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Ask DN: Can we stop talking about non-design bs?

over 4 years ago from , Experience Designer at Airbnb

I know of a hundred different sites I can hit up if I wanted to talk shit about tech news. I come here for the Designer News. Let's keep this place design oriented and keep the community positive. The posts about firefox, Condoleeza Rice, etc. are very loosely related to the design community and I don't want this place to turn in to just another hacker news shit talking community.

53 comments

  • Willie MorrisWillie Morris, over 4 years ago

    This is designer news not design news. It should be used to discuss and post any news that is relevant for designers. Posts about Firefox or a change to who's involved with the tools we use are definitely relevant.

    We have upvoting so that what the community deems important is seen. The talking shit - I think everyone could do without that.

    26 points
  • Eric HuEric Hu, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    Design is a reflection of culture and designers should be aware of the context in which they create work. Designers need to be well-versed in the arts, literature, the news, fashion, etc. We're making work for the WORLD we want to live in. Forming an echo chamber of tutorials and talks about flat-design shouldn't be what design is about. As for the shit-talking, I don't see it as a big problem. There's too much congratulatory sycophancy in this industry as it is.

    23 points
    • Account deleted over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

      So true! We need to be cultural sponges. Its our job to take in everything and store it. Who knows, it may influence some of our future projects.

      1 point
    • Henri LirianiHenri Liriani, over 4 years ago

      Sycophancy is an awesome word.

      4 points
  • Daniel WilberDaniel Wilber, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    grid

    responsive

    app

    launch

    javascript

    bootstrapsucks

    shoulddesignerscode

    mediumarticle

    22 points
  • Matt BaxterMatt Baxter, over 4 years ago

    u mad, bro?

    17 points
  • Benjamin FritzBenjamin Fritz, over 4 years ago

    Look outside the bubble. I happily read those articles once in a while instead of the nth narcissistic one on Medium or one of those the best 10 responsive kittens on Smashing Magazine or Webdesigner Depot.

    13 points
  • Justin EdmundJustin Edmund, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    No.

    Being a good designer is being worldly and understanding things outside of mindless vapid debates about Sketch or Photoshop, or how much the community loves the same boring websites.

    If you just want design links, subscribe to an RSS feed or something. If you want discussion and community, shut up and stop whining. If you only want to talk to certain people about certain things, you're missing a whole lot about what makes that person interesting or great (not to mention that the "non-design bs" will give you context into them as a designer too).

    tl;dr you're missing the point

    12 points
  • Sam GarsonSam Garson, over 4 years ago

    I think this is pretty selfish.

    Nothing's making you read those posts that you aren't interested in, but as a designer I not only am interested in these stories but more importantly I'm interested in what other like minded, interesting people have to say on the subjects.

    8 points
  • Manik RatheeManik Rathee, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    Ignore posts you don't like. Everyone has different definitions of tech vs design buckets.

    7 points
  • Christian BundyChristian Bundy, over 4 years ago

    You should try out http://getprismatic.com/ – it lets you choose what you find interesting, and is personally tailored to you. Designer News is a direct democracy, and if this is what's important to the people, so be it.

    7 points
    • Evan KnightEvan Knight, over 4 years ago

      +1

      0 points
    • Jonathan YapJonathan Yap, over 4 years ago

      or build your own? via telescope ;)

      0 points
      • Christian BundyChristian Bundy, over 4 years ago

        I'm actually a Meteor developer, and I've been working on exactly that. It's still very rough around the edges, but it works.

        I realized, though, that I don't really care about getting interesting links. I care about the community. Any ideas on how to foster a community through machine learning?

        0 points
        • Jonathan YapJonathan Yap, over 4 years ago

          TBH, I don't really know what's the best way around it. I worked on a movie recommendation app awhile back that uses machine learning to improve results but we just didn't get enough feedback from users. Had to sit down with people outside to get insights. I think it really boils down to the community and getting them engaged, no users = no data.

          0 points
  • Zethus SuenZethus Suen, over 4 years ago

    The law of *N: All news communities will eventually turn into the shit talking cesspool that is HN.

    7 points
  • Antonio Ordóñez ForeroAntonio Ordóñez Forero, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    "Design is everything. Everything!"

    Paul Rand

    6 points
  • Dirk HCM van BoxtelDirk HCM van Boxtel, over 4 years ago

    This is a community fueled site - expect "off topic" to happen. Fighting off-topic discussions will drive a community apart as members look for less strictly regulated places.

    Stop worrying and start consuming in smarter ways. Read smart, be picky.

    You shouldn't waste your time trying to change the nature of a community.

    6 points
  • Derryl CarterDerryl Carter, over 4 years ago

    I somewhat agree with the OP here.

    I have other sources for non-design-related news... such as Condoleezza Rice joining Dropbox's board, etc.

    5 points
  • Henri LirianiHenri Liriani, over 4 years ago

    I find this community cool because it's designers discussing things, not because the content is all design related.

    I actually think the community will get more and more general as we gradually grow tired of the recurring same-old. That's a good thing, as long as the community's population is mostly designers.

    5 points
  • Account deleted over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    I noticed there is a lot of posts about DEVELOPMENT and CODE on this site too. Can we all just chill with that!? Development is not related to design! This is not HackerNews guys...come on!! (sarcasm)

    5 points
    • Bruce Vang, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

      EDIT: ARGH! I missed the /sarc tag. lol! Good one.

      Code can be related to design.

      1 point
    • Gabriel AnghelGabriel Anghel, over 4 years ago

      I think designers should learn to code, at leas to be able to develop the front-end of his / her design.

      I've seen a lot of great designs turned into monsters by frontend dev that had no ideea why white space, line height, font size are important. As a a full time ux / ui designer I always do my own html / css to be sure that does not happen. I learned how to code a while back and i can say it has a positive mark on all my designs ever since.

      Best.

      0 points
      • Account deleted over 4 years ago

        I think designers should understand the opportunities and limitations of code to collaborate better with developers. Not necessarily have to learn to program apps themselves unless they really really want to be a unicorn.

        0 points
        • Gabriel AnghelGabriel Anghel, over 4 years ago

          For designers to understand the limitations of code they kinda need to learn at least the basic stuff.

          And the idea of collaborating better with developers i totally understand it and agree with it in cases where you are close to the development team like a agency job. When you do freelance jobs, most of the cases you don't even know who will build the website / app.

          0 points
    • Jake ChapmanJake Chapman, over 4 years ago

      Been working on devne.ws for awhile, shouldn't be to long before they can go there.

      0 points
  • Ryan Hicks, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    The irony of the topic for this thread is hilarious, but I do get what you're saying.

    5 points
  • Joshua SortinoJoshua Sortino, over 4 years ago

    Design is business. Business is design.

    4 points
  • Jake ChapmanJake Chapman, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    Being an invite only site and DN shows who invited a person, and all accounts are exhausted... I say we just complain to the people who invited those people.

    permaband

    2 points
  • Nathan NNathan N, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    HN posts tangentially related topics all the time; especially breaking news which I appreciate. There isn't that much change in terms of content on this site over even a 2-3 day period so slightly off topic posts are more than welcome.r

    1 point
  • Joey LomantoJoey Lomanto, over 4 years ago

    I understand your perspective but putting that type of filter on any community (especially one for creatives that thrives on sharing and the our industry) isn't a healthy solution.

    1 point
  • Giulio MichelonGiulio Michelon, over 4 years ago

    We can't just ignore everything that is not design

    0 points
  • Tyler HowarthTyler Howarth, over 4 years ago

    Woah

    0 points
  • Justin SalsbureyJustin Salsburey, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago )

    Yup lets keep it positive.. This is the most spammy post i've seen in a while. As long as we're talking about off topic.

    Firefox is actually somewhat relevant to design.. I'm with the other people in that limiting the site to JUST tutorials and dribbble shots and very explicitly designer stuff will be rough.. Just vote on things and let the post ranking do its job. I like how you say "lets keep the community positive" in a post where your title ends with "bullshit".

    0 points