Based on this interview, it seems Lobsters community there is pretty interesting for the tech crowd? Perhaps one should take a look there.
Unfortunately, Lobsters (previously?) blocked Brave browser and I don't feel like switching browsers just to visit a site.
The differences are well summarized on their /about page. I find both HN and Lobsters valuable for different reasons, but and the differences that stand out to me are:
- Tries to be more purely technical. Generic political or business links are flagged or removed.
- Aggressive marketing/self-promotion is moderated: If you join, post three links to your own blog, and nothing else, expect someone to call out if you post a fourth. I know HN does this to some extent, but it is very explicit on Lobsters.
- Not "news", not necessarily about recent things. Project/language releases even have a "release" tag so you can hide them systematically. A ten-year-old article explaining some library internals is just as likely to come up.
- Instead of "downvotes" there are "flags", which requires choosing a reason. Ideally encourages people to pause and think, instead of scrolling and clicking a down arrow 20 times in a thread.
- Weekly community threads of "What are you working on this week?" and "What are you doing this weekend?" which is nice for a smaller community.
My main gripe with lobsters vs hn is that lobsters has a lot of specific in the weeds tech articles, like about some functionality of a specific python library. It's way too specific, I find the mix of articles on hn much better from a generalist perspective
I've heard it's like HN, but with Reddit-style drama and psychotic moderation.
Sounds lovely.
If you are interested in Rust, there is a lot of that posted there. Politically they have similar views to HN.
I almost forgot why I stopped visiting, they had some open conversations with Hector... erm Asahi Lina (just Lina now?) the other day...
It's a strong, active community. Much more focused on computing. I'm happy to invite anyone who wants to join. You can find a way to contact me on https://technicalwriting.dev. Please also link me to your website, LinkedIn, etc.
Lobsters feels a lot like the HN of a decade ago, when the community was more technical than business, and the topics were technical instead of tech business culture.