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March 10, 2008

Little Known Hacker News Is My First Read Every Morning

Michael Arrington

60 comments »

Hacker News is a Digg/Reddit-like site that I am visiting more and more often. It’s my first stop in the morning, and I check it out a few times during the day as well.

Why? Because it’s focused mostly on startup and hacking news, which is what we cover. It’s one of the best places to find information on startups we haven’t heard about yet. And, better, the community is jerk-free. Comments are mostly helpful, thoughtful and interesting.

Like Digg and Reddit, users submit stories to the site, and others can comment and vote on them. But Hacker News is also a forum of sorts, where users can simply post questions for others to answer - see this one asking for advice on creating a demo video for a new startup. Popular stories and questions move to the home page over time.

Hacker News used to be called Startup News and was launched in February 2007 by Y Combinator. They say “the most important goal of news.ycombinator was to create a place where founders and would-be founders can meet and talk.”

Hopefully as the site continues to attract new users, the magic won’t be lost.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Ivan Kirigin

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

    HackerNews is good people. Paul Graham is trying very hard to make it not suck. It’s depressing watching other social sites degrade. All social sites should be paying attention to this problem.

  2. Global Fashion Network

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    Seems like a good idea…more of a digg niche of some sort…and now that they have been featured on TechCrunch and personally endorsed by Mr. Michael Arrington they are going to make it!

  3. You Mon Tsang

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    Agreed. This is a site that often has links to stories that being echoed across the “mainstream” bloggers that day.

  4. Michael Parkatti

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    Noooo! This site is a secret! You’re not supposed to tell the unwashed masses about it!

    Take a look at reddit’s homepage these days, and you’ll understand why. Wisdom of crowds is fine, until every damned post is about Ron Paul or stupid-ass conspiracy theories. News.YC was one of the last bastions of refined community-making on the web.

    If anyone reading this wants to learn about how to make it ‘rich quick’, please, dear Lord, do not go to news.YC (eg: comment #2 above). I thank you in advance.

  5. Owen Byrne

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    It’s kind of like digg from March 2005.

  6. lol

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    There goes the neighborhood. Way to go Mike…

  7. Roy

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    so… in the hopes that it doesn’t lose the magic… you’re telling the tens of thousands of us about it?

  8. Thomas Kearns

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    The best thing about Hacker News is how easy it is to game.

  9. Boring Market

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    Thanks for uncovering an underground community, I always look for new and interesting sites.

  10. ARGH

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    Thanks for wrecking that one for us, Mike.

    I’m not joking. You’ve very likely ruined that site for the people that really, truly appreciated it.

  11. D

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    @8 That’s one hell of a life purpose you have for yourself there…

  12. Jack D

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    That site is full of crap 19yo programmers think is cool, but 21yo programmers know is lame.

    Oh, and mindless PG fanboyism.

  13. You all crack me up

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    HackerNews = worthless. It’s a bunch of Y-Combinator/Paul Graham drivel. Now I finally understand why so many retarded Y-Combinator ideas get covered in TechCrunch.

    It was better when it was “StartupNews” and even then, it was too Paul Graham-y, too anti business, too anti making money. It’s like “What do I use today? Oh Duh LISP Because Paul Graham is my hero.”

    Seriously Michael, I expect better for you. So much for wanting to “be right”. You’re dead wrong on this site and your first morning read. It explains why TechCrunch is heading downhill yet somehow I still read it. Shit sells.

  14. DrewMoFo

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    Lordy, spend 10 minutes creating accounts there and you can have any headline you want up on the home page.

  15. Steel

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    Considering all the conferences hosted by the SV good ole boys, no wonder so very few people get a shot at being written about on TC. Arrington once said he doesn’t even bother to look at most companies that submit to TC and yet he features this crap. It just goes to show the squeaky wheel get the grease, just like a politician. Like # 13 said, ” shit sells”..and who gets all the gravy from it?

  16. AlexL

    March 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    “And, better, the community is jerk-free.”

    Looks like they are about to be in for a nasty surprise.

  17. blah

    March 10th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    And now all the idiot commenters from TC will be there. Thanks for ruining it.

  18. moog

    March 10th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    Mike, why did you have to publish this story? HN is now being spammed by 12-year-olds with a Chuck Norris fixation.

  19. Joe Petviashvili

    March 10th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    They are doomed now, thanks! The only reasonable way to deal with this problem is to have a site that clusters users by their interests and shows them what they want. That’s what we do at http://jaanix.com - all the ratings are subjective and everybody can find what matters to them easily.

  20. Anon

    March 10th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    The first rule of HN is you don’t talk about HN.

  21. mother russia

    March 10th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    And in Soviet Russia - Hacker news publishes YOU!

  22. Michael Parkatti

    March 10th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    @Joe wow… that was one awkward blatant marketing pitch dude. The only thing you were missing was a cheap brochure made with construction paper and a blazer with dollar signs attached to it.

    Not to mention, that’s a sloppy pitch. I don’t even get what you’re trying to sell me? I can find everything really easily using your site? holy CRAP, you’re right, I can never find ANYthing!!! except that I can use google, or technorati, or techmeme, or digg.

    Don’t go to news.YC if you clicked on that guy’s linkbait. It may be PG/YC oriented, but it’s still a great place for good links and interesting discussion.

  23. Piers

    March 10th, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    Well it WAS little known…

  24. Sridhar Vembu

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    I almost feel sorry the secret is out :-) Hacker News is my favorite site too. I learn a lot from the comments there - I even had a little debate with Paul Graham on Lisp/Arc once in the comments (let’s just say I am a real PG fan but I am not so hot on Lisp!). I hope Paul succeeds in keeping the signal to noise ratio high as the site gets more and more popular.

  25. Darren Stuart

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    damn it.

  26. SG

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

    /sigh

    thanks for the post…i guess

  27. td00174

    March 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    Mike, I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little hint of we-don’t-like-mike-nor-anything-he-endorses-because-his-followers-come-storming-in-ruining-the-party-they-need-to-go-somewhere-else.

    What about you?

  28. Matthew

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

    Did you just post this to try to ruin the site? :(

    It was simply amazing before. I hope it can weather the storm now.

  29. PixelRobot

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    I think Hacker News has the perfect equilibrium for an online community: A lot of smart people who care contributing and nearly no noise. I know some other communities like that, and it never happens by chance. There’s a lot of work and dedication behind them.

  30. SZoll

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    it used to be the first site I checked, until my “friends” started spamming it with their pointless blog posts (you know who you are…) which by the way, is altogether too easy….

  31. antje wilsch

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    it’s like digg + KillerStartups.com

  32. You all crack me up

    March 10th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    Digg + KillerStartups.com = SPAM made by 19 year old geeks living in their mom’s basement about some retarded Facebook app they threw together.

  33. Jared

    March 10th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    There goes the Hacker News neighborhood…

  34. Hendra

    March 10th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    I’m leaving TechCrunch and start following HackerNews now ;)

  35. Barb Hibino

    March 10th, 2008 at 6:39 pm

    I’m a new founder. We founders face some unique issues. So, I’m happy to find a place where ‘founders and would-be founders can meet and talk.’

    I’ll be sure to ask a lot — and contribute. This is positive and helpful. Thanks, Michael.

  36. Evangelist

    March 10th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    This is similar to my site http://www.startupbug.com, just teh difference being that hacker news is more similar to Reddit.

    @34 - hacker news and startupbug kind of niche sites still links back to sites like Techcrunch, so you will eventually end up reading the post at the actual sites.

  37. Jesus H Christ

    March 10th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    Thanks for ruining the site, ass clown

  38. Moron

    March 10th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    You imbecile.

  39. Freud

    March 10th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    @ 37 & 38

    Oh yeah, you’re the two whose mommies said the playground was
    “just for you” . Yesterday.

  40. Lars

    March 11th, 2008 at 12:40 am

    It was nice as long as it lasted…

  41. @gentbleu

    March 11th, 2008 at 1:47 am

    bugger

  42. Andrew

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:33 am

    They are scared of us. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=133920

  43. jjjj

    March 11th, 2008 at 3:06 am

    could sowly take TC traffic away from itself.

  44. jjjj

    March 11th, 2008 at 3:13 am

    I hate comments like alot of the above have posted. How sad and pathetic. Its like saying ( its ok for me to build my house on this green lush forest but not body else has a right to do the same ) do you think you guys were the first to find out about hacker news ? perhaps the very first poster who used hacker news felt put out when you joined. does that mean your going to now leave hacker news ?

    Get a life all your ( hacker news is mine and mine alone stuff , im superior to all the rest ).

    How truly sad and childlike.

    Mike , dont always agree with you but nice post.

  45. sakri

    March 11th, 2008 at 5:26 am

    I wonder when “news sites” will start to have “door whores” like ‘exclusive’ nightclubs, or maybe entry fees, or entrance exams.

    Competition will eventually produce something that does not choke on “enternal september”. Eventually there will be a digg, reddit or a HN which provides the signal to all users, and somehow only distributes the noise to those who want it. Till then, it’s reddit and HC for me ;)

  46. Guy Rosen

    March 11th, 2008 at 6:11 am

    Nice to see YCombinator making use of the Reddit engine for other good ideas!

    Michael, could a successful Hacker News eventually do to TechCrunch what Digg did to Slashdot?

  47. MrGutts

    March 11th, 2008 at 7:48 am

    Nice looking site, but I don’t see anything that is “hacker news”.

    If you want real news go to newsnow.

    http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Tec.....ty/Hacking

    or any of the sub cats.

  48. Tom Elblum

    March 11th, 2008 at 8:39 am

    HackerNews is AWFUL! STAY AWAY! Please STAY AWAY! I beg you! Don’t look at it! Don’t!!! (because it’s the only decent tech news site left unmolested by idiot roving masses, at least until today! Thanks, Mike, thanks for ruining it.)

    HackerNews is BAD!!! HackerNews LIKES GEORGE BUSH! HackerNews is ALL ABOUT LISP!!! HackerNews HATES RON PAUL!!! HACKERNEWS BELIEVES OSWALD KILLED JFK!!! STAY AWAY!!! GET OUT!!!

  49. Chris Mancini

    March 11th, 2008 at 9:26 am

    Nice find. This will certainly become useful during our development and launch of http://www.propertystampede.com.

    Thanks,
    Chris

  50. Alex P

    March 11th, 2008 at 9:39 am

    Hmmm … no LOLCATZ, no Top 10 lists, no save-the-planet crap.
    It’s a better looking digg with a way better content. Thanks for a note.

    Calling it a _Hacker_ news is a stretch though. Based on the selection
    of topics I’d guess that a good half of its population wouldn’t know an
    asm instruction when they’d see one …

  51. Rick

    March 11th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    “Hopefully as the site continues to attract new users, the magic won’t be lost.”

    I can see that being a concern here.

  52. Derek

    March 18th, 2008 at 6:38 pm

    Thanks for exposing an awesome resource for serious entrepreneurs to the general groupies who will undoubtabley ruin the site.

    Good job Mike…

  53. shafqat

    March 24th, 2008 at 12:15 am

    Just saw this. The highlighted post was just one example of the many times the Hacker News community have come through in a big way to help out my startup. Its amazing - I really think the forte of HN is the question/feedback threads rather than the standard social news link free-for-all. Something that truly sets it apart. I hope it continues to impress.

  54. Peter Cooper

    March 24th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    I’ve been a Hacker News member for quite a while now, and yes, it’s a great site with low levels of snarkiness. Sadly, this is likely to change, as it has for Reddit and previously Digg.

    One place that always seems to provide great, up to date links in all sorts of topics areas, however, is del.icio.us. I’m taking this as proof that link / bookmarking that DON’T allow discussion / comments will tend to avoid snarkiness, simply because there’s nowhere to be snarky! Thoughts?

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