All Topics

Comments primarily question and debate whether the action or technique described in the main post is unethical, with core remarks repeatedly asking 'What's unethical about this?'

The cluster debates the nature of video games, contrasting gameplay, interactivity, and fun against narrative, storytelling, and artistic value, often comparing games to movies, books, novels, and other media.

Comments debate the quality versus quantity of professional experience in software development, repeatedly citing the adage that some have '10 years of experience' while others have '1 year repeated 10 times,' emphasizing depth over mere tenure.

Comments discuss French people's strong nationalistic pride in their language, reluctance to speak English despite proficiency, and expectations for others to use French, often with stereotypes of rudeness or snobbery.

This cluster focuses on discussions about unemployment, including job loss, stigma, benefits, personal experiences, and debates over whether it's preferable to low-wage work or a sign of desperation.

Discussions revolve around whether a specific demo or technology is genuinely using HTML5, its support and compatibility, and comparisons to Flash or native alternatives.

Users debate the relative strengths, accuracy, features, and regional performance of Apple Maps compared to Google Maps, sharing personal experiences and preferences.

Comments focus on reactions to a recent website redesign, with users debating its aesthetics, improvements over the old design, rollout, and overall quality, often expressing dislike or nostalgia for the previous version.

Users debate why companies restrict features or services instead of improving them, attributing it to protecting revenue, maximizing profits, and avoiding financial losses.

The cluster centers on debates comparing TensorFlow to PyTorch and other frameworks like Keras, JAX, and Theano, with many users advocating PyTorch as superior due to ease of use and performance while questioning TensorFlow's dominance.

Commenters repeatedly ask for the reasoning, context, and background behind a specific corporate decision, questioning how it was made and seeking links or insider explanations.

Discussions center on experiences using Godot for game development, comparisons to Unity and Unreal Engine, its maturity for indie projects, and missing features.

The cluster debates the exploitation of workers under capitalism, where labor creates value but owners capture surplus through cheaper labor, contrasting worker interests with capital owners' profits.

The cluster discusses strategies for extending lithium-ion battery lifespan by limiting charging to 80-90% instead of 100%, explaining how full charges and extremes accelerate degradation, with mentions of device features in phones, laptops, and EVs.

Comments discuss using OpenCV for computer vision tasks like object detection, facial recognition, and webcam processing, often suggesting it as a simpler alternative to AI neural networks.

Comments criticize Monopoly's flawed mechanics like player elimination, compounding advantages, and lack of real strategy, while suggesting rule modifications for endless play or recommending superior alternatives such as Diplomacy, Catan, Fluxx, and Nomic that feature negotiation, changing rules, and balanced gameplay.

Comments discuss the trade-offs of using database indexes, including performance benefits for reads versus costs for writes, storage, memory, and maintenance.

Discussions center on the quality, usability, readability, and relevance of Unix man pages as documentation, often comparing them to Stack Overflow, web searches, and modern alternatives.

This cluster focuses on Airbnb's early history as a for-profit couchsurfing clone, its pivot to vacation rentals, growth strategies, business model debates, disruption of hotels, and criticisms of its scale and practices.

Cluster focuses on arguments blaming parents for children's issues, such as online safety or behavior, rather than government, tech companies, or society, advocating for personal accountability over external regulations.

The cluster centers on debates about whether a tool or feature qualifies as a package manager, comparisons to existing ones like pacman or AUR, and discussions of package management capabilities.

The cluster debates the merits of government funding for scientific research and R&D versus private funding, emphasizing that public investment supports long-term basic science with societal benefits while private efforts focus on profitable applications.

Users recommend, compare, and discuss various tools and platforms for creating, hosting, and maintaining documentation for open-source projects, APIs, and codebases.

Commenters debate the graphics quality of a specific game demo, arguing over whether they are poor, realistic, or stylistically effective, and comparing them to modern titles while weighing art direction against technical fidelity.

The cluster debates factors behind startup success, emphasizing survivorship bias, luck, and timing over traits like hard work or talent, as many equally capable founders fail.

Commenters discuss whether a particular practice, issue, or phenomenon from the post is unique to Spain, confirming it is common there or comparing it to other countries.

The cluster focuses on comparisons between Uber and Lyft ride-sharing services, including user preferences for Lyft, availability issues, driver experiences, and suggestions to switch from Uber to Lyft.

This cluster centers on debates about the reliability and trustworthiness of experts, including when to question them, distinctions between true experts and self-proclaimed ones, and examples of expert failures outside their fields.

Commenters primarily discuss steganography as a method for hiding data in images, often in the context of watermarking, redaction techniques, and their vulnerabilities or detectability.

The cluster focuses on debates about the legality of recording phone calls and conversations without consent, particularly one-party vs. two-party consent laws in US states like California.

Users recommend and compare offline-capable mapping applications like OsmAnd, Maps.me, Organic Maps, and HERE Maps as alternatives to Google Maps, emphasizing their offline routing, OpenStreetMap data usage, and performance without internet.

Users repeatedly report encountering 404 Not Found errors when accessing the linked page or article in the Hacker News story, often asking if others see the same issue or noting irony with the headline.

The cluster debates the effectiveness and binding nature of international law, treaties, and UN resolutions, emphasizing their lack of enforcement mechanisms and frequent disregard by sovereign states, particularly the US.

Discussions focus on the biobag artificial womb experiment for premature lambs, with users joking about or debating applications to human babies, birth processes, and fetal development.

The cluster discusses the realities and limitations of autopilot systems in airplanes compared to self-driving car technologies, emphasizing that aviation autopilots require constant pilot monitoring, cannot handle takeoff/landing independently, and are kept for handling failures and unexpected situations.

The cluster discusses how technology empowers the powerful, governments, and elites to exert control, surveillance, and tyranny over society, rather than liberating individuals. Debates center on whether this is inherent to tech, human misuse, or inevitable due to power dynamics.

Commenters repeatedly question and debate the sustainability of a company's business model due to ongoing financial losses and lack of profitability, despite generating revenue.

The cluster revolves around debates on whether children should engage with technology like coding apps and restriction-bypassing games, or focus on traditional play, sports, imagination, and social activities to better support their development.

Discussions center on the challenges, desires, and feasibility of interoperating with C++ code and libraries from other languages, including requests for bindings, wrappers, and comparisons of interop ease across ecosystems.

Commenters repeatedly compare an unspecified proposal or system to Social Security, explaining it as a pay-as-you-go wealth transfer from current workers to retirees rather than an individual investment account, with some calling it a Ponzi scheme.

Comments where users inform others that they have just sent an email, often in response to requests for contact, code, details, or further discussion.

Comments primarily joke that the discussed HN article or project sounds like a Hollywood or Netflix movie plot, with phrases like 'watching too many movies' repeated frequently. Some share or promote AI-powered movie and show recommendation services.

The cluster focuses on discussions about the effectiveness of spam filters in email services, with users debating if modern filters like Gmail's adequately handle spam, suggesting improvements, and sharing personal experiences.

The cluster discusses the profitability and pricing of cloud hosting services, focusing on hidden costs like support, bandwidth, maintenance, and business models that subsidize free tiers with paid ones or high margins.

The cluster discusses reasons governments classify information as secret for national security, debates on the necessity of secrecy versus transparency, and concerns about leaks revealing sources, methods, or operational details.

The cluster debates the limitations of intermittent solar and wind power for baseload needs, advocating for nuclear as a reliable clean backup or complement to renewables over fossil fuels.

Discussions center on whether 'lensless' imaging systems actually use lenses or simulations, comparisons to Fresnel lenses, optical aberrations, and improvements in lens design.

The cluster focuses on debates about the design, aesthetics, and tradeoffs of screen notches on smartphones like the iPhone, comparing them to bezels, punch-holes, and alternatives such as thicker phones or ejecting cameras.

The cluster debates the practical programming competence of CS degree holders versus self-taught developers, with many comments arguing that CS graduates often lack basic coding skills despite theoretical knowledge, while self-taught programmers excel in real-world tasks.

The cluster discusses at-will employment in the US, focusing on its voluntary nature, employee and employer rights to terminate without cause, and debates over fairness, exploitation, and confusion with right-to-work laws.

The cluster debates the environmental effectiveness of banning single-use plastic grocery bags, highlighting reuse as trash liners, shifts to paper or thicker 'reusable' bags, and overall plastic consumption impacts.

This cluster features comments accusing or questioning whether other users have actually read the linked article before posting their opinions or arguments. These are meta-discussions highlighting perceived failures to engage with the source material.

Discussions center on the high costs of GPUs, comparisons between cloud providers like AWS and alternatives such as CoreWeave or Runpod, and debates over renting versus buying hardware for compute-intensive tasks like AI training and inference.

The cluster discusses the shortcomings of current AI technologies, including hallucinations, inability to solve specific problems like coding tasks, and the need for human expertise, countering hype that AI is a universal solution.

The cluster focuses on US legislation requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok from Chinese ownership, with debates on whether it's a true ban, national security risks, free speech concerns, and comparisons to Chinese app restrictions.

The cluster centers on tips, strategies, and experiences for initiating small talk and conversations with strangers in everyday situations like coffee shops, elevators, or meetups, often as a bridge to deeper connections or networking.

The cluster focuses on debates about the role of intent (mens rea) in determining criminal liability, frequently contrasting murder versus manslaughter and discussing negligence or recklessness.

The cluster centers on debates about dismissing or invalidating others' personal hardships, often by comparing them to worse situations or denying their legitimacy due to differing experiences.

Discussions center on the rise of subscription-based services in tech, including subscription fatigue, preferences for or against subscriptions, and inquiries about products offering or planning subscriptions.

Users discuss experiences with defective products, particularly hardware failures shortly after purchase, warranty claims, replacement processes, and varying quality of customer support from manufacturers.

Discussions center on Huawei's alleged ties to the Chinese government, potential backdoors and spying risks, and international bans or restrictions due to national security threats.

Users share personal stories of working remotely while traveling the world as digital nomads, discussing the initial excitement, logistical challenges, productivity impacts, and common realizations that the lifestyle often loses appeal after months, leading to a desire for stability or longer stays in one place.

The cluster centers on debates about the efficiency of heat pumps powered by electricity (even from gas-fired plants) compared to direct gas heating for homes, with arguments highlighting heat pumps' superior performance due to their coefficient of performance exceeding conversion losses.

Comments discuss the superior visual qualities of CRT monitors compared to modern LCD and OLED displays, including nostalgia for their phosphor glow, pixel smoothing, and how old websites or graphics appeared better on CRTs.

The cluster discusses the limited judgment, foresight, and decision-making capacity of teenagers and young adults (ages 13-20), often defending poor choices due to immaturity, brain development, and lack of experience while questioning parental guidance and coddling.

Comments debate Google's unbeatable lead in search engines due to data, infrastructure, and user habits, while discussing challenges and potential for alternatives like DuckDuckGo, Bing, and new startups.

Comments discuss risks of Gmail account suspensions or bans and recommend using custom domains with providers like Fastmail or Proton Mail, along with backups and gradual migrations for better control and portability.

The cluster focuses on organizational budgeting practices where unspent funds are lost, creating incentives to spend budgets fully regardless of necessity, and debates around fixed budgets and poor incentive structures.

Comments discuss the Ada programming language's strengths for safety-critical systems, comparisons to C and Rust, advocacy for its use with SPARK, and reasons for its limited adoption.

Cluster focuses on personal experiences and advice promoting exercise, stretching, and physical therapy over rest for treating chronic pains, tendon issues, back problems, and sports injuries, often referencing the 'motion is lotion' principle.

The cluster centers on debates over an article claiming a resurgence in bootstrapping as a viable alternative to VC-funded startups, with commenters criticizing its title as clickbait, defending its advice for small-scale entrepreneurship, and discussing its relevance to Indie Hackers-style businesses.

This cluster consists of comments where users flag Hacker News story submissions as duplicates by linking to previous similar discussions.

Discussions criticize GitHub's pull request review UX and workflow shortcomings, while promoting and comparing alternative tools like CodeApprove, Reviewable, Gerrit, and ReviewStack for better code review experiences.

Discussions focus on what makes coffee taste better, including bean quality, roasting levels, freshness, brewing methods like espresso vs. drip, and contrasts between specialty roasts and mass-market options like Starbucks.

Discussions focus on using LLMs like ChatGPT and specialized tools to generate, explain, optimize, and learn SQL queries, including debates on whether deep SQL knowledge is still necessary.

Discussions center on OpenBSD's renowned security focus, its track record compared to Linux and other OSes, trade-offs like performance for security, and recommendations to use it for superior protection.

Comments focus on the low costs of hosting personal websites, static sites, and small projects, with users recommending cheap VPS, shared hosting, or self-hosting options like $5/month Digital Ocean droplets while criticizing higher platform expenses.

This cluster focuses on debates about the ease and difficulties of implementing parallelism in programming languages like Go, Rust, C, and others, including discussions on Amdahl's law, auto-parallelization, and overhead costs.

Discussions focus on serial numbers on physical currency for tracking counterfeits, stolen bills, and contaminated notes, as well as policies like demonetizing high-denomination bills to combat crime and black money.

This cluster focuses on discussions about the Raspberry Pi single-board computer, including excitement about purchasing it, frustrations with stock shortages and high prices, and comparisons to alternatives.

Discussions revolve around the advantages of fiber optic cables over alternatives like copper, including speed, bandwidth, reliability, scalability, and suitability for high-speed networking links.

Discussions center on whether widespread electric vehicle adoption will strain the power grid due to evening charging peaks, countered by arguments for off-peak scheduling, low daily energy needs, vehicle-to-grid technology, and grid capacity.

Discussions focus on how the IRS obtains income information through forms like W2 and 1099, the necessity of self-filing tax returns despite third-party reporting, and comparisons to simpler tax systems in other countries.

Commenters frequently disclose and inquire about their locations in major Canadian cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, often to compare regional experiences or differences.

Comments discuss risks of foodborne illnesses from contamination in raw meat, vegetables, and processed foods, including specific outbreaks like salmonella and listeria, and emphasize proper handling, cooking, and washing practices.

This cluster revolves around a web demo or site displaying multiple users' mouse cursors, which commenters find distracting, annoying, and poorly implemented, with discussions on jitter, browser settings, cursor replacement, and UI flaws.

Comments criticize oil and fossil fuel companies for suppressing climate science, lobbying against renewables, spreading misinformation, and prioritizing profits over environmental sustainability.

Discussions center on companies' fears of lawsuits, liability exposure for investors and shareholders, and strategic decisions to avoid litigation or its disclosure.

Discussions center on personal experiences with the ketogenic (keto) diet, including benefits like improved focus, weight loss, stamina, and appetite suppression, alongside side effects, comparisons to low-carb diets, and pairings with intermittent fasting.

This cluster focuses on the mechanics and risks of home mortgages, including default scenarios, foreclosure processes, recourse vs. non-recourse loans, and the role of property as collateral when values fluctuate.

Users express frustration with pervasive and intrusive advertisements across Google products like search, Gmail, Chrome, and Adsense, debating their scope, policies, and Google's role.

Discussions debate the nature of US government debt, arguing it's not a burden like household debt since the government issues its own currency, prints money, and the debt represents private savings or money creation rather than a repayment obligation.

Comments debate the causes of poor student performance, including blame on unmotivated or underprepared students versus teacher shortcomings and systemic educational issues.

Users discuss advantages, use cases, and reasons for choosing FreeBSD over Linux distributions, highlighting features like unified OS development, ZFS, DTrace, jails, and simpler administration compared to Linux's distro variations and complexities like systemd.

This cluster centers on discussions of miles per gallon (MPG), fuel economy comparisons across gas, hybrid, and electric vehicles, and debates on real-world efficiency versus rated figures, often normalized by miles driven.

Discussions center on personal preferences and experiences for urban, suburban, or rural lifestyles, debating trade-offs like amenities, socialization, space, noise, walkability, and family suitability.

The cluster focuses on the Epic Games v. Apple legal dispute, including Epic's challenge to App Store fees and policies, their intentional breach of terms, antitrust issues, and ongoing court battles over platform access and compliance.

This cluster focuses on UK parliamentary politics, particularly Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalitions, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, minority governments lacking majorities, and debates over calling new elections amid Brexit gridlock.

Discussions center on the availability, future sustainability, and generosity of free tiers in software services, with users questioning if they will remain free forever, be removed, or cannibalize paid upgrades.

Comments criticize weak or absent labor laws in the US, particularly regarding overwork, wage theft, and worker protections, often comparing them unfavorably to stronger laws in Europe and other countries.