
Lobste.rs has now more than 10k members - entelechy
https://lobste.rs/u/
======
DyslexicAtheist
haven't been there in 2 years. it had some flair initially since the topics
that HN would consider borderline were demoted much stricter on lobste.rs. so
it appealed to the SW developer in me but over time I moved back here and
forgot they existed. in the end most discussions from lobste.rs already had HN
counterparts with much comments in the threads due to huge difference in user-
base. But I also felt there were a lot of HN haters over there and an attitude
that lobsters would be a better HN.

 _imvho_ lobste.rs is annoyingly managed top-down by the founder. Opinions
usually have to resonate with his (and his bros) ... maybe this is just
because the community isn't yet big enough to actually incorporate other sides
of the bubble. The discussions I have seen him fight out, and ban people over
were ugly. They usually started on the premise of _technical disagreements_
and escalate into a war because of the founder being high on lobsters being
his platform so his opinion has to be the right one ...

it felt a lot like majordomo email lists for tech/devel discussions in the
90ies. If you didn't agree with the admin (no matter if their technical points
where moot) you were out (that being a poorly managed list - there were ofc
many great places where it was a great place exactly because it was ruthlessly
managed). But if you want to scale to these dimensions I think founder ego can
clash with the growth of the platform.

For me having this behavior witnessed against some of the lobste.rs users, the
platform just felt like another bro-culture I could happily live without.

What for me feels narrow might feel "more puristic" to others. But I think
lobste.rs could do more in terms of creating a welcoming environment by either
distributing the power a little. It's not a thing the community can do since
the founder has to be OK with and embrace it. Until then I'm happy to reduce
my HN addiction by just limiting to HN.

Again this was some time ago. Maybe this has all long since changed. I'd hope
so.

~~~
angersock
> _The discussions I have seen him fight out, and ban people over were ugly.
> They usually started on the premise of technical disagreements and escalate
> into a war because of the founder being high on lobsters being his platform
> so his opinion has to be the right one ..._

Examples of this?

~~~
stefantalpalaru
> Examples of this?

Me. I was forcefully removed from the lobste.rs community by "pushcx" (after
years of activity) for posting "a lot of really negative comments" and not
playing along with his culturally insensitive offer to "help".

When will these people learn that faking cheerfulness cannot be imposed on the
whole world? Anyway, to add insult to injury, all my comments with negative
scores were deleted after the ban.

"I appreciate that you haven't attacked anyone", he wrote, before going on his
little power trip. Involuntary humour is better than no humour at all, I
guess...

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entelechy
I like that they show who invited who. Wonder how many members hacker news
has?

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swamy_g
Haha, I thought it was a social network for Jordan Peterson fans.

~~~
ngoldbaum
[https://lobste.rs/about#michaelbolton](https://lobste.rs/about#michaelbolton)

------
angersock
For folks that are interested in joining, feel free to swing by #lobsters on
freenode and ask for an invite. You'll probably get asked for your Github,
personal portfolio, or some other indication you have technical chops, and
then somebody will send you an invite if they feel comfortable attaching your
name to their account.

It's not a community for everybody--we deliberately focus on actionable
technical information and training, and tend to skip over more entrepreneurial
or marketing stuff ( [https://barnacl.es](https://barnacl.es) is a sister site
that's way better for biz talk).

The culture is ongoing in refinement (
[https://lobste.rs/s/oackyq/lobsters_community_standards#c_sy...](https://lobste.rs/s/oackyq/lobsters_community_standards#c_sybvqw)
) and evolution, reinforced by periodic meta threads where aspects of the site
and culture are drug up and commented on and tweaked.

It's probably the most rewarding and healthy tech community I've been involved
with in the last decade. :)

~~~
plandis
I always found it fascinating this seems to purposefully (accidentally?)
prohibit employees of big companies who are prohibited from open source
software development work without jumping through a lot of hoops.

~~~
sushid
Can’t you just give them your company email if you’re insistent on joining?
I’m sure they’d put a SWE at FAANG in the “has technical chops” bucket.

~~~
Harkins
The poster's speculation was incorrect. We don't care about employer.

