

Startup News Becomes Hacker News (2007) - hobohazard
http://ycombinator.com/hackernews.html
It occurred to me tonight that apart from the many other things YC gets right, what really makes them shine is HackerNews. I'd even say, YC couldn't have been what it is now without it. In my eyes, their biggest accomplishment is has been the wealth of information aggregated in their news portal.
======
revorad
_don't say anything in a comment thread that you wouldn't say in person._

This one simple rule should keep comment quality high, but it's so hard to
remember and follow. Maybe PG should always display it when someone's typing a
comment.

~~~
kaens
It's followed here much more often than in other "known" discussion sites,
other than perhaps metafilter.

I haven't been incredibly active for a while, and I remember one distinct
downturn in the quality of discussion, likely due to a surge in popularity,
but it was responded to, and from what I can tell the popularity surge didn't
have the same accretion of annoyance as it could have.

Sure, it's easy to get caught up in the moment, but honestly it's not that
hard to do that in real life either. As such, I think "don't say anything in a
comment thread you wouldn't say in person" should be followed by "if you do,
or someone else does, resolve it like you would in person". That is, in a
community that cares about itself and is comprised of people with strong
opinions, admission of being rash and apologies go a long way.

I personally prefer occasional taps on the shoulder to individuals in a
community by members of the community than a constant reminder-banner. The
banner just becomes noise, the "hey, stop that" is not so much.

------
kristianc
The curiosity point is a good one. I often find at the end of a day that I've
read most of the posts on the front page here, even on sites that I probably
wouldn't have browsed to of my own volition.

What HN brings in addition to that though is real social validation. If the HN
crowd have voted up a story, I usually know its worth being curious about.

~~~
c1sc0
Social validation goes further than the site. HN for me is not only a filter
for quality news but also for quality _people_. I'll gladly meet up IRL with a
HN user I haven't met before, Reddit & other niche interest sites not so much.
Also, "Are you on HN?" makes a great job interview question.

------
hobohazard
YC couldn't be what it is without Hacker News. It's amazing what a pivotal
role it's played in their success, yet its importance goes unnoticed. In my
eyes, their greatest achievement to date has been the wealth of information
accumulated in this news portal and community behind it.

