I teach at a university in Japan. Over the past year, I taught several freshman English-as-a-foreign-language classes that I titled “Online Discussion.” I got the idea for the course after having read HN discussions for a couple of years. I taught the class live online using Zoom.<p>On the first day of each term, I showed the students HN and asked them to explore the site as homework; at the beginning of the next class, I asked for their comments about it. Below are some excerpts. (The students submitted their comments in writing through an online form. Most of the rest of the semester was spent with them having HN-like discussions with each other.)<p>“What I found interesting about Hacker News is that there are posts relating to a variety of fields, from purely technological topics to topics that are fairly easier to get at. In that way, not only is it a platform for one to openly express their thoughts, but also a platform where one could get feedback on a topic of their interest and their take on it. The fact that there are very limited comments that are inflammatory or offensive (as far as I have read) probably makes Hacker News a viable platform for such discussions.”<p>“I thought that Hacker News had a decent discussion that you don't see on other sites like Twitter, where lies and trolling are prevalent, but not on Hacker News. It's a great site. The ability to reply in multiple levels is also very attractive. Not only does it allow for multiple levels of replies, but it is also very easy to read and organize, making it very easy for people to understand the comments. I think it's very important to take advantage of platforms like this to have more and more discussions and to use our time in a meaningful way as we move more and more online because of the coronavirus.”<p>“It is interesting to see how the people discussing are respectful of each other, unlike Twitter or YouTube comments. I think I saw something close to the right way to have a discussion.”<p>“I found it interesting that so many anonymous people joined online discussion which was so constructive. The contents are serious, but I feel that people can post their comment very freely and frequently since it is anonymous, so I think it encourages positive exchange of each opinions.”<p>“It is surprising that the discussion is proceeding properly without the existence of a certain person to control the topic or lead the discussion. Most of the users seem to be good-mannered and credible because they include actual figures in their comment and cite sources.”<p>“It is the first time for me to see an English BBS, so it is very fresh and interesting. I think it is good that the replies are right below the comments, because in a Japanese BBS, the comments and replies are often separated.”