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			{{short description\|Social news website}}
	{{Infobox website		{{Infobox website
	\| name = Hacker News		\| name = Hacker News
	\| ~~type~~ = ]		\| logo = hackernews_logo.png
	\| ~~url~~ = ~~{{url\|https://news.ycombinator.com/}}~~		\| logo_size = 100px
			\| type = ]
	\| registration = Free
			\| url = {{URL\|https://news.ycombinator.com}}
⚫	\| founder = ]
			\| screenshot = File:hn_screenshot.png
	\| launch date = February 19, 2007
			\| registration = Optional, required for posting and voting
⚫	\| ~~current~~ status = ~~Online~~
			\| programming_language = ]
⚫	\| owner = ]
		⚫	\| founder = ], known as ''pg'' in the website
⚫	\| language = ]
			\| launch_date = {{start date and age\|2007\|02\|19}} as ''Startup News''
			\| current_status = Online
		⚫	\| owner = ]
		⚫	\| language = ]
	}}		}}
	'''Hacker News''' is a ] ~~website~~ ~~that~~ ~~caters~~ ~~to programmers~~ and ~~entrepreneurs~~. ~~Hacker News~~ is run by ~~]'s~~ investment fund and startup incubator ]. ~~Users~~ ~~can submit~~, ~~vote and comment on~~ content ~~related~~ to ] ~~and~~ ]. ~~Hacker~~ ~~News~~ ~~differs~~ ~~from~~ ~~other social news websites because users cannot downvote unwanted submissions~~. ~~In contrast, users with more than 500 "karma~~" ~~points may vote down unhelpful comments.~~		'''Hacker News''' ('''HN''') is a ] focusing on ] and ]. It is run by the investment fund and startup incubator ]. In general, content that can be submitted is defined as "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity."<ref>{{cite news

	In general, content that can be submitted is defined as "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity".<ref>{{cite news
	\| first = Paul		\| first = Paul
	\| last = Graham		\| last = Graham
	\| title = Hacker News Guidelines		\| title = Hacker News Guidelines
	\| url = ~~http~~://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html		\| url = https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
	\| ~~accessdate~~ = ~~2009~~-04-29		\| access-date = 2019-07-04
			\| archive-date = 2020-09-16
			\| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200916150120/https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
			\| url-status = live
	}}</ref>		}}</ref>

			The word '']'' in "Hacker News" is used in its original meaning and refers to the ] which consists of people who enjoy tinkering with technology.

	==History==		==History==
	The site was created by ] in February 2007. ~~Initially it was called Startup News or occasionally News.YC. On August 14, 2007, it became known by its current~~ name~~.<ref~~>{{cite news		The site was created by ] in February 2007.<ref name="tc-evol">{{cite news
			\| title = The Evolution of Hacker News
			\| url = https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/18/the-evolution-of-hacker-news/
			\| publisher = TechCrunch
			\| access-date = 10 August 2014
			\| author = Leena Rao
			\| date = May 18, 2013
			\| archive-date = 25 August 2014
			\| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140825152206/http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/18/the-evolution-of-hacker-news/
		⚫	\| url-status = live
			}}</ref> Initially called Startup News or occasionally News.YC., it became known by its current name on August 14, 2007.<ref>{{cite news
	\| title = Startup News Becomes Hacker News		\| title = Startup News Becomes Hacker News
		⚫	\| url = https://news.ycombinator.com/hackernews.html
⚫	\| url = ~~http://ycombinator.com/hackernews.html~~}}</ref> It developed as a project of ~~his~~ company ], functioning as a real-world application of the ] programming language which Graham co-developed.<ref name="PG_WIL">{{Cite web \|author=Paul Graham \| title = What I've Learned from Hacker News \|url = http://paulgraham.com/hackernews.html}}</ref>
			\| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140627111301/http://ycombinator.com/hackernews.html
			\| archive-date = 2014-06-27
		⚫	\| url-status = dead}}</ref> It developed as a project of Graham's company ], functioning as a real-world application of the ] programming language which Graham co-developed.<ref name="PG_WIL">{{Cite web \|author=Paul Graham \|title=What I've Learned from Hacker News \|url=http://paulgraham.com/hackernews.html \|access-date=2009-11-08 \|archive-date=2020-04-08 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408165321/http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html \|url-status=live }}</ref>

			At the end of March 2014, Graham stepped away from his leadership role at Y Combinator, leaving Hacker News administration in the hands of other staff members.<ref>{{cite news
	The intention was to recreate a community similar to the early days of ].<ref name="PG_AYC">{{Cite web\|author=Paul Graham\|title=New: Y Combinator Startup News \| url = http://ycombinator.com/announcingnews.html}}</ref>
			\| title = After Stepping Aside From Y Combinator, Paul Graham Hands Over The Reins At Hacker News
			\| url = https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/29/after-stepping-aside-from-y-combinator-paul-graham-hands-over-the-reins-at-hacker-news/
			\| publisher = TechCrunch
			\| access-date = 10 August 2014
			\| author = Colleen Taylor
			\| date = 29 March 2014
			\| archive-date = 16 September 2020
			\| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200916150138/https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/29/after-stepping-aside-from-y-combinator-paul-graham-hands-over-the-reins-at-hacker-news/
			\| url-status = live
			}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|last1=Isaac\|first1=Mike\|title=Paul Graham Steps Down From Daily Hacker News Duties\|url=https://recode.net/2014/03/29/paul-graham-steps-down-from-daily-hacker-news-duties/\|website=Re/code\|access-date=10 August 2014\|date=29 March 2014\|archive-date=4 March 2016\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084514/http://recode.net/2014/03/29/paul-graham-steps-down-from-daily-hacker-news-duties/\|url-status=live}}</ref> The site is currently moderated by Daniel Gackle who posts under the username ''dang''.<ref>{{cite magazine
			\| last1 = Wiener
			\| first1 = Anna
			\| title = The Lonely Work of Moderating Hacker News
			\| url = https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/the-lonely-work-of-moderating-hacker-news
			\| access-date = 15 January 2021
			\| magazine = The New Yorker
			\| date = 8 August 2019
			\| archive-date = 14 January 2021
			\| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210114223907/https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/the-lonely-work-of-moderating-hacker-news
			\| url-status = live
		⚫	}}</ref>
			Gackle co-moderated Hacker News with Scott Bell (username ''sctb'') until 2019 when Bell stopped working on the site.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Scott, alas, stopped working on HN about a year ago. {{!}} Hacker News \|url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25055115 \|website=news.ycombinator.com \|access-date=19 August 2021 \|archive-date=19 August 2021 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819192557/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25055115 \|url-status=live }}</ref>

			== Vision and practices ==
	Graham has stated he hopes to avoid the ] that results in the general decline of intelligent discourse within a community.<ref name="PG_WIL" /><ref>{{cite news \|title = Hacker News News \|url = http://ycombinator.com/newsnews.html \|quote=<br/>
			The intention was to recreate a community similar to the early days of ].<ref name="tc-evol"/><ref name="PG_AYC">{{Cite web\|author=Paul Graham\|title=New: Y Combinator Startup News \| url = https://ycombinator.com/announcingnews.html\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625052305/https://www.ycombinator.com/announcingnews.html\|archive-date=2014-06-25\|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, unlike Reddit where new users can immediately both upvote and downvote content, Hacker News does not allow users to downvote content until they have accumulated 501 "karma" points. Karma points are calculated as the number of upvotes a given user's content has received minus the number of downvotes.<ref name="tc-evol" /> "Flagging" comments, likewise, is not permitted until a user has 30 karma points.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html\|title=Hacker News FAQ\|website=Hacker News\|access-date=1 March 2018\|archive-date=6 March 2018\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306220754/https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html\|url-status=live}}</ref>
	* '''24 Mar 2008: Effects of TechCrunch Article''' -- There has been some dilution as a result. The stories that get voted up are not quite as good, and the average tone in comment threads is slightly less polite. But this has happened before when there were influxes new of users, and every time so far the effects have worn off as they got used to the culture of the site.

			Graham stated he hopes to avoid the ] that results in the general decline of intelligent discourse within a community.<ref name="PG_WIL" /> The site has a proactive attitude in moderating content, including automated ] and ] detectors and active human moderation. It also practices ] in which user posts stop appearing for others to see, unbeknownst to the user.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://pando.com/2013/12/04/can-the-democratic-power-of-a-platform-like-hacker-news-be-applied-to-products/\|title=Pando: Can the democratic power of a platform like Hacker News be applied to products?\|work=Pando\|access-date=2014-08-10\|archive-date=2020-04-24\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424051456/https://pando.com/2013/12/04/can-the-democratic-power-of-a-platform-like-hacker-news-be-applied-to-products/\|url-status=dead}}</ref> Additional software is used to detect "voting rings to purposefully vote up stories".<ref name="tc-evol" />
	* '''8 Dec 2008: Growth''' -- Growth can't keep going at this rate forever without ruining the site, though. The way to ensure that is to be fairly strict about keeping meretricious stuff off the frontpage.

			==Criticism==
	* '''15 Jan 2009: Faster''' -- The growth has affected the character of the site slightly. The number of new accounts being created is about double what it was a month ago, and there has been a slight uptick in comments that are insulting or inane. But we're hoping that, as in past influxes, the new arrivals will with some prodding from the existing inhabitants learn the local customs.
			According to a 2013 ] article: "Graham says that Hacker News gets a lot of complaints that it has a bias toward featuring stories about Y Combinator startups, but he says there is no such bias. Graham adds that he gets a lot of vitriol from users personally with accusations of bias or censoring."<ref name="tc-evol" />
⚫	}}</ref>

	==Moderation controversy==

	Hacker News employs the practice of ], in which a user is secretly made invisible to all other users. The hellbanned user can still post comments and submit stories, but other users will not see them without special configuration. ] and the moderators of Hacker News have been criticized for this practice, which has been called "cruel",<ref name="HN_3477488">{{cite web \|title = Ask HN: Hellbanning Unacceptable \|url = https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3477488}}</ref> "childish",<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://jcs.org/notaweblog/2012/06/13/hellbanned_from_hacker_news/ \|date=June 13, 2012 \|author=Joshua Stein \|title=Hellbanned from Hacker News}}</ref> and "unacceptable"{{fact}}, not only because the ban is done in secret, but because the reasons for its use appear to be arbitrary and capricious. Users who are hellbanned receive no warning, and generally have little recourse outside of sending personal email to Paul Graham. Some users say they have had luck with this approach{{fact}}, while others receive no response at all ("my polite and apologetic emails were never answered", reported one).<ref name="HN_3477488" />

			==See also==
	Moderators have also been accused of changing submission titles without warning or explanation.<ref>{{Cite web \|title = Why are submission titles manipulated without notification? \|url = https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6216685}}</ref>
			* ]
			* ]

	==References==		==References==
Line 45:		Line 86:

	==External links==		==External links==
		⚫	* {{Official website}}
⚫	*

	*
			{{Y Combinator}}

		⚫	]
⚫	{{website~~-stub~~}}
⚫	]
	]		]
			]
			]
			]
			]

Latest revision as of 21:56, 25 February 2024

Social news website

Hacker News


Type of site	News aggregator
Available in	English
Owner	Y Combinator
Founder(s)	Paul Graham, known as pg in the website
URL	news.ycombinator.com
Registration	Optional, required for posting and voting
Launched	February 19, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-02-19) as Startup News
Current status	Online
Written in	Arc

Hacker News (HN) is a social news website focusing on computer science and entrepreneurship. It is run by the investment fund and startup incubator Y Combinator. In general, content that can be submitted is defined as "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity."

The word hacker in "Hacker News" is used in its original meaning and refers to the hacker culture which consists of people who enjoy tinkering with technology.

History

The site was created by Paul Graham in February 2007. Initially called Startup News or occasionally News.YC., it became known by its current name on August 14, 2007. It developed as a project of Graham's company Y Combinator, functioning as a real-world application of the Arc programming language which Graham co-developed.

At the end of March 2014, Graham stepped away from his leadership role at Y Combinator, leaving Hacker News administration in the hands of other staff members. The site is currently moderated by Daniel Gackle who posts under the username dang. Gackle co-moderated Hacker News with Scott Bell (username sctb) until 2019 when Bell stopped working on the site.

Vision and practices

The intention was to recreate a community similar to the early days of Reddit. However, unlike Reddit where new users can immediately both upvote and downvote content, Hacker News does not allow users to downvote content until they have accumulated 501 "karma" points. Karma points are calculated as the number of upvotes a given user's content has received minus the number of downvotes. "Flagging" comments, likewise, is not permitted until a user has 30 karma points.

Graham stated he hopes to avoid the Eternal September that results in the general decline of intelligent discourse within a community. The site has a proactive attitude in moderating content, including automated flame and spam detectors and active human moderation. It also practices stealth banning in which user posts stop appearing for others to see, unbeknownst to the user. Additional software is used to detect "voting rings to purposefully vote up stories".

Criticism

According to a 2013 TechCrunch article: "Graham says that Hacker News gets a lot of complaints that it has a bias toward featuring stories about Y Combinator startups, but he says there is no such bias. Graham adds that he gets a lot of vitriol from users personally with accusations of bias or censoring."

References

Graham, Paul. "Hacker News Guidelines". Archived from the original on 2020-09-16. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
^ Leena Rao (May 18, 2013). "The Evolution of Hacker News". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 25 August 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
"Startup News Becomes Hacker News". Archived from the original on 2014-06-27.
^ Paul Graham. "What I've Learned from Hacker News". Archived from the original on 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
Colleen Taylor (29 March 2014). "After Stepping Aside From Y Combinator, Paul Graham Hands Over The Reins At Hacker News". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
Isaac, Mike (29 March 2014). "Paul Graham Steps Down From Daily Hacker News Duties". Re/code. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
Wiener, Anna (8 August 2019). "The Lonely Work of Moderating Hacker News". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
"Scott, alas, stopped working on HN about a year ago. | Hacker News". news.ycombinator.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
Paul Graham. "New: Y Combinator Startup News". Archived from the original on 2014-06-25.
"Hacker News FAQ". Hacker News. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
"Pando: Can the democratic power of a platform like Hacker News be applied to products?". Pando. Archived from the original on 2020-04-24. Retrieved 2014-08-10.

External links

Official website

Y Combinator

Founding Partners

Partners (past/present)

Y Combinator startups

2005−2006	Clustrix Loopt OMGPop Reddit Scribd Xobni YouOS
2007–2008	280 North AppJet Biographicon Disqus Dropbox Heroku Justin.tv Ninite Octopart Parakey Posterous Songkick Virtualmin Weebly
2009−2010	1000Memories Airbnb Bump Homejoy Listia Mixpanel Optimizely OwnLocal PagerDuty Recurse Center RethinkDB Stripe WakeMate WePay Zencoder
2011	Circle Codecademy DrChrono Firebase HackerRank Humble Bundle Lanyrd LeadGenius MemSQL Meteor MongoHQ OrderAhead Parse Pebble (watch) Quartzy Science Exchange Upverter Verbling Vidyard ZeroCater
2012	9GAG Boosted BufferBox Canopy Labs Coinbase Diaspora Double Robotics Exec Fullstack Academy Gusto Hackpad Instacart Kamcord LendUp LightTable PlanGrid Socialcam Survata Swiftype The Muse Tilt.com Zapier
2013	7 Cups Airware Bitnami Container Linux CrowdMed DoorDash Experiment Goldbelly Strikingly Teespring True Link Watsi Webflow Zenefits
2014–2015	80,000 Hours AirPair Algolia Bluesmart Cofactor Genomics Flexport Gigster GitLab Kickback Lumi Move Loot Paribus Platzi Product Hunt Rigetti Computing uBiome Unbabel Zesty Zidisha
2016–2018	Boom Technology Brex Coub LendEDU Modal Commerce Netomi Rappi Replit Women Who Code
2019–2020	Our World in Data Upsolve Writesonic

Other

Category

Categories: