skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
What I would love to read is an essay about "absolutism": the belief that there's only One Truth and that it can be really proved. I think many people disagree precisely about this, they think that being an absolutist is bad. Among programmers, the incidence of absolutism seems to be much higher (the closer to math, the higher?).

So I think that PG's essay is quite good (as most others), in that it looks for this "absolute truths", he tries to analyze stuff and make a contribution, say something that will last. I find this very scientific, which is good in my opinion. The problem is that many people don't see it that way. It is very difficult to stick to the principle of "egoless disagreement".
I must admit I suck at using Google Maps. I don't use it that often, and I still haven't quite figured out how to zoom in to the place I am looking for. I would expect to be able to do it with the mouse wheel, but somehow it never works out quite right. I keep having to use the sliders and occasionally readjusting the focus.

So I can't give Google Maps a very good rating for usability.
What are the blackboard patents? It doesn't say in the slashdot post, nor in the article the slashdot post links to.
I can't seem to find an overview of all of them, but here are the ones Blackboard said they wouldn't enforce against pure open source software. http://www.blackboard.com/patent/FAQ_013107.htm

I believe that their patents together meant that any commercial Blackboard-like software was infringing on their IP. This is a list of companies that were probably infringing on Blackboard's fortunately invalid patents. http://www.mfeldstein.com/the_blackboard_patent_claims_in_pl...
http://www.google.com/patents?id=RX94AAAAEBAJ&dq=6,988,1... That's their first and biggest one and it's obscene.
Web Innovators Guru: Interview with Venrock’s David Beisel
why thank you!

I hope this is certainly possible to answer. Theoretically, if someone reads the right books and practices in the right way, along with hefty discipline and focus, one could say they would be very, very familiar with software and systems.
For starters the comment you cite does not look like "raised a valid issue", it looks like "silly 13 year old comment", and I think it was modded appropriately. Had he provided some other thoughts or datapoints to back up his position, or even just stated his case in a more normal manner ("No, I think romance is dumb. It takes valuable time and money cycles away from my building my company"). I did note that he provided a little more data further down in the comment stream.

But, to answer your question, I don't think there are conflicting interests here. People who favor "B" will (hopefully) learn over time that their interests are better served by considering all arguments. Provided of course that those arguments are actually well-reasoned and presented, and not just "No, u r dumb".

"Pro Startup" does not have to equal "sugar coated happy you-can-do-it" comments. In fact I would think most true hacker types would have gotten enough of that bullshit in school and would crave honest feedback.
Discouraging of what? The idea of this community is to make a community that doesn't suck, which is probably going to require continuous meta-discussion. One day we'll take the meta discussion to a sub tag.
Creating a comment limit would, theoretically, reduce the DH0-DH3 responses. Let's examine this.

Let us assume that X gets n units of utility for every point of karma the community awards.

Let us further assume that the community only awards points of karma for insightful posts/comments. This appears to be a safe assumption.

If X knew that comments/posts were scarce, which under your proposal they would be, then X will attempt to maximize the karma earned from each comment/post by maximizing the insightful nature of each comment/post.

In a way, karma whoring would actually curtail garbage comments/posts, if comments/posts were a scarce resource.
I agree and disagree. I don't think that romance is dumb. In fact, courtship and companionship seems like it would be wonderful, sublime.

However, reading your other comments about risk and so forth, I can feel myself resigning to agreement. It does seem like it would be a heavy risk and certain to fail. I can't explain why I'm so risk-averse where as other things in my life seem just as unsure.
I don't have any good books in mind, but I think you need to know what you're really interested in learning about hardware. Define "very, very familiar with electronics."

You might want to think about electronics on several level and topics:

- Board Level: Op Amps, Feedback Control Systems... etc.

- Chip Level IC design: Analog IC design, Bipolar/CMOS design... etc.

- Firmware: C, Assembly language...

...each of these topics are semester/year long courses on its own. I can recommend books in each topic, but have not seen a do-it-all, teach-it-all book.

as attack said, "the topic area is more broad than you'd think."
i agree with you that they may had any other idea and be determined about it, but if the idea wasn't what people needed it wouldn't have the enormous success it had.
Depends on what you mean by "the best way to disagree". If you are preaching to the choir (and most disagreements on the web fall into this category), then mocking is the best way, because it entertains, whereas the alternative does nothing at all.

But if you care about making someone understand your argument for the first time, why would you put extra layers on it, which will have to be unwrapped to get to the inner logic?

I think I know why most people do it. The point made in the form of mockery is laborious to refute, so nobody bothers. And if somebody bothers, the refutation is laborious to follow, so nobody bothers to read it. Thus mockery, however idiotic, often stays unrefuted, and to the author and his camp that's close enough to "correct".

Have you been to Reddit lately? Half of all disagreements are in the form of (idiotic) mockery. It wasn't like this early on.
Constraints can be good. The article reminded me of the tales of 'oldschool' hackers saying that lacking resources of early computers forced them to write good and compact code. The scarcity of a resource obviously leads to this resource being valued higher than if it would be available in abundance.

What I find noteworthy, however, are his examples: the resources described are constrained artificially, yet are still valued higher than if not constrained (and competing services not constraining the resource (Flickr or normal Blogs in his example) couldn't destroy this mechanism).

When, however, does this mechanism take place? When email accounts where strongly constrained in storage space, GMail with its then 1Gig storage was seen as liberation (the opposite effect).
You seem to imply in the essay that disagreeing comments are more valuable than agreeing ones, though:

"And when you agree there's less to say. You could expand on something the author said, but he has probably already explored the most interesting implications. When you disagree you're entering territory he may not have explored"
It was also a wise person who said: "Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience".

Seasoned trolling pros are usually very good at this. I think it helps a lot to look at their underlying motivation and to crank up the bullshit detector.
It might be worth expanding the lower levels to include more than name-calling and ad-hominem, then. There's a huge variety of dirty tactics that can be used, and name-calling and ad-hominem are just two of the more obvious ones. A good list can be obtained at:

http://www.vandruff.com/art_converse.html

Perhaps it's worth adding a link in the article, clarifying that DH1 actually includes a whole set of techniques described at that URL (and other places).

Daniel
Yes - exactly. My hair was "on fire" for a better way to organize and do work with my firm, and nothing available was solving the problem, so we had to build it ourselves.
Agreed. There are a number of cases where a valid, authenticated email is a requirement to use the system (for instance, when other users will be using that email to find and link to you). In those cases, an activation email is unavoidable.

Daniel
I really like the idea of the soft activation, but for this site a working email address is pretty important (I think at the moment - of course that might change).

I also like the suggestion of the "you're not registered - here's the form with bits already filled in" style login.

Thanks for all the suggestions, and keep 'em coming!
I can't disagree.
Your first paragraph seems like an extension of Linus's Law ("Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow") from the realm of software development to the realm of public discourse.
Treasury Dept. Plan Would Give Fed Wide New Power
This book may help as a starting point assuming no prior knowledge, you could work from there to an O'Reilly hacks book.
A Peek at Computer Electronics: Things you Should Know
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/ctelec
Girlfriend, we have been dating for 3 years and 8 months

We both are pretty hardworkers, and planning to start something toghether (she's been pulling me to apply to this YC's round). I think we are a good time, I understand computers and she understands people (BSc in Psychology).

I don't think having a gf need so much time, I always feel that I spend more time procrastinating that staying with her, and with the later I feel better! :)
This (from the article) is interesting:

"Workaholic (Type A) Checklist
1. Extreme competitiveness
2. Rapid speech
3. Impatience
4. Hates lines and waiting
5. Difficulty delegating
6. Fear of failure
7. Need to be in control
8. Irritable
9. Multi-tasking
10. Resistant to change"

I think I could list at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 9 for myself, and 6, 7 partially too.
Friendly greetings! Just wanted to say thanks for writing this, it raises many good points, some which I wanted to see articulated a lot more. I'm not a fan of "BLAHBLAHBLAH WORDWARS" on forums and such where people are vehemently disagreeing and not getting anything done... what a sucky time-sink.

The "Name-calling" section is terribly true, as there are sadly mistaken folk who think gussying up words will make for more "refined" insults, but in the end, it just shows contempt and is not an actual barometer of intelligence or purpose.

Cheerz!
I think http://thefeelgood.com/ also has this constraint, and they explain somewhere that it's for the same reasons.
My Favorite Net Things
"
Q. Why can I only upload 1 song per day?

A. Our goal is quality over quantity. We found that
limiting uploads to one song per day makes people really
think about the music they are uploading and only post the
best songs that they can think of. However, you can upload
up to six songs for the next six days and they will be
published automatically.
"

from:
http://thefeelgood.com/static/faq
It's the other way around. Moving up the DH-hierarchy doesn't make people less mean. It's just that less mean people have a tendency to move up the DH-hierarchy. This is based on my personal experience. Since you're the one making the original statement without supporting evidence, I feel that the burden of finding evidence should be on you, that's why this isn't a DH3-statement, but DH7. ;)

Thanks for the read.
I think there's more from Schopenhauer than just a list of methods.

In his Eristic Dialectic, he described a system of stratagems, see http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eristische_Dialektik (unfortunately, this hasn't been translated to english yet).

The 38 Methods are said to have been added merely to provide examples. It is also interesting that he wrote the manuscript around 1830, but never published it. It was first published in 1864, four years after his death. See http://coolhaus.de/art-of-controversy/ for the full manuscript and an excellent translation to english.
I agree, what is "very, very familiar"?

I would buy a circuit kit, like the one for 12 year olds, and you can knock out those projects pretty quickly, but they usually come with schematics and pieces for 100 projects or so. RadioShack sells them, but when you want to buy more parts, don't go there, go to Jamco or Digikey.

Learning Chip Level IC means learning how to reduce binary functions, there are many 'tricks' to this, and from my CS classes, they didn't really care much about reducing, and the EEs always did much better when it came to binary logic then the CS students. Also Figure out transistors, the circuits kit will have some transistor projects, and do a good overview, but learn the math and (some) of the physics here, it will help you understand.

After that, find some books on microcontrollers and or microcomputers. Figure out how RAM and ROM work (not necessiarly the internals) and program some.

I've heard great things about the Arudino, but I've never used it. I started off on the PIC series, and then to Motorola 8bits and Coldfire 32Bits, both of the last two, you can program in C, so no real assembly is required.

I agree with yangyang2, as far as a do it all approach, you probably aren't going to find it..
I couldn't find it online - maybe it is out of print, but are you also aware of the Laboratory Manual for the Art of Electronics?
No :(
If a startup is thinking about laying its developpers, it should do it fast. If you're going to make mistakes, make it as fast as possible. However, a startup should always prevent mistakes. Don't hire developers, software engineers, scientists, CEOs, CTOs unless you're sure the person is an evangelist of your business. An early startup should never hire to fire.
Most likely, operant conditioning was used to build the behavior-set over time. There are 3 different videos where the elephant is painting the same picture, a raised trunk holding a flower, on different canvases and the elephant always starts with the same line.

Operant conditioning uses small rewards with increasing requirements to build behaviors. At first the elephant got a peanut for picking up the brush, then only for swinging it by the paint, then only for dipping it in the paint, etc.

The elephant likely does not have any conception of what it was drawing; most animals can't mentally translate abstract 2D images to 3D. Even humans, if they do not develop perspective during a critical period (if you were trapped in a small room for years, for example), will not understand perspective correctly.
It doesn't matter if the morgages are repaid and it may even be beneficial to bankers if there is a small level of defaulting. Unlike junk bonds, resold mortgages have an underlaying value in property. Unfortunately, beyond a small level of defaulting, a glut of unsold property decreases property prices, decreases the value of already resold mortgages and make property more affordable to nieve investors.
I know you asked for books, but I'm going through this course with my ipod--it's good:

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Compute...
desktop: office 2007, web: gmail, server: command line
Ativation emails are an outdated idea. It only takes one service to freely give away email addresses to make an activation email quite moot. The theory is that a genuine user can confirm sign-up using an out-of-band channel. So, if you want an account on a website then you confirm this action via an email. Some web based email systems get you to confirm via SMS. However, there's two problems with this practice. Web surfer != email user. Secondly, the out-of-band channel is open to abuse. For example, email or SMS details being sold to spammers.

A better approach is assume abuse and counter it with transparent levels of trust. This forum is close to ideal. Some counter that the existance of accounts themselves invites a futile game of whack-a-mole with people abusing trust. Others argue that it is a concise method to undo damage.

Regardless, you should allow users to do as much as possible without creating an account or giving an email address. If you don't then someone else will.
What you are asking for pg is civil discourse. This does not come from enumerating a disagreement hierarchy. It comes from a learned, well-read education where public speaking and debate is a part.

In our wonderful country, even in our wonderful wider world, this is sorely lacking. While your contributions are consistently wise and useful, we need to work together as a society to fundamentally change the climate for education, we need to ensure that an excellent education is enjoyed by all, that will make your hierarchy moot.
A quick review of Zigtag - Social Bookmarking Service
So I met Ev in Oxford in Nov 04 (I was president of Oxford Entrepreneurs, and my reward was to be able to go to the dinner that the Business School held as part of the Silicon Valley event), and had stayed in touch with him since then. In March 05 I met Max and visited the now defunct midtown doornail incubator (which spurned, Yelp, Slide amongst others). This was a pre-finals trip where 7 weeks before my final exams at Oxford, a bunch of us decided to fly to SF for 10 days was a good idea. Pics are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kulveer/sets/72057594075696873/

Then, in May 06, we were filming a documentary for Channel 4, and that's when I had my 'intense session' with Max, Naval and Evan. I was introduced to Max by my friend Bob, who was one of the early people at Yelp, and now co-founder of YouNoodle. Then it so turns out we lived one block from Naval and would bump into him every day at Crossroads Cafe.
Oddly, I always click on the "Ask YC" threads first. Not sure why. Now you got me thinking about it. Probably because I spend so much time alone, these threads give me more of the "I am not alone" feeling. Maybe for the same reason I prefer the radio to pre-recorded music.
I never use the sliders; you're right - they're not very good.

My mouse wheel works great - on several computers. Maybe something wrong with your mouse?
I don't know if this what you're looking for, as Greenspan was not prognosticating, but speaking in hindsight.

"Greenspan said in an interview with Austrian magazine Format that low interest rates in the past 15 years were to blame for the house price bubble, but that central banks were powerless when they tried to bring it under control."

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSL2146624120070921
Linux #1 Operating System in Hollywood
"then X will attempt to maximize the karma earned from each comment/post by maximizing the insightful nature of each comment/post"

I think you may be overlooking one minor little detail that took me a long time to learn: We have little control of how others will judge our comments.

I have made many comments when I thought, "I nailed it!" and then no one voted or replied at all. Even worse, sometimes downmodded without replies. Other times, I made a smarta$$ remark and it got lots of upvotes. I have a suspicision that the same comment may "perform" very differently depending who else is on-line that day. I finally realized that I should just try to be myself and let the chips fall where they may.

I think the best way to "police" the site is not by limiting anyone, but by prudently using the up and down arrows.
i won't be using the NYPost for economic analysis, thank you very much.
Any idea what the font of the Django logo is? (http://www.djangoproject.com/)
I used to have a "Free books in the net" page that I didn't update much nor anything. It contained a list of technical books I liked, that were legally free to download from the net. People loved it, linked it, and published it on sites here and there. It was somewhat popular even if it was ugly, not updated often. I think if you do it well, you might have an interested audience.

A recommendation: look for other places where people look for books and try to interact with that people. Ie: configure a bot for the very popular irc Usenet #bookz channel, so that it serves only legal books and is 24/7 sending those books, but also advertising about your site. (First check with the channel owners if you can do that, but I've seen bots post url and messages on the chat room every x minutes).
RubyGems 1.1.0 Released--includes fix for s..l.o.w.n.e.s.s
The market for infant products grows ever more absurd
Friendster is the first one that comes to mind, though there are others.

But something one of the digg founders wrote on this site also comes to mind: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=143269
I love the iPod UI/UX. For mobile phones Nokia is the best I've tried (I've not tried the iPhone). Dead-tree books. Analogic watches/clocks. Gmail. Emacs. Quicksilver. A heavy metal concert. Amazon.
I think people disagree mainly for two reasons:
1. rational objection
2. bad feelings

For rational objection we have a great system (logic) in place to work it out and come to a conclusion. This can be very hard and take a lot of time, but it works--as long as you stick to the path of rational arguments and objective truth.

So let's take a look at the feelings side of things. Feelings are always true and subjective. They are inherently irrational and often steer us towards dumb actions we regret later. They interfere with rationality and usually distort arguments.

My impression is that people get into emotional discussions and become mean in order to feel better about themselves by
a) expressing bad feelings caused by a statement
b) abreacting bad feelings rooted in something else (merely triggered by a statement)
c) getting positive attention from others (gain value)

In order to add weight to their statement, people usually pretend to object on rational grounds. Flamewars can be fun, but from a rational perspective, they are a waste of time.

Looking at the underlying motivation can help to clarify a messy discussion. The Harvard Negotiation Project provides an excellent framework for analyzing and working what's behind the surface.

In the long run, I think we need forms to express bad feelings without attacking the other or pretending to provide a rational argument. Forms to say something like: "That hurt (and I don't even know why) and I'm afraid you're right". This is really hard. The natural reaction would be to feel attacked and fight back. It also requires trust. Being open about wounds increases vulnerability and can only work with people you consider to have good intentions in the first place.
Sex Workers Turned To Twitter, iPhones, Tumblr During Spitzer Scandal
Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer
Personally this makes more sense if the SEC gets these new powers... not the fed.
Reminds me of Noah. He also got great results from the "one a day" model of photography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B26asyGKDo

As an aside, the music to that video is spellbounding...
Implications Of How A VC Is Funded: Public Markets
The funny thing is that the elephants probably wouldn't regard this as particularly intelligent behavior. Well, except to the extent that a stunt that gets you peanuts can't be all bad.

On the other hand, if some elephants managed to use operant conditioning (and a special prosthetic, like a big drum) to teach a human how to subsonically tell another elephant ten miles away that the herd is gathering near the water hole, that human would be the star of the elephant world. The elephants would gather round to marvel at the human's astonishing front feet -- they aren't really very strong, but they can pick things up with their toes, almost as if they were using a trunk!