

Ask HN: Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? - ohashi

I was wondering how much of the front page would be crowded with iPad today... most of it I guess is the answer.  Do all these articles really add any value beyond perhaps the first or maybe second?  I feel like there are huge diminishing returns on these types of articles.  Am I missing something?
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pvg
You are asking a very self-referential question which you probably know the
answer to. If a tsunami of iPad posts don't add much value, as you suggest,
how much value do meta-iPad posts add, do you think?

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sfk
They provide other people with the information that not everyone here wants to
discuss the hype of the day. For me, this was valuable, since
(coincidentally?) yesterday was the first day that I couldn't find _any_
submission that I was even _remotely_ interested in.

Meta posts have their place, if they are used in moderation.

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sheriff
This is the first time I've ever pulled up Hacker News and found nothing
interesting on the homepage.

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sheriff
I'd appreciate a comment with the downvote. I _was_ answering the question. Do
you simply disagree that the most interesting stories are buried more deeply
than usual?

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swombat
I guess you're being downvoted because it's such a clichéed thing to say, and
it adds nothing to the conversation beyond a "Yes" or "No" sound.

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jacquesm
I haven't seen it mentioned before, so for me it isn't cliché, and I was sort
of surprised to see the story was still running that strong.

A high-resolution iphone that can not make voice calls is not the earth
shattering announcement that it was rumoured was coming.

The danger of having the hype machine out of control like this is that you can
basically only under-deliver.

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nedwin
It's a little frustrating seeing a full page of iPad posts but when I looked a
little closer I could see that they're all (mostly) looking at different
things. I was keen to know more about why it didn't have a camera and how this
would affect web-apps - there's an article for that. :)

That said I think I'll take the next couple of days off from HN.

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AndrewDucker
This is self-correcting.

When people are bored of talking about the iPad then they will stop voting the
articles up. If more exciting things appear then they will be voted up.

Give it 24 hours, and the wheel will turn again.

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patio11
This too shall pass. Also, people have been mature enough to avoid tossing an
Erlang-bomb, which is a plus.

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jacquesm
It's sad that Erlang will be - at least on HN - forever associated with the
stunt pulled by a very limited number of individuals.

~~~
pvg
Probably not forever. People will move on eventually, reach some clojure.

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plinkplonk
"Do all these articles really add any value beyond perhaps the first or maybe
second?"

You must be new here!

Aside from the "value is in the eye of the beholder" answer, Apple has always
had a bit of a cult like following even among some developers, and when an
Apple product launches you can expect some links on the front page. And
arguably it does have some impact on Hacker's lives and is worth some
discussion, even if you think (as I do) the reactions (both pro and anti) to
this specific product is overblown.

But yes, this will fade over the next few days. Just the "cost of doing
business" on HN. Just wait a couple of days and things will be back to normal.

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wglb
Only a small fraction of them do, and this is not one of them. One can
understand the excitement, however. I would imagine this will tail off over
the next day.

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JacobAldridge
Don't forget the niche in a niche - at a quick glance the top 8 articles and
14 of the top page are iPad related, but only 5 of them attracted me and only
2 warranted upvotes. Only 3 got enough support to make it to the best page.

So it's not the same 87 people upvoting all the articles. They are discussing
different facets, which will appeal to different HN members.

Having said that, I am looking forward to tomorrow ...

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DenisM
The rush of iPad news means there are a lot of lookers on HN and not enough
makers. Makers care about tools and processes and generally stuff conductive
of making, while lookers want to ogle. Lookers aren't bad people, but makers
need to have their own place with high signal/noise ratio, while lookers tend
to unwillingly destroy it when they show up in large numbers.

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imasr
I believe it is a sign of how important this issue is to the community. I
wouldn't underestimate it.

