Comment by 8cvor6j844qw_d6

3 months ago

Honest question, what are the alternatives to HN?

Because if new account restrictions create enough friction, you lose legitimate users who periodically rotate accounts for privacy reasons.

At some point the annoyance tips toward just lurking, and a forum where only old accounts talk is a stagnant forum given enough time.

Lobste.rs comes to mind. High enough friction that, even as a seasoned participant here, I haven’t tried over there yet.

  • That looks interesting, but I feel like it’s likely to be close to impossible to join. Feels like it would be weird asking someone you know for an invite.

  • I've wanted to join lobste.rs for several years but don't see any way to do so. I think that might be a bit too far in the other direction.

    • Same here, I don't know anyone who might send me an invite unfortunately. It's unlikely for this topic to come up organically in a conversation as in "hey by the way are you on lobste.rs" so my previous attempts were by sending messages in my company's notice board asking if someone is there. But in the last few years I have worked in smaller startups so the sample size is too small for this strategy to succeed.

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