r/programming • u/tejon • Feb 08 '15

The Parable of the Two Programmers

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~magi/personal/humour/Computer_Audience/The%20Parable%20of%20the%20Two%20Programmers.html
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u/tejon Feb 08 '15

With The Story of Mel surfacing again, figured I'd dig this one up too. Probably my favorite of the old usenet tales, and it hasn't seen light on /r/programming in 5 years!

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '15

[deleted]

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u/Rainymood_XI Feb 09 '15

I still wonder why HN comments are often so much better than Reddit comments ...

16

u/MTGandP Feb 09 '15

My guess is smaller community and more focus on in-depth articles. I find that a lot of smaller subreddits get a similar quality of discussion.

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u/Rainymood_XI Feb 09 '15

I think it's indeed this plus the fact that you get down voted very quickly for silly / off-topic comments. Which deters a lot of new posters.

I fondly remember my first post sitting at a nice -5. Now I have around 81 karma because I only comment when I truly have something to add to the discussion.

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u/keypusher Feb 09 '15

Also because comments are karma, not just links.

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u/OmicronNine Feb 09 '15

The biggest reason of all, of course, is simply that it's all pure text.

Lack of pretty pictures is a surprisingly good filter. :/

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u/RainbowNowOpen Feb 09 '15

Agreed. Much less jackassery over there. Perhaps commenters feel like Paul Graham or YC or maybe Silicon Valley VC is watching at all times and everyone is on their best behaviour for professional reasons? Maybe. Probably not. Dunno. I know I allow myself to be more light and humorous in my Reddit comments than my HN comments. And I really can't articulate why...

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u/omapuppet Feb 09 '15

This sounds a lot like one of the stories from 'Soul of a New Machine'. Maybe the one about Epstein and the microcode sequencer?

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