
Ask HN: Hacker forum or IRC? - jebediah
Is there a forum or irc channel aimed at all hackers? I have never managed to find a good one
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decentrality
Why not just all jump into #hackernews? What does hackers mean again? Who's
definition?

If you're actually looking for HN people, why don't we just participate on
#hackernews on freenode.

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jaekwon
I just logged onto #hackernews on freenode.

My god, it's full of avatars!

~~~
decentrality
Since my original comment about #hackernews on freenode, the room filled up
and got talking and so far it does not suck.

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ld00d
I don't know about others, but I find IRC a little intimidating. So I get in,
but I never speak. I just hide out in the corner and sip my beer.

~~~
jebediah
I feel the exactly opposite way, I think IRC is the place where I am the most
open

~~~
decentrality
Lurking in IRC is fine, being extroverted is fine. The ability to even
remotely understand who HN actually is is weird enough without talking.
Otherwise all there is are single line headlines, terse often neckbeardy
comments, and no real-time presence -- no "moment" to figure out what even
some of these people here really are. So far whether you lurk or talk it's
better than just looking at the posts and threads.

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izolate
Never found a good one either. I think it's because HN members stay in their
respective domain channels - #python #javascript for example.

#startups on freenode is supposedly made up of HN crowd, but I've never found
it a friendly place.

~~~
kimagure
freenode in general isn't a very friendly place :/

that said, i think #clojure and #reactjs are fairly friendly and helpful to
questions, even the most basic ones.

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zkanda
#django is one of the active channels I've tried. Lot's of people willing to
help.

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brooksgarrett
The biggest problem with this question is the breadth of the term 'hacker'.
Hackers tend to clump into whatever projects they are currently working on.
Try starting off in places like #ubuntu and other projects (that interest
you!) that are very newbie friendly. Master a topic and try helping other
newbies with that topic. It takes time but my personal experience is the best
way to be involved in the 'hacker' culture is to be recognized as someone who
brings value and contributions back to the group, regardless of the size of
those contributions.

~~~
jebediah
But the whole point is to have a general place with lots of people where all
things hacker could be talked about, I spend some time on topic-specific IRC
channels but I don't want to talk about python or arch all day, I wanted a
channel that was about the community

~~~
lozf
For s sense of community, perhaps your local hackerspace has a channel that
can help. If you don't have a local hackerspace, consider starting one, or at
least occasionally participating in something less local.

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moepstar
Hm, if there isn't one already (and i know of none) i guess the only answer
is:

Set one up on a network that has a high # of hackers, tinkerers etc.

IMHO, this network could be chat.freenode.net

When you're done, let people know in this thread and i'm sure they'll come...

P.S.: There's a channel named #startups already on freenode which seems to
have a few people from HN already...

~~~
ffwacom
#startups is a terrible channel

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bilalel
Slack [0] is a piece of beauty for community/team communication. I don't if
there is already a HN channel on it.

[0] [https://www.slack.com/](https://www.slack.com/)

~~~
jackweirdy
I really don't see the big deal with slack. I don't see what it does that any
other chat software doesn't?

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jordsmi
It has a cool name

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bussiere
look at irc channel of different hackerspace ... as that one :
[http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/London_Hackspace](http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/London_Hackspace)

~~~
spindritf
This is the best recommendation. Find a hacker space nearby. They also usually
have some sort of public mailing list which is like a forum.

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a3voices
Why would you want to chat with hackers? Might as well just go into work and
talk to coworkers.

~~~
jebediah
Because I am 16

