The quality of HN has decreased considerably over the last 4 years or so, much like the rest of society sadly. Posts like this, to me, should just be removed. There is little valid discussion, it's drowned out by nonsense and political pandering. Posts like these are no better than r/politics or r/conservative.
HN used to be above this drivel, and actually had thoughtful replies. I hope dang and company push for a less politics focused approach because it's degrading here, rapidly. I have flagged this post, but I doubt it will do much.
I’m happy to flag posts, but HN (back in 2008 when I joined) was always about the “hacker spirit” as well.
Generally, major invasion of freedoms were permitted and discussions were thorough and thoughtful. you can look at the average length of post back then, then compare to this thread, to get a gist of what I mean.
There also wasn’t downvoting analysis of data, there were retorts. Downvoting was typically reserved for poor manners.
All my time here I’ve analyzed points of view from a data perspective and shared my data / results. Only the past year it’s been flagged to oblivion (often not even downvoted). I personally disagree and don’t think this post deserves a flag just because you don’t want to read it. Others do, it’s relevant to all our lives and the “hacker” ethos. On the same token, I do think general politics should be limited and probably off topic here (book burnings are a bit of an extreme breach of freedom).
Personally @dang if you’re listening, we should probably remove flag abusers. This is getting ridiculous
I agree that the discussion in this thread does not lead anywhere, and I regret scrolling down all the way down here.
But being an "information libertarian" was part of the hacker spirit for me, to borrow a word from the sibling poster. I find it useful to see these headlines on HN to keep track of where tech companies stand. A recruiter tried to get me into an eBay subsidiary just a month ago! Glad I didn't have time.
I don't buy this. Rich people already have better schools and will do better anyway. The divide is growing not because of schooling but because of the centralization of wealth.
That's also true, but "dumbing down" public schools by eliminating advanced learning classes will make it even more difficult for the poor to compete in the knowledge economy.
> like breaking up the traditional channel bundle and increasing access to more personalized and niche content.
Yea this is benefit decreases every day. The "cord-cutting" phenomenon is dead. Want to watch a discovery show? Oh great, it's only on Discovery plus now, $5 a month. Want to watch Premier League soccer? Peacock Premium! Cobra Kai? Netflix... marvel? Disney+. Oh but you can't watch THIS nfl game on here because it's blacked out locally for TV. Champions League soccer? Sign up for CBS All Access. Can't forget HBO Max!
When you add everything up, cable for me was actually cheaper. But now I'm screwed, because they aren't putting shows on TV channels anymore to get people to sub to their streaming service.
If a service has something I want to watch, i sign up for it and immediately cancel it. My state has a law that any subscription that allows signups online has to allow cancellations online, so this is convenient.
Wow the website says they're still running a CD player. I'm not sure that's really realistic today for most people and most consumers wouldn't accept that for entertainment.
Yea that's what I said - you need to have important/urgent controls physically on the stalk because it's faster than voice commands. What am I not getting? Slow is clearly the problem - that's why they're on the stalk.
The problem is that basic controls got moved into touch screen interfaces.
Before I could turn my fan speed knob by feel. It was "stepped" so I knew what level it was at when I moved it, if it was min/max. Same with heat and cool. Knob to adjust what vents. All could be done with eyes on the road.
Now? OK you can change climate control, go into touch screen, open up controls, tap to change 5 times to different vents, some crap slider to control fan speed, all requiring to look in order to see where to touch. The lack of tactile feedback just sucks.
On a phone yea sure it's great because I'm looking at it when I use it - it's function is to look at it. Not in a car.
HN used to be above this drivel, and actually had thoughtful replies. I hope dang and company push for a less politics focused approach because it's degrading here, rapidly. I have flagged this post, but I doubt it will do much.