Comment by AnimalMuppet
4 days ago
Possibly related: In the last year or two, I find myself downvoting far more than I used to. I see far more comments that are personal attacks (at least borderline), ideological battle, arguing but with no actual substance, or just bizarre comments that don't actually make any sense.
Did HN get overrun by trolls, shills, and bots? Or did I just get more cranky?
I noticed the same thing in the last year. Tons of Reddit and 4chan colonists. Both generally lack any kind of technical background and flood to any thread remotely adjacent to politics.
Old platforms always end up having problems with the users capable of making positive contributions only having so much time in the day to post, whereas the incorrigible and insane are usually unemployed or use the site compulsively at work, so they end up being overrepresented and stick around for longer.
In the past I saw a lot more of these users get flagged and lose interest in the site, but recently it seems as though more users are vouching for the flagged comments and submissions.
I have seen that as well. HN is now a typical talking point on many tech sites. More people are becoming aware. So we are getting grumpy reddit users and twitter users (after the purchase of X).