Hmm. I can see what you're saying. (I'm actually kind of loyal to HN too, but I visit mainly for the comments.) Thanks for the idea -- it's much appreciated!
Why not create a sub-community for subscribers only? I mean, normal users see subscriber and normal users posts but subscribers optionally only see other subscribers. Maybe this would create a tighter knit, higher quality group. As beaten as this dead horse is, we all know Reddit is infected with memes and nonsense galore, that's why many of use have graduated to HN.
I wonder if HN adoption is at the point where HN subs would be an option. Maybe not wide open like reddit.com/r/ but a controlled set of HN sub sections.
I wonder if spinoff forums like subreddits could work for HN? Could be a cool project for someone, although it might not get enough community participation unless it was done officially.
It could possibly help to ease the disagreements over these issues.
I think a HN clone might get better traction not necessarily focusing on hackers/programmers, who likely are already perfectly happy being here. Maybe make one for all the stories and things that HN users don't want to see, or for different communities altogether.
For the last couple years I've wondered if people would like something that combined the sleek, text-focused front end of HN with the ability to make subreddit-like moderated communities.
The "boringness" of the front end would keep the riff-raff out - why would they bother when Reddit et al give them a much bigger and more meme-addled audience - and it'd be more like the second coming of old-school Usenet that so many older techies seem to long for.
If only I were a software engineer rather than a data scientist.
The first thing this has me thinking is that it looks like a "subreddit" of HN. I'm surprised to not have seen or heard of a Reddit style site with HN voting rules on it.
That would work. However it could also make the community hard to grow.
I surfed HN for years before I decided to make an account, and even now I don't really know anyone else using it in my circle. I guess I might have found someone if I asked around, but it would definitely raise the bar.
I thought the point of HN is to share intellectually interesting stories and points of view, with karma etc. just being a (maybe) necessary by-product.
I feel your proposition would not affect this goal in a good way.
I'm not really sure this is necessary (and IMHO I believe HN should be more strictly moderated), but you are definitely welcome to build one and we can try it out.
I think HN needs to consider segmenting, like Reddit does with subreddits. This would give more content a chance to get to the front page with a relevant audience.
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