Poll HN: Should we encourage "AMA" threads here?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1405739

by ErrantX • 16 years ago

14 12 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I enjoyed joshu's AMA, and I expect I'd get lots out of other AMAs. But I wouldn't want them to dominate the front page. I think no more than one or two a day. I'm not sure how to ensure that.

ErrantX3• 16 years ago

> I think no more than one or two a day

I was thinking that number a week, max, myself actually :)

(in realistic terms I suspect the community is generally much smaller/niche here than on HN so there are just not the diverse numbers to have so many AMA's)

Sirocco• 16 years ago

I, too, fall into the "possibly one or two a week max" category. Over at Reddit, they seem more like a vehicle for narcissism than anything else. Once in a great while a person with a genuinely interesting profession comes along, but the signal to noise ratio over there is nowhere near where I'd like it to be.

0ffworlder2• 16 years ago

ErrantX3• 16 years ago

Any reasoning (genuine curiosity)?

0ffworlder2• 16 years ago

I fear HN would turn into reddit.

justlearning• 16 years ago

Intellectually curious? Wouldn't every profession/work have some level of advice for startups/entrepreneurs based on experiences? I believe stories from a full time fisherman will be as helpful as a stock-trader's - to anyone who wants to learn. Same may hold true for a drug dealer. (imho)

Why filter it with "intellectually curious"? How do we define 'intellectually curious'?

ErrantX3• 16 years ago

Same way we filter normal submissions (I used the same terminology as the guidelines).

Your examples (stock trader / fisherman / drug dealer) strike me as pretty interesting careers, outliers if you will - they would flag my intellectual curiosity :)

philwelch• 16 years ago

Compared to Reddit, I would hope we also get fewer trolls and fakes.

jimmyswimmy• 16 years ago

Please no! I come here to learn. I go to reddit for AMA and jokes and other ways to waste time. This is Hacker News not chitchat time.

s810• 16 years ago

Allowing AMAs is a slippery slope toward TILs and YSKs.

wanderr• 16 years ago

I did an AMA on Reddit and have to admit it was pretty fun. As a programmer, I was a bit disappointed that the questions were not very technical or in depth for the most part. I'd bet that the AMA questions would be a lot more relevant here.

Poll HN: Should we encourage "AMA" threads here?

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