Re:Ask HN: Are there other communities like Hacker News?
by ScottWhigham on Wednesday March 19, 2014 @03:37PM
(#7431205)
I don't think that's an unpopular suggestion here - every month when this thread re-surfaces, someone suggests it and others "Me too" it. As you said, "In one particular aspect" it's a good analogue to HN - perhaps multiple aspects.
There are a number of problems with them, even more now that their new(ish) corporate overlords have been making changes. But there's one thing they do better than anyone else IMO, and that's MODERATION! So that can often get you the "high quality discourse" you want.
Here's an example. Right now there's a discussion there [1] that's a few hours old. It's about the cost of Google Drive storage. That discussion currently has 254 comments. That would be daunting to wade thru. But that discussion has only 18 comments that have been voted up (and down) to be the "best". Reading just those comments will get you a reasonably good feel for the topic.
That said, I mostly spend time on HN now, rather than on slashdot. The overall level of discourse here is better and more respectful, and the moderation here (while more limited) does work.
[1] http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/13/1834208/1gb-of-googl...