ads are pinned to the top of the page but allow comments. HN ads float with the rest of the links, but don't allow comments.

Either has their pluses and minuses.

[gus_massa]

In HN they don't float. They go down slowly in a deterministic way. (Perhaps the details of the algoritm have changed a little.) From http://ycombinator.com/newsnews.html#12may11 :

> Now instead of being ranked by points, jobs simply start at position 4 and slide down the page at 4 positions per hour.

[anthracis417]

And HN is a place where short articles and comments lacking depth are not only expected, but wanted by the majority.

[59nadir]

Is that so? I personally go to HN for the comments, mostly. The articles themselves are just fuel for discussion, as I see it. Then again, I only use the daemonology Hacker News Daily as well, so I'm hardly seeing all of it.

[samstave]

God I love reddit. Nothing warms my heart as much as an angry anonymous mob full of inside jokes and puns attacking idiocy in advertising.

[supergauntlet]

I think I've seen a reddit ad upvoted once, maybe twice. The vast majority of them (even when they seem like the hivemind would like them) are downvoted. It's strange.

[jacquesm]

Comments are off on job postings because they tend to become a running critique of the company or product doing the posting.

[larrys]

"because they tend to become a running critique of the company or product doing the posting"

Why do they feel that is bad? And have they ever been on on HN job postings (if so how long ago)?

[jacquesm]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2022018

Some more background info. Other issues were:

- outing companies that were still under the radar

- hijacking threads with other job postings

[larrys]

Thanks.

PG did a good job (as tptacek did) of trying to spin this [1] but the bottom line is there aren't comments because somehow it's not good for YC. (Which is fine of course since it's YC's sandbox.)

Fully see the problem of course with the "outing companies that were still under the radar". I would have just left it at that. The rest is just a distraction that gives people a reason to refute the additional points made.

In selling it's best to just concentrate on the strongest angles. Otherwise you give people an opening on something that doesn't even matter or a problem that can be solved.

[1] Reminds me of when trying to "explain" to children why they can or have to do something. The bottom line is "we're your parents and that's why and a different set of rules applies to us".

[arbuge]

Y Combinator is a business...

[leetrout]

Oh, so this has beed tried before?

[jpadvo]

Yes, it used to be that way.

[libria]

Fortunately, we can just create meta threads and critique the company anyway.

[gojomo]

Until they're killed, as I predict will happen here. (And, that's a reasonable online-community-tending policy, because meta/governance-complaints often spin topics and morale in unwanted directions.)

[zck]

One reason, iirc, is to prevent stealth companies from being outed.

[eksith]

I still don't understand what stealth companies are all about (I mean the premise of "stealth").

If they say, we're working on X field with some Y tech, but can't discuss details, that's whole 'nother story. With some of these I have no idea what the company is, what it does, why it exists and even why anyone would use them.

If they want to avoid tipping competitors, there better ways of doing that.

I don't know. The whole thing seems silly.

[derefr]

I think the presumption is that you're already in the Bay Area, so all they have to do with the ad is to get you curious, and then it's not very much effort for you to just head over to their building and find out more in person.

Sucks for the rest of us, though.

[quantumpotato_]

What determines a post as a job posting and disables comments?