I wonder: To what degree does this happen on HN? Is HN big enough and influential enough that this happens here?
If it doesn't directly happen here, it still happens indirectly: People read stuff on, say, Reddit or X, and it affects what they think, and so it affects what they say here.
Over the past decade, I have observed HN become somewhat less civil, and contain more extreme positions, and more people who push their viewpoint and simply will not listen to any alternative, no matter how well supported. Are we being directly attacked, or are we just falling prey to what's being pumped into our society at large?
I believe that HN has seen a return to civility over the last 4 years. I see less politics and less extreme posturing now than in, say, 2020. I can't figure out a reason.
I doubt HN is being directly attacked. It's possible this has to do with more direct policing of accounts - if you turn on "showdead" you'll see quite a few accounts whose every post is automatically marked dead. Facebook and Twitter offer such easy pickings that it may be too much effort for the money to attack HN.
If it doesn't directly happen here, it still happens indirectly: People read stuff on, say, Reddit or X, and it affects what they think, and so it affects what they say here.
Over the past decade, I have observed HN become somewhat less civil, and contain more extreme positions, and more people who push their viewpoint and simply will not listen to any alternative, no matter how well supported. Are we being directly attacked, or are we just falling prey to what's being pumped into our society at large?
And, what do we do about it?
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