I'll provide a different view to the "it's the moderation" answer that I typically hear...
Honestly, I think it's mostly IQ.
I remember a time when Facebook was good, but that was back when the average user was a university student. I remember when Reddit was good, but again, that was back when the average user was probably a nerdy 18-30 year old.
I saw a similar trend with the internet more generally too... My first memories of the internet were so positive. For the most part everyone was lovely. But again, you have to consider who the average internet user was at the time (2002ish). It was mostly just nerds...
I remember everything turning to crap around 2014-2016. This was around the time your gran probably joined Facebook and YouTube began fill with content for kids. It was a trend in place for a while, but my guess is that the smart phone had something to do with the acceleration of the trend during this period. The smart phone turned the internet into more of a casual media platform than a place to do research or connect with people.
I see people point to the moderation of HN as a reason for the relative quality here, but I think it's mostly that we're just a weird community – always have been and probably always will be. Generally people here are well educated, career focused, 20-60 year olds, and we come here to talk about topics like science, technology and business.
And unlike communities on Reddit or Twitter, HN is a completely segregated community so there's no risk of contagion from adjacent low-IQ communities.
I hold this opinion, in part, because it's true in my real life too. Something that shocked me growing up, coming from a trashy working-class background is how nice upper middle-class people are. If you upset them they won't swear at you. They seem genuinely curious in the things you think. They're not cruel or judgemental to those who are different...
I feel what I'm saying here will be seen as very elitist, but it's probably the same reason you want to live in a nice neighbourhood or send your kids to a good school... Sure, having good police, teachers or moderators can help, but it won't change the people.
I've also come to a parallel realization recently, as someone who wasn't born in an English-speaking country. Not about the eternal September but about how trashy the internet is.
Whenever I go to YouTube and forget to use my VPN, I get recommended content from my country, and it's inevitably trashy and vulgar, stuff I would never engage with. Then I go to the English-speaking internet and swallow it all up like it's perfectly fine, and I've always wondered why my local social media is trashy and English-speaking social media isn't... But really there is no difference, it's all trash, trash and kids. I just couldn't recognize it because my social frame of reference for English content is the trash itself. Now that I've realized this I see it everywhere, the vulgarity, the generalized rudeness, the topics being discussed.
Anyway, yeah it comes of as elitist I suppose. Although I'm not sure it's a matter of class, because whenever I meet someone from the English axis they are most often perfectly lovely people regardless of their background, I think it's just a system optimizing for the lowest common denominator.
> I feel what I'm saying here will be seen as very elitist, but it's probably the same reason you want to live in a nice neighbourhood or send your kids to a good school... Sure, having good police, teachers or moderators can help, but it won't change the people.
I think we're all in this Catch-22: it's an obviously elitist thing to say that various demographics drag down quality by default, but it's something that can't be denied. I believe a lot of online landscapes have changed for the worse as the nerds that used to fuel them have gone from the majority to the minority.
However, I do value some of the changes that have come about in terms of general internet UX because we're not limited to the nerds anymore. It's a hard balance to strike.
Honestly, I think it's mostly IQ.
I remember a time when Facebook was good, but that was back when the average user was a university student. I remember when Reddit was good, but again, that was back when the average user was probably a nerdy 18-30 year old.
I saw a similar trend with the internet more generally too... My first memories of the internet were so positive. For the most part everyone was lovely. But again, you have to consider who the average internet user was at the time (2002ish). It was mostly just nerds...
I remember everything turning to crap around 2014-2016. This was around the time your gran probably joined Facebook and YouTube began fill with content for kids. It was a trend in place for a while, but my guess is that the smart phone had something to do with the acceleration of the trend during this period. The smart phone turned the internet into more of a casual media platform than a place to do research or connect with people.
I see people point to the moderation of HN as a reason for the relative quality here, but I think it's mostly that we're just a weird community – always have been and probably always will be. Generally people here are well educated, career focused, 20-60 year olds, and we come here to talk about topics like science, technology and business.
And unlike communities on Reddit or Twitter, HN is a completely segregated community so there's no risk of contagion from adjacent low-IQ communities.
I hold this opinion, in part, because it's true in my real life too. Something that shocked me growing up, coming from a trashy working-class background is how nice upper middle-class people are. If you upset them they won't swear at you. They seem genuinely curious in the things you think. They're not cruel or judgemental to those who are different...
I feel what I'm saying here will be seen as very elitist, but it's probably the same reason you want to live in a nice neighbourhood or send your kids to a good school... Sure, having good police, teachers or moderators can help, but it won't change the people.