Re:Should we worry about what the LHC is not finding?
by kens on Monday July 25, 2011 @01:43PM
(#2803659)
Yes debate quality seems to have dropped. A few years ago HN comments would put a scientific article in perspective and add important insights. Now there are tons of comments with questions at a Physics 101 or Bio 101 or Astro 101 level.
(At least that's how it appears to me.)
Re:Should we worry about what the LHC is not finding?
by Florin_Andrei on Monday July 25, 2011 @06:46PM
(#2805079)
This forum is growing. The discussion quality is bound to decrease. It's mathematically mandatory.
Happened to every online community I've seen in the last decade.
Re:Should we worry about what the LHC is not finding?
by juiceandjuice on Monday July 25, 2011 @01:29PM
(#2803606)
While I mostly agree about the contrarian nature of many HN posters, there are more than a few very qualified scientists on HN from varied backgrounds, probably at a higher percentage than any other general online community that I can think of.
On a more serious note, the quality of scientific debate on Hacker News is really, really low. Part of it is this community's insistence on contrariness – which comes out in a bunch of weird ways, global warming denialism probably the most prominent – but part of it is a really unattractive arrogant streak which refuses to accept that some issues are just complex. Kind of a Dunning-Kruger effect, really.
(I have no solutions, but it's worth noting).