Comment by c23gooey
12 years ago
So only popular posters with popular opinions will be allowed to endorse posts.
This feels like you are walling off HN for those who are already established here.
I've been here for years, I like to feel like I have a chance to contribute to discussions without hoping some karma overlord will approve.
I believe this change will cause HN to stagnate and become an echo chamber of the thoughts of those who are already popular enough
Same here. I have followed but rarely make any comments and those are usually too late after the post's popularity has cooled.
Yes, this seems like the whole point of the "feature".
I'm really missing what problem is being solved..
it's pretty clear to me that HN is already an echo chamber in many respects - the consensus VC and corporate views are frequently those that get the most upvotes. requiring approval from 'old guard' users will only exacerbate this echo chamber property of HN and will, imo, likely degrade the quality of discussions more than it will help.
what has made HN and reddit so popular is the ability for anyone to participate, even if their comments get downvoted. by removing this open posting property, you are going to switch from a "burning man" culture to a "popular nightclub" culture. i would like to think that most of the developer types on HN recognize this as a bad thing.
i, for one, will not bother participating in discussions with the same frequency if i know that it requires approval from a karma overlord. i expect this chilling effect will be similar with many users of your site.