It's all right these days, if you're into mindless entertainment; they got rid of a lot of the more toxic parts (the_donald and co) and pornography is de-emphasized, likely will be removed altogether in the future. My feeds are now mainly poorly Paint-edited memes, cat photos / videos, and sometimes a bit of drama from the relationships or "am I the asshole" subreddits.

I don't actually do that much for mental stimulation anymore. HN doesn't do it for me anymore since three quarters are about technology or industries I'm far removed from, plus I never liked the SV culture of overhyping and grinding out startups to fish for early retirement. It's that culture that gave us the gig economy and that encourages the sigma male grindset bullshit where if you don't work 16 hours a day maintaining a healthy daily balance of soylent, melatonin, LSD and meditation you're not cool enough.

I'm with you on Silicon Valley being a grift, but be wary about mindless content consumption - even if it's not doomscrolling, you're essentially putting yourself in stasis and numbing yourself with a constant dopamine drip-feed, which can lead to not actually enjoying life. Basically, internet addiction is real.

5 years later, browsing r/all is much worse in other ways. Porn has been de-emphasized, but every other post feels like an outrage post designed to evoke anger, often without any proof, and it's enough to get people completely riled up.

Same hat, though I've mostly moved on to TikTok for my mindless entertainment.

HN is better because there are other internet olds here and more of the content is interesting, but as somebody with MS, the sigma male grindset thing gets under my skin because there's an undercurrent of 'If you do these things, you can ward off insecurity or poverty' and there are cases where that's just not true. Plus the ability to do those things often relies on external support, which for some reason just isn't mentioned when people talk about how they've worked to get where they are. (Which I'm not discounting; it's just that two people can put in the same effort and get drastically different results.)

It's a mindset for people in their 20s or people who can outsource most life activities.

> two people can put in the same effort and get drastically different results

Definitely; results come from: effort, ability, luck (or timing), choices and starting resources.

I unsubbed from all default subs except “world news” (which I don’t comment in) and basically only hang out on my niche hobby/professional subs now. If you curate it and cut out the really toxic, highly-attractive subs that really pull you in, it’s a way better experience. Took me almost 10 years recognize the issue but I’m glad I did.

How is HN any better than reddit?

In many ways it is not. It's an endless source of procrastination and staying here too long without other influences will cause you to develop a most profound case of engineer's disease and blind you to the specific brand of groupthink here. Still, the level of discourse here is high compared to the worst of Reddit, and sometimes on topics I find highly engaging, which keeps me coming back for more (distraction). Just don't fall into the logical fallacy that any of us here are worth more than any other human being because (some of us) have more money, or that we're able to string English words together to form complete sentences.

I admit to meeting up with an old classmate in-person after spending weeks with HN as my main source of social interaction, and then regularly referencing anecdotes on old HN threads in the conversation and advocating for Linux/GNU for an OS; talking down big tech companies in favor of living frugally to contribute to open-source projects; and arguing in favor of working at startups versus big companies if given the chance.

I've since matured to avoid citing HN when referencing anecdotes (instead saying "I read once that..."), being agnostic about where one works (as long as it fits your personal career goals), and trying to also develop my worldview through well-regarded classic books.

I'm hopeful that the HN I enjoyed 10 years ago can be brought back when the reddit refugees who destroyed their own site lose interest.

It was brought back, it is http://lobste.rs

Need someone to invite you though

I can invite you.

I view it like a single subreddit with a community of pretty decent folks.

Reddit is a large wasteland, and comment interactions very often turn sour.

I’m not sure it is much better, but moderation does have an impact on the tone of the conversation. New content pops up a bit slower, so it’s a bit less exciting. There’s a culture of sourcing information.

Moderation keeps most people 'civil' in a formal sense - avoiding dang action. I still quite honestly find the tone here mean and condescending a very significant part of the time. Every one of my subreddits is refreshingly wholesome by comparison. Of course, one can individually quit any subreddit they find irritating.

However, after begging my therapist for help with my doomscrolling, I deleted the Reddit app. We'll see if I end up resorting to blocking HN somehow.

I’m afraid I’m not going to be helpful here, but here’s how I quit Reddit: I simply did it. I realized I was done. I stopped believing I was getting something from it. In 2014 I quit smoking in a similar fashion. Just realized it was bad, didn’t smoke afterwards.

HN is still a great place to understand the ideology of Silicon Valley and its industry. I’ve never left Europe and this forum seems to give me an edge about what’s happening here.

The volume is limited and the density is higher. Once you're on top of everything you found interesting you just turn away and do something else.