skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Recently it seems like Hacker News is just a place people use for marketing and posting links to other blogs, it's truly more like a social bookmarking site by now than it is about the feedback and community. I still have Hacker News in my Google Reader feed but it's becoming more and more about people who find an interesting page and posting it, even if the post was from 4 years ago and was on Hacker News 10 times already, it is still posted. There are no moderators, but if there were it would be restrictive. Can you think of a better solution to save Hacker News or would it turn into jumping from one site to another and trying to have the startup community follow but leave behind the unwanteds?
I think it doesn't have as much to do with HN as it does with the startup scene itself. A few years ago before the mobile apps, there were fewer people in the startup scene, and those that were there had a more communal sense. Since we are now quite common, there is a lot more competition out there, which probably fuels some of the frustration directed at you.

personally, I wouldn't tear anyone's work down, but I can see why some people would, given how crowded it is now.
Is he being arrested for being there or some other reason?
He's saying that sniping and negativity wasn't the norm for HN, but it's become that way.
In an ideal world, yes, but I reside in a very similar country, and have seen and heard too many similar stories to be naive. I think the best thing that can be done is to blog about it like this; someone in Visa corporate will take notice and changes will be made, hopefully for the better.
So what if it's Tata? They may be a huge, well-known multinational, but the laws of thermodynamics apply to them too.
Four Bold Moneymaking Schemes That Taught Young Founders The Ropes
"but I'm really hoping for a distraction."...."socially acceptable to fuck around with phones"..."I guess that rewards for not being a dick are more popular than explicit punishments for being a dick?"

Their post was littered with resentment and anger.

I just avoid going out with them as much as possible

Good for you. Those are the choices you get to make, controlling yourself instead of controlling others. It's probably a welcome gesture by the other party, given that they've clearly indicated that you are less important to them regardless.
I've made a dropbox account: defcontwenty@gmail.com / password, and shared a folder containing the ISO from my Dropbox account.

Use a desktop Dropbox client to connect.

Let me know if this works?
I think it's a rejection by some of the karma system. I know that I personally definitely aim not to get points, but at the same time not be a jackass. So that makes me quite cynical and negative in any feedback I do give. I don't like doing anything nice for a karma-like reward, that's just pretentious to me and something I definitely hate about sites like Reddit. I want to feel good about myself in my own eyes, not feed the collective masturbation orgy that many online communities can become, by getting the approval of my opinions from my peers.

But I find that even that tactic is pretty silly and shouldn't be used too much, because as you say, it turns everything far too sour.

So my final solution is to often ignore discussions altogether and us HN as a feed of intellectual peculiarities, and nothing more, only the odd comment here or there. But that does leave me feeling very sorry for the poors sods who ask for feedback here.
You seem to have ignored my central point. I think this has been an interesting discussion, and I'd be interested in your response.
If not, try logging in via Dropbox's web interface and download from it.
For example: pretty much any of the larger banks over the last decade.
Norway (#2 in coffee consumption) has a single Starbucks, located in the arrivals hall at Oslo Airport.

I overheard some people recently talking about how they sometimes take the airport express train just to have coffee at Starbucks. Which is just insane, not just because the coffee isn't particularly good (and Oslo has plenty of extremely good barista places) but because a round-trip ticket from Oslo to the airport costs $56 (€46).
Stephenson:Sci-fi writers are too pessimistic
If people agree with this, what are some strategies for countering the trend? People could put more effort into down-voting unconstructive comments. Maybe up-voting should also be unavailable until a karma threshold is met. Maybe up-votes could be made precious by limiting the number per day. Maybe there could be honeypot content that's bad on purpose, or determined to be bad after the fact, and everyone who up-votes it gets their voting privileges revoked. The nuclear option might be to hide scores even from ourselves.
It seems to me that the critical period for persuading people to buy them, is down the metaphorical road a bit. At the moment it appears from their web site that they are still selling "reservations". There is a nice video on their web site celebrating delivery of some cars - which I think implies they aren't just handing them over to willing buyers yet.

The hard part starts when all that is past: when they build enough cars to have them sitting at dealerships, either being bought or not.

(For that matter, if they really want revenue, why not keep churning out the Roadster? Surely there would be a few thousand more people willing and able to buy one.)
It's inevitable.

Slashdot, Digg, Reddit, HN.

On a two year or so schedule new ones come along, old ones become worse. People on here are already using those illiterate, infantile 'memes' to express themselves. The next step is HN gone wild.

The only question is, where do I go next? I'm not going to pretend it's going to have than two years to live though.
Well, to be fair to the people pushing the "scary evil public persona", I don't come across well in email. Never have.

I'm better in person; had a meeting with a guy from Germany a couple of years back who worked up the courage to invite himself to our offices in the south bay and after a couple of beers he made some comment like "wow, you're nothing like what I expected, you're actually a nice guy".

I get that a lot. It's a "gift" :)
Because despite the OP's lament, not all feedback is negative. I posted a project and got both positive and negative feedback, I found both useful.
This is free-riding on the hard work put in by the creators of real security systems, akin to people who don't vaccinate themselves.

Eventually, security system warnings will lose their deterrent effect, and people with security systems will be attacked more frequently than they are now.
My experience is that most people using phones in restaurants have not mastered the arcane art of volume settings, either on their phone's ring tone, or on their voice when speaking on it.
I do the same, but mainly because my 3GS in an Otterbox barely fits in my pocket.
"It projects selling 20,000 cars next year, which is a relatively high number among luxury brands."

Actually this is quite low. BMW sells around 110K units a year in the US alone - http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html

Although I do agree the best bet for the survival of the technology is to get bought by a larger brand.
Most petrol stations in the UK have an air compressor that you can use to top up your tyres. I wonder if these could be re-purposed.
I keep my phone in my pocket unless I am answering a call. (I used to keep my phone in a holster unless I was answering a call, but "smart" phones have an inconvenient form factor for that. So I've modified my wardrobe to include more shirts that can hold a smart phone in one pocket while all the usual things I've put in my primary shirt pocket for years can stay in that pocket.)

One of the most enjoyable aspects of dining with other people is the conversation over dinner. I would hate to miss out on that for telephone calls that I can answer later. Voice mail for the win.

AFTER EDIT:

Other comments here mention using phones in movie theaters. The response of the Austin Drafthouse theater in Austin, Texas is famous. The theater's video with a recorded comment from an ejected customer became a viral video on YouTube,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L3eeC2lJZs

reported on in various news outlets. (The language of the video is rather crude, but it makes the theater's point that it doesn't want customers who use their phones in the theater.)
Here's what Zuckerburg should really do
I disagree, although it may be potentially a problem in the future. It seems like Tesla however isn't using manufacturing techniques/processes that the rest of the industry follows.
Most of the assembly is done using advanced robots, the cost increase seems to be the support and the development of these robots.

The reason I appreciate tesla, is because it doesnt have all the legacy and baggage a traditional car manufacturer has, and thus they have the ability to try bold things. On top of it, they are doing it all in america.
I appreciate Musk's honesty. I've seen many critical situations where leaders fudge to make things seem more stable than they are. I'm rooting for Tesla's success.
The public was the stakeholders at Autodesk and the employees at E.piphany. Noisily was letting that public know the rationales for withdrawal.

Incidentally, a quiet private phone call solved the problem and I suspect that the current post is the most noise ever made over the issue - Blank retired from E.piphany in 1999 and E.piphany was acquired in 2005 (according to Wikipedia).
Here's the thing: Not everyone is super confident, not everyone has a thick skin. So when people just snipe it really damages that person and potentially their idea.

It would be fine if ALL the good ideas were made by super confident thick skinned people but they are not. So we, as a species, just lose the potential of the less confident, thin skinned people. This is a HUGE waste of talent. This community should be here to fix that.

Now it's true that in the wide world, thin skinned people need to 'toughen up'. THIS community should be here to help them by helping, guiding and supporting. After all that is what communities are for.

I agree with sw007 that this community is atm worth less than it was a few years ago due to this.
I can't see /bin/sh, and I haven't heard of posix shell implementation in Perl. Am I missing something?
the reason I said it looked like an ad (I did say "seems") is that there are really no details about how it works. Just a sales pitch-ey page. So there isn't anything there to "review" (your post reads "Review my idea").

That said,If you can get "battle hardened" ( to use a phrase from your landing page) developers to work at these pittance rates, more power to you.
The Startup Work/Work/Life balance
In my view, the main thing to change about this community over the last 5 years is that it's simply gotten bigger. As a result, the range of individuals you see is more diverse and the more there are a greater range of interests represented.

There is a nostalgia associated with when the community was smaller and more intimate and I think that's what drives people to make claims about how things are declining. And I can relate to that. But, the fact is that there have always been "negative" people here, as there are in any community, and there always will be. But there are also a lot of people who have a lot of positive feedback to contribute. I know that it is increasingly difficult to get your ideas heard by those who are willing to provide feedback, but that's to be expected as a community grows.

This site remains, for me, the go-to source for intelligent, thoughtful, informed discussion on tech/hacking-related issues.
My wife recently bet me $5 that I couldn't go through a meal without looking at my phone... I lost.

Interesting idea though. They know what sort of atmosphere they would like to have, and they're incentivizing people to make it happen.
Wow, it's a good thing you're not a writer...

Criticism is one of the best ways to learn to be better at what you do. "Hate this, hate that" may be negative but it is useful feedback from actual/potential users of your site/service/app/whatever.

HN is a far better site with useful comments than it is a site with solely positive comments.
The car apparently also has an electric engine. Did tata actually say the car ran on compressed air for the range specified in TFA, or is it just TFAA bullshitting?

Because AFAIK the effective energy density of CAES (Compressed Air Energy Storage) is 40~100kJ/kg depending on the tank material, with variable pressure. The upper range is roughly that of a standard lead-acid battery (except the battery has roughly constant voltage) and it gets completely blown away by e.g. li-ion (360~900kJ/kg)
But SAT outcome for individuals is deterministic by design. If there was any significant luck component, it wouldn't be a good measure in the first place. Yet you can't deny the possibility that some fool could score 1500+ by merely circling the correct sequence of bubbles without having much skill. Furthermore winner doesn't take all in SATs. They just go to some college and that's the end of it. Contrast that with the stock market where there is a much more significant luck component and compounded effects of winners taking all and losers getting pruned out year after year.
NaNs Just Don't Get No Respect
Seems like I have heard this story before. Some local re-seller of Visa products/services (Visa is in employee benefits???) being overly aggressive is what it turned out to be. If I had time I'd do some more searching for similar stories.
This is a hoot! I semi-seriously proposed that we do this at Sun back in the SunOS 4.x days.

Got shot down, of course, as it should have been back then, the CPUs were just not fast enough. Even today, C beats perl pretty handily.

Even so, I think this is pretty cute. Anyone know why it was done? Just because? Or was there a reason.
Because the data is the traffic of one of the most heavily used sites on the web, and the application is an index of the web. So there's two.
At first I wanted to disagree with what you'd said and I'd half written a reply about how being negative is an opportunity to learn how to be positive.

However, when I considered your point of view, I choose to agree with you. This is what I like (and find maddening at the same time) about HN it's a great way to get a totally different perspective.
Living in a good neighborhood also works.

I really like the fake security system. I'm not sure it's worth $200 since you can probably get something that actually has a motion-sensor and an audible alarm to actually add some real security to the mix.

But what matters is results.
New network hasn't really cropped up yet. Google+ is still working out the kinks.

/. has gone entirely to shit, but some subreddits are still good (it feels like the average user age has been suppressed down about seven years, though).

The problem is the revenue model. You can't be exclusive when you need to cater to as many users as possible.
The company behind this invention has been talking about the roll out of these cars for many, many years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Development_International). And this particular blog post doesn't give any details of when Tata is going to actually produce a car. I recall a long time ago that these cars were going to be introduced in Mexico (that was one of many things that didn't happen).

Wikipedia has good articles on compressed-air engines and cars. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_engine#Automotive and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed-air_vehicle

Tata has been a licensee of the technology since 2007 (http://www.gizmag.com/tata-motors-air-car-mdi/22447/). When they go into production it will be interesting news.
But listening to music itself takes time, doesn't it?
The 3D view definitely makes it a bit more visible, but as someone who has spent a considerable amount of time testing XSS filters, it's not all that useful, since you generally know exactly where in the output your input will be, and also because looking at the raw output (not the constructed DOM tree) is a better way to identify XSS vulns.

It's a cool observation nonetheless, and props for catching XSS vulns in your QA environment, not production ;)
Others would cover for exclusivity but I'm assuming you're going with TC because they're the most popular for your target audience.

I mistakenly included exclusivity as unspoken when that's likely a standard agreement when trying to get a story covered.
You're understating the personal cost of a purchase by a couple of orders of magnitude. How much time does it take for you to make an assessment of product quality? What's the cost of your time? What are the available alternatives (where "failure to purchase" is in fact an option, and the default mode)?
Let's say you were a US-based multinational that wanted to expand your market share overseas, at any means necessary, even if it means using tactics that would be frowned upon or illegal in the US.

Isn't the "this was an unauthorized move by a subcontractor" the exact defense you would plan to use then when the dirty tactics were exposed?
Steve Jobs' stolen iPad unwittingly used by local clown after burglary
Sorry, right -- I was just thinking of straight-up scraping of public pages. Asking for the user's password and logging in to do more scraping would probably be possible, but a lot more painful.
I'm pretty sure you don't top up your tyres to 20MPa (~200 bar)
These have been cooking for a long time. I was on the MDI mailing list back in 2000/2001 when they were supposedly coming to market the following year. It's cool to finally see them in production - I thought it might never happen.
Do you really want to know how sausages are made? :)
Steve,

Have you considered this is due to the overarching change in the startup society as a whole? I mean, have you HAD an actual conversation with other startup founders/CEOs/early employees lately? :) Either they have nothing to say (because they're so new to the scene and probably have an IQ of around 100), or they are ubercritical (because they've seen SO many microcompanies come and go and they're still around - so everyone wants their advice).

Don't take it personally - their meaning isn't what's changed, it's their wording. Saying "I hate your UI" is essentially the same as saying, "Your UI needs to be cleaner." Look at extremely negative comments as a way to start an excellent conversation:

Them: "I hate your UI."
You: "I know! I wish it was cleaner. What do you think about this toolbar?"

If someone is willing to give you honest "I hate" or "I love" feedback, they're ASKING you to want their opinion. And it sounds like you do - so ask them something in return.

And read if you haven't already: http://www.launch.co/blog/good-to-great-to-excellent-a-roadm...

Lida
Developing applications with Objective Caml
I'm glad there is private-sector criminal prosecution in UK, wish it was here in the US as well. Then maybe cops would think twice before murdering citizens; they currently get off free every time because the DAs never prosecute one of their own.
Pragmatic Go use at bit.ly
> due to extensive legwork by our (extremely competent) marketing folk.

Without giving away the secret sauce, does that company have a strong niche that they excel in? I am fascinated by competent marketing; one of the apps I mentioned, before their launch, basically pulled together anyone who had ever emailed them about their previous apps and sent a really gorgeous teaser email.

I also wonder if your app icons are in the top 1%.
Happens in Germany too. I often ask if they work for a agency or the charity. Not once was there someone working/volunteering for the charity.
Every once in awhile the state of DRM really hammers itself home, to me.

Case in point, when someone is literally giving a potentially interesting book away and I can't be arsed to take it because getting it onto my reader of choice is just too much hassle.
I do similar. We need to develop a new etiquette. Perhaps placing the phone beyond your reach (in the center of the table) signifies that it's not a distraction, but just a bauble.
To make this quantitative, there are some interesting studies that show the popularity of music depends largely on luck. Researchers built a music sharing site that showed the popularity of different downloads and found not surprisingly that people downloaded the popular songs more. The interesting part is they randomly showed different users different popularity rankings. The songs that became popular with one set of users weren't very correlated with the songs that became popular with another set of users - basically once a song randomly gets more popular, positive feedback sets in.

To summarize the abstract:

"Increasing the strength of social influence increased both inequality and unpredictability of success. Success was also only partly determined by quality: The best songs rarely did poorly, and the worst rarely did well, but any other result was possible."

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/311/5762/854.short
http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_watts08.pdf http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_dodds_watts06_full.p...

It would be interesting to test this with Hacker News, showing different users two different sets of comment rankings. This would show how much top-rated comments get voted up because they are popular versus voted up because they are "better".
"Unfortunately, today's Hacker News audience is no longer the same. Today's Hacker News is a place where users want to snipe at other users and find negative aspects to anything thing submitted."

You base this statement on a sample size of N=2. On many Show HN submissions I tend to see just the opposite, people act as test users/engineers/etc for free and then write their impressions.

The problem that you faced, I think, is one I (and others) have noticed before: HN response dynamics is not stationary, i.e. it tends to change quite a bit with time of day (different moods or geographic audiences?), time of week (TGIF or the reverse effect), and even by time of month (full moon?). There are many posts analyzing the optimal time to post.

Having your project (or thoughts) bluntly criticized publicly can be painful. One solution could be: (i) Closely read and re-read comments offering constructive criticism (ii) ignore "snarky", etc. comments but note their ratio to the constructive ones, if the SNR is low then you have to think what on your product triggered such an outpouring.
Clarification: we suck at predicting what something's value to others will be.
I'm sorry for linking to the reddit discussion, but HN autokills submissions to bit.ly URLs.
Your statement, while widely believed has not been proven or disproven by the fact that people's success can be shown on a distribution.

Contrast that with the stock market where there is a much more significant luck component and compounded effects of winners taking all and losers getting pruned out year after year.
Comfort is the reason I have my phone on the table as well. My glasses and keys end up in the same place... usually in a precarious stack.
> It doesn't make me more important than them, though maybe it means that I have different values.

> It's probably a welcome gesture by the other party, given that they've clearly indicated that you are less important to them regardless.

So, which is it (way to keep it classy, by the way)?
Unless you need advice from a blue shirt working the floor or what you were buying is over $100, you can pay and check yourself out with the Apple Store app [1] and what they call their Easy Pay feature. I find this especially convenient when a store I go into is very crowded or I just don't want to wait. I grab what I need, scan it with the app, key in my password, and walk out usually within 5 minutes.

[1] http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-store/id375380948?mt=8
I wish I understood why # is no longer allowed as a commentline character in php.ini for 5.4

Isn't it nearly universally accepted in every other language?

Let me know if you spot the developer discussion on this logic?

(update: apparently this started with 5.3 not 5.4)