skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I think your analysis here is suffering from confirmation bias regarding the negative feedback you've recently received.

Looking at the history of your essays on reddit, it seems clear that a) some people like them and some don't, and b) the average redditor likes some of them and dislikes others.

In my case, I've certainly agreed strongly with some of your essays but thought others missed the mark.

Although many commentators seemed quite riled about it, one of your best essays was "Beating the Averages". I read it and immediately recognized myself as a classic Blub programmer. In fact, I decided to cut the cord with VB and start learning Python as a result - and am I ever glad I did that. (Eventually, I may even try my hand at Lisp. Thanks to Python, I already find myself looking at data and seeing lists everywhere.)

Of course it's possible to nitpick whether expressive power exists along a continuum, but in a broad sense, the essay has the clunk of truth. It also necessarily discredits most languages - and by extension, most programmers - so a certain amount of outrage is to be expected.

Even so, it's clear that I'm not the only Blub programmer who read it and decided to try and learn from it instead of barricading myself further inside my suite of Blub idioms.

On the other hand, your essay "Mind the Gap" begs the question by asserting that market value = value and then justifying vast pay differences based on market value. The very issue at hand is whether the unregulated market is good at assigning value to labour; the huge compensation packages offered late last year to the executives of Bear Stearns would seem to cast this assertion in some doubt. Frankly, the entire essay smells a bit self-serving.

These are just two examples. My point is that I don't hate you reflexively, and I always enjoy the push and pull of ideas, which you undertake with gusto.

I do think a lot of people were seriously disappointed with Arc when it came out, especially after all the hype about a 'hundred-year language' had built it up to mythical proportions. To the extent that you spent years dropping such teasers, you have to accept some responsibility for the backlash.

You also have to recognize that if a group of people who like you followed you to News.YC, the bias may actually inhere in this space, not on reddit. That is, by surrounding yourself with people who agree with you, you may be distorting your reaction to a community not composed of what we may pejoratively call PG fanbois.

The most important thing, of course, is that the push and pull of ideas and arguments continues. Don't pick up your toys and go home just because some people disagree with you. In fact, honing your arguments on skeptics can only ultimately improve them.
When communities get too big, even if they spoil, it's not a bad thing. It's a good thing because people are encouraged to then start their own communities.

Digg -> Reddit -> Hacker News -> .. next thing ..

It's this progression that keeps new and interesting sites coming along. If it hadn't happened, we'd all still be using Digg.
Addicted to e-mails? You may be ill
The site is pretty new, and I currently have zero ads on it. I plan to put Google Ads on it in the future, but only when I'll have a bigger traffic.

Budget for the marketing is one of the things I'd like to get from a partner, besides some help on strategic guidance :)
Motorola To Split Into Two Companies
I didn't think in terms of people on sides, just about arrogant hackers. Of course there are all kinds of people who only ever consider their own ideas to be worthwhile.
Resources for your Business Plan and Presentation
When I read the first two chapters of PG's Ansi Common Lisp I was so fascinated that I wanted to seat and write an operating system with common lisp. nonetheless.
happy to see CL evolves
big props and well deserved
"that most startup ideas are merely decisions to execute rather than ideas of intrinsic value"

Now he should start talking about giving the first step on a date with a girl ...
Learning to protect computers through hacking
"This was a labour of faith, and Udo was prepared to work for years. Some slowly-converging pixels must have taken weeks."

Actually, what he doesn't take into account is that in the early 1200's, Brother Elias of Cortona developed MapReduce, which allowed the calculations to be spread among the vast network of monasteries that existed in that time. Monks willingly took breaks from the painstaking work of illuminating manuscripts to each calculate a few pixels' worth of the solution.
If this is the case for hackers then I can at least see a very good reason for it. The _only_ reason I learned to program was for the power it gives me to create new things and explore whatever I want.

Take that away from me? Forget it, I'll do any number of occupations where I can earn more.
The discussion of Ken Olsen's "no computer in the home" comment at http://www.snopes.com/quotes/kenolsen.asp makes a credible case that, although the quote is not apocryphal, it was badly misinterpreted - Olsen was knowledgeable about and in favor of personal computers, but against a "computer in the home" controlling lights and appliances.
I think of social websites as country clubs. The club is fun and good when you know everyone's name and you're able to form deeper relationships with people. Country clubs are not fun when it's filled with tourists who aren't interested in contributing to the club.
>> Do you guys think I'm hurting the site, not helping?

No, I don't think so. The community pollution is a separate peril, which should be continuously taken care of by improving the moderation system and/or using some form of editorial control. If this site will continue to improve, the increased traffic is inevitable.
The question seems to center around the universal problem of mediocrity through popularity. It's not unique to the 'net. In the early 80s a flood of frat boys and party hounds invaded Dead tour and pretty much destroyed a truly beautiful thing. There's a similar trend happening at Burning Man. Pop culture visibility tends to dilute unique subcultures to the point of obscuring the original flavor.

Active mentoring of appropriate behavior and a willingness to exclude offending users seems to be the only way to preserve the culture. But if you take that approach too far you run the risk of becoming elitist and self-righteous.

Openness has a real value and very real risks. I like the "benevolent moderation" idea suggested by murrayh the best...
Can time slow down?
Congrats guys
Unfortunately all these discussions are too filled with obnoxious generalizations to be useful. In my experience good business people are rare and when you find them you should keep them. I am a science PhD with my own company and my first business development person (MBA dropout - employee number 5) is worth his weight in gold. He brought a customer focus and an outward orientation that few hackers are capable of. On the flip side, I have found some of my hackers to be prima-donnas who think they are special just because they know functional programming.

The real discussion should be about how to find the right business person for your startup. Here is what I look for:
1> outgoing but pleasant to be around, 2> good listener, 3> cares about technical details, is curious, 4> has a broad range of interests, 5> has geek/hacker friends,
6> can conceptualize a business as a systems problem.
I like the idea of a karma hurdle to vote on articles, but not to post comments. Since fewer people tend to comment than visit, this will allow a small number of people to act as effective gatekeepers.

I also like the idea of forcing people to solve a riddle or make a simple program in order to sign up. This can be gained, but your average Joe stupid person won’t bother.
I totally agree.
Seeing that most forums are started with something stupid like 'Everyone who uses this forum are woodheads', it sets a series of replies such as 'i am NOT a woodhead!' or "I agree, you are a woodhead or you wouldn't be here'. Especially when I don't know all those shortcuts that eliminate these posts, I find it terribly disturbing to have to read through all those 'comments'.
And I hope this isn't spam, please tell me if it is. I am only 11 years old.
The original rant was far more informative and interesting, swear words and all, than this verbose, psycho-babble twaddle.

This is just a long-winded exercise in stereo-typing bordering on bigotry.
I want to SPY!
I have got the SPY feature similar to digg spy in my startup called Rivals4Ever (http://www.rivals4ever.com). Difference is in digg it is in flash we have used javascript instead.

Now the question is: will this kind of feature help getting more users to my site or should I have features like blubet.com or orkut.com where those small windows pops up automatically on right bottom of your browser ??

Advantage of automatic popup is user dont have to click some link to goto SPY, it does automatically but at the same time it is annoying.

In my case user first have to click "R4E Spy" and than he will be taken to SPY page.

So which method you think is more useful to attract more users ? Please let me know your comments by visiting rivals4ever.com
Where the next big thing can get a lift off the ground
Improvement comes from stress.

To get bigger muscles, you lift weights. To increase cardiovascular performance, you run. To improve cognitive ability, you read, study, and solve problems.

To improve software, you load it up.

Bring them on.
Q about Lisp union
As I thought I understood it, Lisp union implements set union. So, I thought that

(union '(a a) '(a b))

would return

(a b)

And, in fact, it does. This led me to think that

(union '(a a) '(b))

would also return

(A B)

However, it returns:

(A A B)

Why does the fact that there is one less 'a in the second argument in the second call mean that there is one more 'a in the result? This is definitely not set-theoretic union. Why is the behavior of Lisp union defined this way?

Here is the sequence of calls again:

[1]> (union '(a a) '(a b))
(A B)
[2]> (union '(a a) '(b))
(A A B)
Oh, man... I spent a happy fourth and fifth grade dialing into Richmond, VA area BBSes to download shareware games.
Wolfenstein 3D, Commander Keen, and many others...
That lasted until my older brother got a dial up account with his university and let me surf the net with lynx on the family 386.
The man who wove the web
Teen entrepreneurs are banking on their tech savvy for startup success
Social Media Starter Moves for Freelancers
I'm excited to see TechCrunch here--you're helping. I read TechCrunch, which convinces me there are TC'ers who will add value. HN has to deal with idiots. If there's going to be an influx, let it be TechCrunch's influx. TechCrunch also has hacker, angel, and VC readers who might give real-world insight into startup financing or business questions--we should welcome them and learn to deal with TC's idiots (really, idiots in general) with the right control measures, in preparation for the day HN tops Digg.
Techcrunch says: "$5 million in cash and stock."
True, it doesn't solve all the problems, but taking on EBay one vertical at a time using a great domain for each field might be a very powerful strategy.

EBays greatest moat is the sheer number of sellers and buyers it has, instead of trying to fight the entire EBay network, you take them on one vertical at a time. And maybe later after you've captured enough verticals try to consolidate all the vertical sites into a single property.
I enjoy the smallness of this community a lot. On the web, that's a commodity in some sense.
Funny you should say that. A link to jaanix was one of the first stories submitted to voteTheUser. At first I thought jaanix was too complicated but I really should give it a good look.
Laser Share Focus
Whatever the difference is between Redfin buyers and non Redfin buyers it obviously might be statisically relevant.

I'd like to see the comparison for purchases where the users considered using Redfin but ultimately went the traditional way instead and users who used Redfin. It will have less selection bias.
What do you guys think? Do you have other tips to improve focus and productivity and reduce distractions?
Sure if I thought anyone was interested. I think anyone half way proficient in arc could redo what I did easier than trying to figure out what I did by reading the source.
The MacBook Air has no clothes
I'm one of the whiners on TechCrunch about exposure. Sorry!

Basically, I think the community was excellent before you made a big deal of announcing it. It has continued to be excellent after, but the signal to noise ratio has worsened somewhat. I'm not a long-timer, but I have very much enjoyed this site and, for once, would be quite happy if the community didn't grow wildly.

I think that publicity has worked out okay, though, probably just showing the resiliency of the community.

I imagine "Hacker News" as a shy, but talented hacker. It can live with a few minutes in the spotlight, shaking hands, and taking awards, but it's going to do its best work when it can quietly focus and get the work done with its team. The more time spent in front of the press, the less time it has to improve the world behind the scenes. It understands how the fanfare is important at times, but certainly doesn't seek it when there's clever coding to be done.

Just out of curiosity: Why did you post about it? Was it to grow the site? To help your readers find a good source? Or did you want other founders to know about it to grow the number of startups that hang out here?
Is open source the right way to bring innovation to market?
Is open source anti-American?
Joocing the Next Billion Internet Users
Honestly, I haven't seen a noticeable effect. People still post great links and are generally cool in the comments. No influx of trolls, no flood of spam or otherwise bad posts on the home page.

I did see someone say on twitter "There's no need to read news.yc because everything good is reposted on techcrunch". That's not cool, but the point is that there is still plenty of good stuff here on news.yc
Different piece. The one I'm referring to focuses specifically on his experiences with employing programmers at arsdigita.
Yahoo & MySpace join with Google to create the OpenSocial Foundation.
I have told about 10 people about hacker news. they are all in the "tech" field and then when I checked with them a week later - all of them but one actually read the site or found it interesting...

Not everyone wants to look at a text based site with very "geeky" information - unless of course you are a geek... So the site will grow no matter what but in my opinion, i think it will stay occult - at least I hope so...

Actually, I just wrote a post about hacker news that is scheduled to publish this friday - but again I don't have TechCrunch's traffic, so my post should not help/hurt HN :)
From http://www.cs.queensu.ca/software_docs/gnudev/gcl-ansi/gcl_9...:

... If either list-1 or list-2 has duplicate entries within it, the redundant entries might or might not appear in the result ...
I went with Django because I could read its codebase, but found the Rails codebase too cryptic. Rails magic, epitomized by the pluralization rules, was also a turnoff - the prospect of debugging in that world seemed scary.

The case for Django is the clean, modular architecture, making it possible to split a project into reusable applications. With Rails DHH took a strong anti-component stance, deciding that it was better to make everything easy to reimplement. As a result, even common things like the registration gem have too many integration points. This decision will matter in the long run.

Django has access to all the mature Python libraries, but its ORM is limited. Pythonic model specification and automatic model validation against the SQL metadata is great for the DRY philosophy; but there is no migration metaphor (yet), there's no table inheritance metaphor (yet), and even pessimistic locking requires a hack (so far). The best hope is an effort under way to make the Django ORM a wrapper for the infinitely more powerful SqlAlchemy, which some people use on top of Django anyway, foregoing its data-related tools including Admin.

And of course Rails is integrated with every concievable Ajax technology, allowing a hundred ways to implement the <blink> tag.

The Rails community is growing from an influx of ex-PHP scripters, bringing with them less disciplined coding styles, which the more Perl-like overly-concise features of Ruby encourage. The RoR environment is going to be the new Perl - a powerful tool for certain applications, applied far more broadly than intended, with a CPAN full of one-off solutions for every concievable problem, but no culture of solidly engineered modules.
i still do really enjoy the idea of karma-based requirements for access to features. that would help prevent "pollution", which i would refer to as "dilution" instead.

as a potential example, if you want to submit a story, you need 25 karma, or something. proof that you contribute to the community via comments.
On a site called Hacker News, jwz should seem familiar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jwz

(see also rms, esr, dmr, gvr, dhh, etc.)
great work guys; i've been really impressed with it so far. it's been super helpful for me!

yes, everyone's being pretty nice here, but it's well deserved. you guys definitely have something going here.
Yeah, they simply mean pixels. I failed to mention that in my previous post. It seems odd to me that it works because doesn't representing it as a linear combo of pixels mean they throw out structural information of the image?

I don't know how they came to make that assumptions, but could it be that the linear independence comes about because of the high dimensionality? The higher the dimensions, the harder it is to find a combination of sparse representations (linear comb) that gives you the sparse representation matching the test image. And if you do, and it all comes from the same person, then they say it matches.

There must be some shape or property of the face subspace that allows for this, since potentially, you can match a duck to someone's face.
Sustainable Development in Ruby: Introduction
BigDog robot is back with a new video
A couple people I know and whose opinions on such matters I trust say that the MBA does just fine performance-wise. Obviously this guy has a different feel, but honestly--an Intel Core 2 Duo and 2GB is quite a bit of computing horsepower. About what my MacBook Pro has and I've never seen it get sluggish. A bit puzzled by this.
I'm amazed that BigDog is capable of using a swing!
> All websites eventually die (or, at least, all that I have observed); you can't "keep a community alive"

All this makes me think that maybe community forum software should be taking reddit's recommended page to the next level and only showing me posts/discussion from people who have similar voting habits to me or even based on some social networking style "proximity".

Having all submissions in one pot and giving everyone an equal vote averages everything out so the only way to maintain whatever niche the site caters for (in this case thoughtful and interesting posts/discussion) is to maintain the niche of users.

I bet Gnome-theme-designer forums have it easier because not everyone wants to be a part of that niche, but forums based around interesting and intelligent discussion are going to continue to slide gradually towards digg no matter how well they start because (a) everyone thinks they're more interesting and intelligent than they really are, and (b) lots of people want to join an online community filled with people "just like them".

If only I had the time to develop a prototype.
I think only if your beatup face retained the same ratio of colors as your normal face, if I'm not mistaken. It represents faces as a linear combination of pixels, so it throws away structural information.
congrats - another payday for pg & company.
Not sure if you are allowed to disclose it, but I was curious what share of the $5 million was cash and what share was stock, and how much (percentage-wise) did the founders themselves end up with?
Yes, you're right. The fact that they leave the behavior of union in this case undefined in the standard is surprising to me. The fact that SBCL and GNU CLISP implement it the way they do is just bizarre to me.
I posted a lengthy comment on the site. Summary: YC people rock, I can't wait to join you.
The processor is the MacBook Air is different (lower voltage, lower clock speed, lower performance). Add in a slower hard drive (only 4200 RPM) and the difference in performance between it and your MacBook Pro is no surprise.
I am surprised by the disdain for profitable business in the techcrunch article:

I’m not even sure I’ll remember to check in on them. The domain business is a cash cow but isn’t exactly exciting stuff.

I would have put it the other way around: the business isn't exactly exciting but it's a cash cow. Except I wouldn't say that at all. A profitable online business sounds more exciting to me than 90% of what I've seen on techcrunch.
Amusing but isn't this more suitable for Digg/Reddit?
No, considering the reaction that the BigDog got here just a few days ago.
I prefer how-to books to what-is books. Tell me the best practices so that I don't waste time and effort.
The difference is that HN was not designed with maximum growth (and hence ads or being acquired) in mind. It seems mostly geared towards bringing people to YC, and motivating hackers to try startups. A big community isn't necessarily worse at this, but neither is it necessarily better.
Certainly. I think you should post a link to my startup on your front page instead. :-)

Seriously, I think this community does have some advantages by staying out of the flow of traffic. I go to TechCrunch as well. It's got worthwhile news and the advantage that only one person can post (and his picks for topics are usually pretty good). This site is actually the same, except that people can join the pool of submitters.

Right now, there is a selection process for submitters. They have to be interested enough to find out about startups by researching a bit. If the doors were opened wide, who knows what might happen. Well, looking at Reddit lately, we have a pretty good idea of what would happen, and it isn't pretty.
Motorola to split in two
This sort of thing has happened several times before:

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_040507WABcraigsli...
You forgot the (wink nudge) an the end!
As you can see "this community" has no consensus on the issue.

I personally am fine with you posting about whatever you think is relevant.
He mentions that the fallacies don't stand up to analysis (which is what you'd expect) but I'd encourage you to resist the head-nod temptation when looking through the list of contents, which we're encouraged to accept as "zen koan-like". For example:

"The best programmers are up to 28 times better than the worst programmers."

I'm immediately suspicious of the spurious accuracy presented and wondering why it's not 30 or 25. And it means not much in practice: the best person in any profession will be orders of magnitude better than the worst, if only because the worst can be very, very bad indeed.
Arguing whether or not domain names in Japan are actually "totally out" feels short-sighted. Domain names are a scarce resource and will eventually hit a limit. The DNS system is fundamentally flawed in that respect, and I'm eager to see what will come next.

This article's proposal that search boxes are the next step sounds likely, but again, doesn't scale well, and has substantial search-engine risk. If Google drops your pagerank then not only is it harder to find you in a search engine, but all your marketing is useless because your call-to-action is broken.
God, I just love this guy's posts. He's so freaking enthusiastic. It's really infectious. Normally, I'm not a big fan of the exclamation point, but somehow he makes it work.