Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering another, better universe

Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by jdlyga on Monday November 09, 2026 @01:17PM (#50429313)

It's the natural progression of websites like this. Reddit went through the same progression: it was very positive and felt like a community when the migration from Digg first happened. 10 years ago, Hacker News felt like an insider website for professionals. It still does, but there's definitely an uptick in negativity.

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by thousand_nights on Monday November 09, 2026 @01:40PM (#50429662)

yeah HN really reminds me of reddit before the Digg exodus. I wonder if it will have the same fate eventually as it gets more popular and moderation can't keep up

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by ecshafer on Monday November 09, 2026 @01:42PM (#50429684)

Its funny, because the Digg migration is probably when Reddit started going down hill.

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by bhaak on Monday November 09, 2026 @01:56PM (#50429919)

Was the Digg exodus the start of Reddit’s Eternal September?

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by ecshafer on Monday November 09, 2026 @02:13PM (#50430212)

I think so. That was the first big shift from Programmers / IT / Nerds to rage comics if I remember right.

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by soulofmischief on Monday November 09, 2026 @02:58PM (#50431042)

[delayed]

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by miiiiiike on Monday November 09, 2026 @10:53PM (#50435849)

Dang is the best moderator I’ve ever encountered.

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by kenchan on Monday November 09, 2026 @02:02PM (#50430013)

I specifically remember one commenter saying, "Look, we're not happy about what happened either but we have no where else to go. Now scoot over."

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by VLM on Monday November 09, 2026 @03:37PM (#50431712)

Traditionally Tumblr was blamed for that in the late 2010s, although Digg is plausible. I think the sheer volume of Tumblr had more impact on Reddit than Digg ever could have, its a size thing.

A lot of Reddit problems were own-goals. Lets have a civil war over being a free speech or being a brutally censored speech site, I'm sure the civilians trapped in the middle will love the experience. Spoiler -> They did NOT.

But humans can always be replaced by bots if you're selling advertising views, LOL. HN doesn't sell ads (or at least none have ever gotten past my ad blocker) so there's fewer bots here so the decline due to bots is slower here.

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by altairprime on Monday November 09, 2026 @02:12PM (#50430191)

[delayed]

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by equality_1138 on Monday November 09, 2026 @02:42PM (#50430772)

Management incompetence in tech is a serious problem that predates the AI fiasco by leaps and bounds.

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by altairprime on Monday November 09, 2026 @06:16PM (#50433751)

[delayed]

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by ruraljuror on Monday November 09, 2026 @07:14PM (#50434340)

I am curious about this take. What I have seen personally & my understanding of the broader industry pressure is for managers to go back to IC.

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by altairprime on Monday November 09, 2026 @07:51PM (#50434643)

[delayed]

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by wuschel on Monday November 09, 2026 @02:49PM (#50430888)

Community size and cohesion are definitely key factors. But there is still strong signal to noise ratio here (thank you dang et al for all the work).

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Re:Going back two years on Hacker News is like entering anot... by hn_throwaway_99 on Monday November 09, 2026 @10:11PM (#50435613)

> 10 years ago, Hacker News felt like an insider website for professionals. It still does, but there's definitely an uptick in negativity.

I will just speak for myself, but a large part of that "uptick in negativity" is from professional insiders who changed their views, not necessarily from newbies "poisoning" the site. Tons of people who were incredibly optimistic about the role of tech and specifically the startup ecosystem in society 20 years ago feel very differently today.

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