New decline of Habr?

Question

Habr

The almost complete absence of sensible technical articles, posts from the sandbox with errors in the titles, plus pseudo-scientific comments, non-thematic posts, crowds of "news" articles - no, this did not happen before. Perhaps I'm wrong, and there is no decline here, but now, when I go to Habr, I find something really useful / entertaining less and less. See which articles are currently in the top 24 hours, top of the week. Is there something useful (I'm lying, there is something), valuable? I have already expressed the opinion that the UFO notices everything (that's why it is a UFO), and for good reason gutting the sandbox.

To be honest, I don't know exactly where this problem comes from. Perhaps this is such a "cyclical" decline. Maybe it's the time of year that's to blame - and people just don't have enough free time (the version looks very plausible, given the fact that the same stagnation was observed shortly before the beginning of 2011). In the meantime, the functionality of the site itself is expanding, the program to encourage authors has not gone away (but, as I understand it, it has not yielded any fruits); however, extinction is periodically noted by the population.

What can be offered in such a situation?

Answer 1

The problem is not karma, not seasons, not UFOs.
The problem is in the habro community - it has become dumb ... Yes, yes, it has become dumb.
Hundreds of good authors left Habr. Reason: “they don’t like my articles”, “I’m tired of being poured with shit”, “they leaked karma, so they don’t need my articles”, etc.
But the reason for these words is more interesting:
Habr is 90% (and maybe more) consists of bydlocoders with high self-esteem. They were given some power in the form of anonymity and karma. And they use this power - they “crush” everyone who is smarter than them.
Good authors don't want to write articles for a society that doesn't understand them.

Answer 2

Here is my opinion:
1. It is worth changing the system of accrual of invites and rewards. For example, an invite to "information security" for +100, to "DIY" for +50, to "Habra Humor" +300, etc., the same for the author reward system. That is, weigh the blogs by their usefulness to the community.
2. You can still weigh the votes. A person chooses 5 blogs that he thinks he can adequately evaluate or wants to evaluate: A, B, C, D, E - his vote for topics in these topics counts as 1, another 5 where the vote counts as 0.5, in the rest 0.25. For example, in the Server Optimization blog, I definitely won’t be able to adequately evaluate the topic. Why is my voice worth as much as the voice of a specialist? Here my vote is 0.25. And in "Contextual advertising" I can adequately evaluate, here my vote is 1.

Answer 3

No motivation, that's the point.
The authors of really sensible articles who spend their time on this are simply offended when the neighboring topic from HabraHumor gains 5-10 times more pluses. It has become like everywhere else, they are thirsty for bread and circuses, there is less and less bread, more and more circuses.
And yet, now the division of users has become clearly visible, if earlier there were more Admins, Engineers, networkers, now there are more programmers - and this is a completely different contingent, they are writers, but not articles, but programs (and even then in question), for the most part. If you pay attention, then a sensible article on programming receives a large number of votes, however, a sensible article on the administration of servers or networks will not gain so many. Something like this.
This is just my personal opinion from the outside. I don't insist on anything.

Answer 4

When you try to write a technical article about creating sites in PHP (I specifically highlight it to emphasize what), comrades will appear who will say that everything has already been written, and this router (class, template engine) is not needed, because there is Yii and they will rant about the professionalism of its creators and the pointlessness of bicycles. This greatly stops a whole series of possible articles. Of course, it's better for everyone to read about how a new site appeared, where you can mark another crap on the map.

Answer 5

A rather large part of the specialists who were here from the very beginning left the habr. Habr for a couple of years ... I will not say “not a cake”. It's just a little different - more pop, less technical, more water and "SHOCK!" information.
About the drain of technical articles - it is, you don’t have to go far for an example. My topics:
habrahabr.ru/blogs/startup/133185/ - About startup, +171
habrahabr.ru/blogs/startup/128906/ - About startup, +153
habrahabr.ru/blogs/startup/125973/ - About startup, + 156
habrahabr.ru/blogs/apple/111069/ - Cool news, +118
habrahabr.ru/blogs/sysadm/111473/ - Cool news, +103
habrahabr.ru/blogs/hosting/91429/— Technical article about system administration, +57
In my opinion, it is quite clear which articles are more in demand. I'm not talking about whether it's good or bad, but it's been like that for a long time already. Often when the thought comes to write something technical, you think “what the hell, maybe it won’t get out on the main page, it’s good if they don’t merge it.”

Answer 6

Personally, I stopped going to Habr because the number of articles on topics of interest to me decreased five times. For half a year now I have been going to Habr twice a week and quickly scrolling through depressingly crappy articles about startups and releases of programs that no one needs. Habr is now dull, well, I will hope that something will change after all.

Answer 7

Write an article, don't wait on others.

Answer 8

You know, I’m relatively new to Habré, before that I had been reading it for some time (about six months unequivocally), I liked most of the articles published here, I wanted to share my knowledge, comment on articles, in general, benefit society and, in a sense, realize myself.
There was no opportunity to register on Habré, I definitely did not want to become one of the whiners, begging for ICQ from already registered participants.
The opportunity to write an article appeared just a couple of months ago. I wrote, published, an invite came, registered, read the rules and ... And shit poured through the pipes.
The article was criticized for the abundance of pictures (well, of course, apparently each of the participants is an advanced IT specialist, and no one can admit that someone can learn from such articles, where one line of information, or one picture can solve a lot of questions that have been asked before, no one thought), did not catch the main idea of ​​the article, although I repeatedly chewed on the main points in the article and drew conclusions at the end. Anyway, after that, almost everyone had to chew exactly what I wanted to convey, explain, put in their mouths and almost swallow for them. Moreover, I noticed that in many articles / comments such behavior can be traced, the person did not understand what they wanted to convey to him, he begins to scatter minuses to the right and left, to shit in karma, but does not ask a question or try to figure it out himself. It's really just easier to shit around yourself.
Because of all of the above, there is a fear that you will be merged because someone, to the extent of their stupidity, simply will not understand you, you begin to comment less, share knowledge less, write articles less.
The dominance of fanatics, it is VERY widespread on Habré. Some kind of stupid love for the brand, and the rejection of any arguments in favor of others. Fanatic devotion, which is expressed again in ... You guessed it, right? Again, draining karma, cons to the post for everyone who does not support the views of a fanatic.
It is a bad practice to merge both karma and fasting for its uselessness (for example), and plus only fasting, but not karma, if it is useful, give a strong bias towards the necessary forces in order to gain this very karma. Although it would seem that on the one hand, that on the other should be the same. Again, the thought appears, if they are drained more willingly than raised, but is the game worth the candle? Why climb somewhere, make a lot of effort, share knowledge, if you can be dumped overnight for one wrong (objectionable) message?
I always justify my opinion, never leaving comments like “Ugh, this technology is g*”, always describing why it is “g*”, but even this does not always help: “How, you don’t love the technology that I love? !!! So, now I'm going to hit you on the head with my big and powerful dick! Where is the karma of this fucking heretic!!!” think you understand? :)
In general, there are a lot of moments. As I once wrote, there are many users on Habré who really resemble a monkey with a grenade in their behavior, it is unpredictable, illogical and stupid. But what a feeling of power this very grenade gives her.

Answer 9

It has long been clear that habr is not a platform for technical specialists. It is for a different audience. And it's not even in the articles, but in the level of discussions. And no administrative cargo measures will fix this.

Answer 10

I have been reading Habr since the seventh or eighth (I wrote at one time - I only commented - but in 2008 I was banned). I don't see much change. There was always a lot of water and turbidity, there were always few useful and interesting articles, there were always few sensible and intelligent people, but they were there. Were, are and will be. The old ones go, the new ones come.
As for karma, in no case should you ever worry about it. Take any minus positively: the person felt the butthurt - which means that perhaps this will make him think about your words and realize them. What do the numbers in the profile mean compared to the ability to make at least one person think?

Answer 11

Come on. Join our ranks, get wet and let's write about a startup together!

Answer 12

Just a session soon.

Answer 13

So it's time to translate habr into English and conquer new frontiers.

Answer 14

It would be better in this regard if the minus (anywhere) could not be put just like that - but be sure to indicate the reason. Anonymity can also be preserved (i.e., so that the author sees only the explanations themselves, without nicknames), and it is not even necessary for everyone to see the explanation: if only the author of the post (which is given a negative assessment) could see it.
Thanks to this kind of feedback, I think it is possible to change the situation for the better.

Answer 15

www.peeep.us/06a991a9 as an option

Answer 16

I noticed behind myself that if I had read before, now I began to look in ... for myself, I connected this with a new design, I don’t know why ...

Answer 17

It seems to me that the problem is the barrier that new people who want to add their article or post face.
For example, I have been registered for a long time, and decided to write an article in the sandbox. I added an article, but the rules do not allow publishing it. Karma, comrades!
Previously, I thought that karma was not necessary for the sandbox (apparently I didn’t carefully read the numerous rules), but now I’m waiting for the weather by the sea, or rather karma ...

Answer 18

For me, the "decline" of Habr came when something was changed, and all the settings fell off.
I began to see those blogs that I would never subscribe to ... Because. I'm mostly enikey, so it's interesting for me to read about everything at once. But if earlier I had topics about programming, android, and for example, I skipped developing interfaces, then after changing some algorithms, these topics began to pop up on the main one, and at first their number just amazed me ... Well, set up “what-b-how -before-it was "I was lazy for some time, and now even more so. I went to the main page, rummaged through 5 pages, then I read those 2-3 topics that are interesting and open in the background. And then you can go through thematic blogs, although yes, I agree that there is less material.

Answer 19

There is no motivation.
Qualifications and developments allow us to give a lot of information on communication, moreover, relevant, and not to publish the rediscovery of ancient RFCs. But I don't understand why. The audience has changed, here now, according to subjective estimates, the majority of web developers, they simply do not need it.
My frankly stupid article is now hanging in the best, only work in it for about 30 minutes at the most, along with uploading pictures to the repository. No hint of RocketScience, but half of the comments are off topic. After that, I'm afraid to publish something serious.
PS: And I remember you from one of the previous questions, if you decide to use protocols for messaging, can you tell me? Article.

Answer 20

Criticism on the comments:
“Karma is to blame - it is constantly lacking”
- In RuNet there are a lot of resources with karma in one form or another, but for some reason, such f *** c is happening only on Habré. For some reason, it was here that karma for the community became something sacred.
“The rookies are to blame. Lately there have been many new bad authors.”
They are not to blame for anything. The administration distributes invites in the sandbox, because otherwise the resource will die. Try to count the number of articles in a week without sandboxing.
“The administration changed the settings and immediately the number of articles decreased”
- When innovations were introduced, articles from the sandbox were not added. You can check. And without them, there are very few articles.

Answer 21

missed in due time this discussion, but now I will express.
UFO invited me to Habr in June 2009. Before that, I just read for six months. It so happened in life that it was that summer that was absolutely free, and all these newfangled chips with karma and rating for me at that time carried me crazy.
I am not an IT guy. I'm just an amateur. I can assemble / disassemble a computer, help neighbors and acquaintances, I am interested in new products. But I'm not an IT guy at all. However, it so happened that by the end of August of that same 2009, I was in second place in the rating of habrapeople. In the first place, if I'm not mistaken, was Bumburum.
What did I do for this? Once a week I wrote an article about some interesting novelty for me from the IT world. In turn, I drew information for the article mainly from foreign sources such as technical crunch, wired, popsigns and other American and Japanese IT resources.
However, I understood, I was aware that this was not correct. A person like me should not take such a high place in the ranking of an authoritative IT portal. That is why I tried to immediately get rid of the invites that appeared to me through almost daily visits to the sandbox. Well, in the fall, I played enough, as they say. And I almost stopped writing. I put most of those articles in drafts, and I went to Habr much less often.
However, at that time I began to notice that such non-specialist authors like me began to appear more and more on Habré. I doubt that this phenomenon can even be remotely called imitation, but I still feel guilty for such a popularization (from the word popsyatina) of habr.
For the last couple of years, I practically do not write here, and I do not comment.
But I do read regularly.

Answer 22

For the most part, there is simply no time to write, and I think that this is the case not only with me, but also with many others. And this is not a reason to say - "Habr is not the same")))

Answer 23

It seems to me that such topics about the decline of Habr are not due to the decline of Habr, but simply by the fact that everything is boring. Content on the same chips or anecdot.ru is generated by millions of lemmings , active authors on Habré - a couple of hundred. It's not that big of a number at all. As a result, having come to Habra for the first time, the reader is amazed at the depth of meaning and the abundance of material. A year passes - nothing changes, the people are the same, the topics are the same, humanity has not yet invented a teleport and a time machine, there is no silver bullet in programming, for the twentieth time we are discussing topics about “spaces / tabs”, “we need to start a startup!” etc. It gets boring.

Answer 24

IMHO: It is necessary to remove the direct influence on karma, karma should only grow if you liked the article, and decrease if you post trash.
Now, as it was rightly said, there is no motivation to write good articles.
Firstly, technical articles are poorly rated, and some trash “how to assemble a handbag from old floppy disks” or the like. - high.
Secondly, when discussing, those who disagree with the opinion willingly merge karma, and even though you argue a thousand times that, for example, Objective C is an outdated city, Apple fans will downvote (the first example that came across, there are many such holy wars). If, as I suggested, to remove direct influence, then this will not happen, karma will change only when writing articles (and they will try to write good ones), and not in the process of discussion. Well, or you can make weight - with a direct influence on karma, 1/10 of the rating is added or drained, and if you wrote a good article, then let's say a quarter of the article's rating is added. I think this will partly solve the problem.

Answer 25

Often I also asked similar questions and also often caught myself thinking that in Habré everything is like in life. The same sometimes injustice in assessments, as many priceless creations gathering dust on the shelves, which are not destined to see the light of day ...
On the other hand, I notice Habr has taught me to be tolerant and makes me think 100 times before answering something. Wouldn't that offend someone? In real life, it helps, because for what they put a minus in karma on Habré, in real life they often already hit you in the face. :)
I believe that the best is yet to come! Above there were a lot of sensible comments on improving the resource, I hope the administration will listen to the voice of the people.
Have a nice day everyone!

Answer 26

The underlying reason is the mixing of types of interactions and formats. A blog is not the best format for objective articles.
Habré is dominated by three types of posts: news, articles, and discussions . They must be separated.
News - blog. Discussions - forum or blog. Articles - structure.
Perhaps I will write a detailed post about this and another soon.

Answer 27

Is posting pictures with cats more important for the gray mass? :)
For a long time, non-technical writings have been plus.
So who said that the majority can not be wrong? :)
I personally don't consider karma to be a sure indicator of a normal article.

Answer 28

Another romantic with the belief that habr was once a cake.
You don't write technical articles, so there aren't any. Start writing, they will.
It was not better and will not be worse, habr are people, the very ones who were, active and passive, funny and sad, the turnover here is small thanks to invites.
Yes, plus slag, so minus slag for balance. Only later, when you downvote all the authors except those who write not slag, don’t be surprised that the site is empty, there will be no slag, but good things too, you don’t write ... It’s more important for you to cry that no one else writes.

Answer 29

I would suggest this: plus as before, and for minus, you need to fill in the reason at least in 2-3 words.
A downvoted author (and not only him) can hover over the downvote, Ajax will collect data on downvoted users and the reasons for downvotes, and show a pop-up.
It may well turn out that the minus followers will not write “but patamushto!” and think ... for example, about their karma.