I used to like this site. I browsed it for about ten years and never thought it would end up like Reddit but since the summer it has been on a terminal decline. I liked that it had an eclectic variety of interests without devolving into general interest topics (e.g. sports, pop culture discussion, etc.) the way that Reddit did, but in recent years even that standard hasn’t been upheld; it’s now common to see posts announcing celebrity deaths and discussing US politics there. I still browse it at least once a day, but I spend far less time on the site than I used to. It was one of the last places on the internet I enjoyed. The annoying thing is that all of the interesting people are still there, their comments are just hidden among the noise being generated by users who have nothing interesting to contribute.
No.13284
Anonymous
2026-10-10 09:31:23
The dev behind marginalia wrote a few posts recently about how the traffic there changed significantly with llms. I think hn is just exceptionally vulnerable to astroturfing.
No.13285
Anonymous
2026-10-10 10:11:01
See news.ycombinator.com/classic. More information at news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26465569.
No.13287
Anonymous
2026-10-10 15:05:00
They literally have a bunch of rules dedicated to trying not to become Reddit but it was bound to happen anyway. still the user base skews to the intelligent side so it’s still useful to read takes sometimes
No.13312
Anonymous
2026-10-12 09:13:50
Some of the biggest hang-wringing moralizers anywhere on the internet. I'll still keep drinking that garbage
No.13313
Anonymous
2026-10-12 09:50:09
>>13279 (OP)
Zero AI (LLMs) "dissent" allowed and gets downvoted to oblivion, unless solution to the issues you're describing involves more AI. Then it gets the noggins jogging and you get the unbearable thread below your comment
Zero AI (LLMs) "dissent" allowed and gets downvoted to oblivion, unless solution to the issues you're describing involves more AI. Then it gets the noggins jogging and you get the unbearable thread below your comment
Just got a comment flagged for pointing out a blog post was entirely AI generated
No.13323
Anonymous
2026-10-12 17:29:53
>>13322
What a shock that techies are trying to defend AI at all costs regardless of whether its being applied for something legitimate.
More humorously I've seen this happen on subreddits where the rules forbid AI slop posting, there will be blatantly obvious AI generated text and people who point it out are accused of bullying or some bullshit and banned. Anti-AI people who aren't smart enough to recognize AI are funny, and I say that as someone who leans but isn't totally anti-AI. Redditors want welcoming kindergarten hugboxes and quality communities at the same time and are too dumb to realize you can't have it both ways.
What a shock that techies are trying to defend AI at all costs regardless of whether its being applied for something legitimate.
More humorously I've seen this happen on subreddits where the rules forbid AI slop posting, there will be blatantly obvious AI generated text and people who point it out are accused of bullying or some bullshit and banned. Anti-AI people who aren't smart enough to recognize AI are funny, and I say that as someone who leans but isn't totally anti-AI. Redditors want welcoming kindergarten hugboxes and quality communities at the same time and are too dumb to realize you can't have it both ways.
>>13279 (OP)
I never understood the reverence Y combinator is given. Every successful product to come from is some version of rent seeking for a new market or under new mechanisms. Am I missing something?
I never understood the reverence Y combinator is given. Every successful product to come from is some version of rent seeking for a new market or under new mechanisms. Am I missing something?
No.13405
Anonymous
2026-10-17 04:26:42
Nobody revers the company we just browse the forum
No.13406
Anonymous
2026-10-17 05:55:51
>>13403
The site is nearly 20 years old. There was a lot of optimism around the technology sector in the early 2010s. I find that it’s basically as cynical as Reddit now (to a fault), but before it came time to pay the piper there was a period from around 2007 to 2018 where it seemed like these companies were creating value in order to give it away; a lot of people back then understood that there would come a time when investors would expect a return, but it’s hard to overstate just how many projects were built off of zero-interest, and Y Combinator was at the center of a lot of those projects.
The site is nearly 20 years old. There was a lot of optimism around the technology sector in the early 2010s. I find that it’s basically as cynical as Reddit now (to a fault), but before it came time to pay the piper there was a period from around 2007 to 2018 where it seemed like these companies were creating value in order to give it away; a lot of people back then understood that there would come a time when investors would expect a return, but it’s hard to overstate just how many projects were built off of zero-interest, and Y Combinator was at the center of a lot of those projects.
No.13424
Anonymous
2026-10-18 00:10:54
So, on a related topic, is it true that Paul Graham fucked Sam Altman? There have been rumors about Graham for many years now.