zlacker

>>bluu00+(OP)
This place is amazing, and I learned so much about a variety of topics. Most of my MD colleagues use Twitter or Facebook, where the signal-to-noise is much, much lower. I assume there have been plenty of spin-offs from HN (I would LOVE to have a similar forum for discussing medical issues; Can I fork the codebase somehow?), but I do think the secret sauce is moderation.

Also, politically, I'm "an enlightened centrist" lol and nearly all of the political spectrum here is represented well IMO, and even personal attacks/strawman arguments are not immediately banned but first discouraged.

Thanks dang!

>>throwa+rz
Twitter can have a very high signal-to-noise ratio if you follow the right people.

>>saagar+pF
I followed a lot of economists (ie Robert Reich, Krugman, etc) thinking they would post interesting economics related content. They do, but it turns out that they are ordinary humans who like posting the same tweets (and rants) that I would post.

I don't think Twitter can have the same signal to noise ratio as a well moderated forum like HN, even if you follow the "right" people, because the format of the site incentivizes a different style of discussion.

>>pratik+Vf1
I've started using the Lists feature of Twitter a ton, carefully curating users who tend to post around specific topics that I'm interested in. Then I just poke my head in the appropriate list whenever I want to catch up on what's been happening in a given subject. Totally changed my Twitter experience.

>>dgrits+ry1
> I've started using the Lists feature of Twitter a ton, carefully curating users who tend to post around specific topics that I'm interested in. Then I just poke my head in the appropriate list whenever I want to catch up on what's been happening in a given subject.

I've been doing the same (although I've actually been on a break from Twitter for over a year now). Care to share links to your lists?

BTW, it took me forever to realize that I didn't have to follow an account in order to put it in a list. I've been putting off a serious pruning (several thousand) of who I follow, and I wish there were better tools for doing that pruning.