> But they're not voting so they're irrelevant.
Thank you for this patronizing attitude. TBH I don't vote (and most of the times comment) anymore because I have accepted that my opinion differs too much from most opinions out there so people who run platforms do not want to read it. Even if I do not curse or insult somebody my words will be downvoted, censored etc. so it is just no use to waste my time sharing my opinions and knowledge (yes I have that, too - not just opinions you do not like).
You probably come from US or live inside the same bubble the active HN users do.
Just created this account some weeks ago to be able to answer again, don't know if my comment will even show up here (I think new accounts are not allowed to post).
I prefer Reddit because the users come from different places of the world and have different opinions. It's not a hive like a Borg cube or HN which will try to assimilate you and punish those who think differently.
Of course there is toxic communities, too but at least you can go somewhere else and have a normal conversation or exchange knowledge.
HN is a stub for the opinion of US patriots, average age 40+ with high salary and very specialized IT know how. Just look at the kind of problems people here discuss about and you see what I mean. Reddit is a public forum where different people talk about things they are interested in. Yes, Reddit is also not a mirror of society and in some cases biased but at least you can speak more freely there. Maybe this is what you expressed with "Facebook-like" behavior but I like that you can use it without needing a PhD to be accepted (so dumb people like me can have and share opinions, too).
I think politics is similar. Many people don't vote and this makes them irrelevant to politicians. They are irrelevant in terms of winning an election. In a place with low voter turnout, the interests of those who do vote is amplified.
HN is CS/Tech/Entrepreneurship focused so I don't see a problem with it being a bubble of people who are skilled and participate in these activities. All people are welcome to the site which I think is fantastic but the site has a certain culture. If you don't enjoy hacker news than go to a site whose culture you enjoy more. I frequent here because I enjoy the content more than other forum sites such as poetsandquants or bogleheads or the infinite set of subreddits.
How? Why? This seems crazy to me. As a long time Reddit user, I've cultivated a nice list of subreddits specific to my interests; without all the noise. Reddit's default frontpage has become pretty terrible and useless.
BUT, there has been an explosion of subreddits, some of which are unbelievably high quality with thousands of users even in the most niche interests. This leads to large amounts of content of value being created.
I'm very, very happy with where Reddit has gone. Also, porn.
Said no-one, ever.
Subreddits are almost different websites with different moderators and different cultures. HN is now one of the only forums I consistently visit. Otherwise subreddits dominate this method of topic-focused discussion.
How can an online community avoid this? What techniques can be used? What technology can be used? What skills are needed? How should communities be organized and staffed?
I've run online communities with hundreds of thousands of active users. The problem as an owner was that as soon as I wasn't able to moderate it myself I had to hire volunteer moderators from within the userbase. I would slowly step back as this staff took over my workload, but as I created a hierarchy and promoted staff they would all become increasingly power-hungry and dictatorial, without exception. I would end up in a constant churn of having to ban the most senior staff (who would then turn into demons of revenge trying to burn down everything) and again promoting less staff who swore they would not become what they had despised.
Surely there must be books on this shit?
In turn, the users who do actively post and comment have an amplified affect on what the 90% actually see. I find this to be particularly interesting when the culture of a userbase changes. I've been a long time user of Reddit, however rarely am I ever logged in. Overtime, I've felt that the culture of Reddit has changed to be much more liberal with posting low-effort comments. Many new users post on every post they see, while a previous generation of users may have dismissed that kind of behavior as being "Facebook-like" behavior. I think it may be another factor in the age old rule that the larger a site grows, the more the quality of discussion drops.