I'm pretty sure I'm at least partially it. I like to check the site out every now and then to get a point of view from the other side. HN, although having a lot of high quality discussions, can sometimes be a deafeningly loud echo chamber, and getting a different perspective helps to, well, put things into perspective.
I would definitely not describe HN as a place I come to get opposite points of view. I'm actually really very surprised anyone would see it that way, can you elaborate at all on why you do?
Indeed, I scrolled down hoping to find this sentiment. HN is one of the few venues I know where I can find worthwhile discussion. If anything, it combats my general misanthropy that everyone is stupid around me--at least here I learn something rather than feel like I have to correct another bad common misconception.
On that note, does anyone know any other good news/discussion sites similar to HN?
The comments on this thread strike me as an unusually good portrait of the HN community. This is who we are, how we spend our time, how much diversity in these viewpoints we contain.
Many HN users seem confident they know the truth, and that they know which sources are credible, and are comfortable suppressing anything contrary to what they already think, often without explanation. I don't think HN is quite an echo chamber yet, but it's well on its way.
Definitely. I'm involved here because I think of HN as my people. But it's an embarrassment to me elsewhere. Sort of like that one cranky old relative who can be perfectly nice but also will spew out some unbelievable shit.
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