http://n-gate.com/hackernews/ This is pure gold !

> Tesla finally launches a product as advertised. Hackernews, based on Youtube videos, reverse-engineers a spacecraft down to the metallurgical level and then sagely debates the maintenance characteristics of an aircraft that exited service before any of them learned to read and none of them have seen in operation, mostly derived from blog posts by people they're pretty sure knew a guy.

I think even though n-gate provides another perspective on HN comments, some of it just a hateful rant that doesn't add any values itself.

I remember chuckled reading n-gate, until I read a rant about Monica[1] on n-gate. Monica, i think, is an awesome app to keep in touch with your best friends and family. N-gate said it's just an app that makes you creepy because you stalk your family and your best friend. Can't find the n-gate link though.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497295

>N-gate said it's just an app that makes you creepy because you stalk your family and your best friend.

It's not just n-gate, I think Monica is creepy as all hell. Keeping in touch with my best friends and family is texting, chatting, and calling each other once in a while. Putting them on a "CRM to manage" is like using LinkedIn for my personal life.

I don't get this whole 'creepy' thing. I remember chat was creepy. I remember interacting with any stranger on the 'world wide web' was creepy. And then of course we had 'weird' (which usually just meant creepy without direct social implications), which applied to us nerds having a digital calendar and a pocket computer.

Almost everyone I know uses tech to augment their relationships, whether by keeping a gift list, putting birthdays on their calendar, checking friends' fb feeds, etc., and while I perfectly understand discussions about the (negative) consequences of all this, it really irks me how there's some kind of magical 'line', obviously right where the deemer deems it to be, beyond which something is creepy.

On a more personal note: for people like me, the help of tech, including something like Monica, can really have a positive effect on the relationships I have. Chat, gaming forums, and places like here offer me a degree of social interaction that has no real world equivalent. Gaming basically saved my life, back in my lonely teen years. And yet throughout my life I've often felt vaguely or outright ashamed about all this, because of people calling these things creepy for, what appears to me, no reason other than that it is different from what they know.

Let's not forget 'coffee shops' and 'books' were going to be the end of our society too!

Obligatory upvote. I actually had never heard of n-gate and now, I feel, as if I can waste time more efficiently and humorously than ever before. I agree though, n-gate ought to be required reading!

Yep, I always enjoy the fresh bucket of cold water it delivers to my face. And it often highlights facets that get left out.

I don't see why. n-gate sometimes makes reasonable points, but not usually. Even when it does make a good point it is rarely of any help to anyone who wants to learn about something concrete like algorithms.

Oh yes, n gate is pretty awesome! Any clue who runs it?

Secret Unix tip:

    $ whois n-gate.com

(where “$” is your shell prompt)

the owner is not visible in the WHOIS info

Actually, he is.

Then the whois info for a given domain must vary from region to region. Here is what I see:

$ whois n-gate.com Domain Name: N-GATE.COM Registry Domain ID: 3552897_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.gandi.net Registrar URL: http://www.gandi.net Updated Date: 2017-12-30T01:40:58Z Creation Date: 1995-05-21T04:00:00Z Registry Expiry Date: 2018-05-22T04:00:00Z Registrar: Gandi SAS Registrar IANA ID: 81 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected] Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +33.170377661 Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited Name Server: A.NS.SCIOPS.NET Name Server: D.NS.BUDDYNS.COM Name Server: E.NS.BUDDYNS.COM DNSSEC: unsigned URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/ >>> Last update of whois database: 2018-02-12T21:55:31Z <<<

(+legalese...)

Interesting, I also see some additional details.

This Internet thanks you for the reminder!

Wow, this is fucking great!!! thx

is it me or others also see that CAPTCHA and "loading" thing on main page?

You know there are people who don't like the HN hivemind, yes? "Hacker News is an echo chamber focusing on computer posturing and self-aggrandizement." and "Hacker News is the Slashdot for the smug classes".

For the most part I think they are right, though obviously I am still here. I think that says something about me.

Some of these people do things like do a redirect based on the referer.

Try following one of the links at https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=jwz.org . Done because "Hacker News is a steaming cesspool and I don't have time or desire to deal with their bandwidth demands, so I just block them."

It’s weird to call Hacker News a hive mind when all I see is people arguing with each other.

Have you ever watched US political shows? It seems like the inside-the-Beltway hivemind loves to argue with each other too.

Never known people who like to argue with each other for the sake of argument?

Ok... I guess I have to let out the secret. Open in incognito. After reading, you will realize this is purposeful trap to keep "Hacknews" out :).

If you delete the “/_security_check/” part from the URL, you get to the site proper. Maybe it's a reaction to a steep surge in requests.

Edit: Or, as another comment proposes, it could in fact be due to the referrer, and we're being had.

I think its a joke.