I suppose I'll go first:
I love how anything can be cross-examined on HN without much fuss about too much negativity. I mostly write on HN with the "want" that people pick apart what I write, so I can re-examine my beliefs and thoughts. For the 10+ years I've been here, it's been very useful to have a community like this available. There is no shortage either of people with loong experience in lots of different areas, and I've picked up on so many things I would surely miss otherwise.
I don't particularly like (but I'm not sure it's the worst part) how comments are ranked by "popularity" via upvotes. While it sometimes helps highlight really useful and insightful comments, most of the time it seems to mostly reinforce popular views even if they aren't well argued. Most of the time, I end up reading comments "down to up" just to remove that bias for myself. I personally much prefer forums that strictly sort by time instead, even if it means skimming through "trash" sometimes.
#1 ANONYMOUS (No we are N0T disbanded) Some of us elder-h4x0rz have used "online" since ~ Anybody recall FIDONET? Back then IRC / Usenet required not only "Gateway" but also AT-Codes for our 24k baud MODEM... In this ephoch we had a "NICK"... Which was banned or stolen should one be an A$$H0LE... Things like "DIP SWITCHES" prevented !geek access. SMH (d0h?) We all knew it was a big ARPA honeypot? Anonymous was the NORM, not a "thing"... Naturally many have died off> I'm not that lucky ;-(
#2 EDUCATIONAL - Simply reading conversations, differing points of view, options is VERY refreshing to what remains of my amyloid encrusted brain
#3 EASY!! - So darn easy yer 1/2 senile (great?)-Grandma figures it out under 24 hours :) Like, it makes me feel "smart" again :-)
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WORST PARTS:
#1 "PROFITEERING" - Ya, I know 'THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH' I only find these posts in the "Show HN" part, if I see this in my Search (works great) I just brace myself... But I still inspect (Might miss useful 1Nf0Z). Even so wading through that is...
#2 TIME CONSUMING - This might improve as I learn more of how to use the platform... Fossils learn slower than intellectual impairment... Then again maybe it's a good idea to keep 'Granny' glued to a console rather than "AT LARGE" asking inappropriate things concerning human rights. Or God forbid inciting physical action on tsuch :)
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To the OP, Sincere thanks for this discussion.
(edit) 'BEAT' my guest, feel free to put this 34(?) years NICK into any SEO, "serp" whiskey-tango-f0xTr07 you like :-) There is only ONE, long before 'reddit' was p00pin' paint into an ass-bandage