Ask HN: Forums with quality discourse

[someperson]

What other forums have the same quality of discourse as HN had (and on occasion, still has). The topic doesn't necessarily have to be start-ups. I want a site that has, like HN's guidelines state: "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity".

Academic Hacker News had potential for a place for a good community. Arc Forum has good discussion, but I'm looking for something more general.

I read that, after the quality of HN fell heaps, some elite users left HN for some greener pastures. Where did they go?

[Ixiaus]

I used to be a fervent seeker of intellectually stimulating "general" forums/communities too. I've found a few and two things are apparent to me because of the experiences:

- without specific focus, you get overrun by people that desire "general" intellectual discussion because it's easier to be general than it is specific and generality always dilutes the culture of a group by introducing subjects that not all are interested in (contrast that with specificity, where a specific focus is shared as a common interest between the participants)

- without specific focus, one is arbitrarily created by the."popular" contributors and shuts out any one (by creating a point of focus) that isn't in sync or interested.

My advice: figure out what specifically it is that you want to have a dialectic exchange about and find a community for it. Any sort of off topic discussion will occur in their cafe or off topic areas where the same intellectuals will do some cognitive "offload" by talking about other things that are interesting.

Philosophy, physics, mathematics, programming, DIY, electronics, space advocacy, psychology, etc... are all subject areas I can think of that have many (stimulating) communities built to serve the sole purpose of exploring and developing ideas and thought for the subject matter.

Get specific!

[petercooper]

I want a site that has, like HN's guidelines state: "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity".

MetaFilter - http://metafilter.com/ - meets this description, but the definition of "intellectual curiosity" is somewhat wider than on HN - that is, it's more literary and cultural and far less "techie." It's been going over 11 years though (disclaimer: I've been a member for 9).

There's also the Joel on Software boards and the just-launched "Gravity" - http://www.gravity.com - has some interesting discussions kicking off already.

Other than that, the "programming" sub-Reddit isn't that bad: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/

[nopassrecover]

Joel on Software boards are closing. Closest thing I'm aware of now is StackOverflow but opinionative discourse is usually frowned upon there.

[lunchbox]

Similar question: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=290733

Also, http://lesswrong.com/

[someperson]

Thanks for the link :D

It has been discussed before, but 2 years ago is a long time on the internet - sites die but many more are born.

Oh although lesswrong is awesome, I'd love to find a "lesswrong" on technical matters.

[mquander]

For high-volume general discussion about a broad range of topics, Metafilter is almost always still best, if you ask me.

[anigbrowl]

Seconded. Best $5 you can spend on the internet (to be a member, reading is free).

[revorad]

Check out http://overcomingbias.com and http://lesswrong.com.

There are some good discussions on Eliezer Yudkowsky's articles: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~andwhay/postlist.html.

[robk]

I really enjoy flyertalk.com for travel and frequent flyer discussions. Their subdomains for particular programs are ripe with really detailed info how to maximize value from any miles you accumulate (even if you earn the miles through methods other than flying). This was the home of Pudding Guy, the miles hacker who collected yogurt tops and earned something like 10 million frequent flyer miles for < $2,000. That's a lot of free flying.

[rrc]

Lambda the Ultimate (http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/)

[jfarmer]

Quora (http://quora.com)

[sendos]

Straight Dope message board http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb is pretty good

[jobenjo]

Fluther (http://www.fluther.com)

[Tawheed]

Why not start your own?

[someperson]

I'd rather join an already established community than spend a lot of time building up a culture.

[rakim]

Dude, internet forums will never be places of quality discourse so long as any random person off the street can post a comment.

[someperson]

A read-only (invitation) forum with quality discussion would be fine too. I've heard the vast majority of forum users are lurkers anyway.