[−]circularfoyers · 2026-11-15 Sun 10:06 UTC ·
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The alternative to me seems to be becoming like a lot of subs on Reddit. It's part of why I like HN so much too, where the signal to noise is so much better.
It actually is, on Reddit you need to collapse and scroll down a bit to get a real non-joke answer to something, over here low effort jokes tend to get pushed down.
Agree. I’m here because discussions are not padded left and right with memes and people trying to farm karma with humor tailored for maximum engagement.
[−]whattheheckheck · 2026-11-15 Sun 11:56 UTC ·
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Yes its in a death spiral with the new account based infinite scroll feed direction they're going to go in. Soon you'll see ai generated, or reposted, content perfectly tailored to what your unconscious shadow wants to see. Just like the rest of the apps
This was a solved problem by Slashdot decades ago: You introduce a simple tagging system: "Insightful", "informative", "funny", etc. then you let the community tag comments accordingly. Then if you want to filter out jokes, or only see them, you can do so via a simple UI switch.
I dislike censorship in general. Someone else decides whether I
may read comment xyz from another human being (assuming it is
a human being). I don't want censor-in-the-middle people, be it
on HN or reddit. Old reddit was easier to use than HN though;
on HN we get time-locked as well as jokes-eliminated. That forces
a more serious tone. I do not think it really improves the
signal to noise ratio though; usually it means that there are
fewer comments in general, including potentially interesting comments. I mean, if HN were serious about joke-censorship, any funny story shared by someone else on HN, even if historically accurate, would also have to be censored. After all you can not evaluate whether a claimed story to be true, to NOT be a "joke in disguise". I could go on and on here, but at the end of the day it just boils down as to whether people like censorship or not. You may reason that you prefer it, to "pre-filter away content you never want to read", such as a joke, but for me, I just dislike that someone else sits in the driver seat and tells me what I am allowed to read and what not. I want to decide on that on my own and I have no issue with "noise ratio"; I don't read all comments anyway, simply due to lack of time. I can only glimpse at some of them. Do you really have the time to go through all comments on each entry on HN?
I dislike (nay, find absurd) the idea that private people should provide for free a platform for random people that they’re not allowed to moderate because "censorship" and "free speech". Also, Reddit is probably the least censored mainstream discussion platform on the open internet, even after expelling all kinds of terrible people.
[−]SV_BubbleTime · 2026-11-15 Sun 16:14 UTC ·
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>Also, Reddit is probably the least censored mainstream discussion platform on the open internet
Absolutely not.
There are instant banned topics on Reddit. AI banned topics site wide. Go write something like “the USA imported the third world” and enjoy your instant 3-day ban.
X however, actually has some semblance of free speech. Like it or not.
I dislike censorship in general. Someone else decides whether I may read comment xyz from another human being (assuming it is a human being). I don't want censor-in-the-middle people, be it on HN or reddit. Old reddit was easier to use than HN though; on HN we get time-locked as well as jokes-eliminated. That forces a more serious tone. I do not think it really improves the signal to noise ratio though; usually it means that there are fewer comments in general, including potentially interesting comments. I mean, if HN were serious about joke-censorship, any funny story shared by someone else on HN, even if historically accurate, would also have to be censored. After all you can not evaluate whether a claimed story to be true, to NOT be a "joke in disguise". I could go on and on here, but at the end of the day it just boils down as to whether people like censorship or not. You may reason that you prefer it, to "pre-filter away content you never want to read", such as a joke, but for me, I just dislike that someone else sits in the driver seat and tells me what I am allowed to read and what not. I want to decide on that on my own and I have no issue with "noise ratio"; I don't read all comments anyway, simply due to lack of time. I can only glimpse at some of them. Do you really have the time to go through all comments on each entry on HN?
Absolutely not.
There are instant banned topics on Reddit. AI banned topics site wide. Go write something like “the USA imported the third world” and enjoy your instant 3-day ban.
X however, actually has some semblance of free speech. Like it or not.