This feels like an existential threat to HN, and to the general concept of anonymous online discourse. Trust in the platform is foundational, and without it the whole thing falls down.

Requiring proof of identity is the only solution I can think of, despite how unappealing it is. And even then, you'll still have people handing their account over to an LLM.

I really struggle to imagine a way around it. It could be that the future is just smaller, closed groups of people you know or know indirectly.

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kanzure 21 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Another option instead of using identity is to use proof of work or hashcash such that anyone who thinks a comment is valuable can use some hash rate to upvote it. It doesn't matter how the content was generated, only that someone thought it was important, and you can independently verify this by checking how much hash effort went into hashing for that comment. This also does not require any identity either.

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dom96 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Requiring proof of identity is the only solution I can think of, despite how unappealing it is

Same. I agree that it is unappealing but it can be done in a way that respects anonymity.

I built this and talk about it here: https://blog.picheta.me/post/the-future-of-social-media-is-h...

I think we’re on the precipice of this being a requirement to have any faith you’re talking to another human. As a side effect it also helps avoid state actors from influencing others.

	▲	MaKey 42 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> I think we’re on the precipice of this being a requirement to have any faith you’re talking to another human. Except that it doesn't prove you're talking to a human - it just increases the hurdles for bot operators (buy or steal verified accounts).

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pluralmonad 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Removing anonymity is not a solution, just a different problem.

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neom 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't feel like using HN anymore, I hope the just add invites, last time I said this someone replied it's just the same as some other site then, but it's not... hn is hn...this situation is really bumming me out.

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zug_zug 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't think that's true at all.

One of the things HN does is not let you interact in certain ways until you've earned sufficient karma. This is a basic proof-of-work. If your bot can't average a positive karma, then it'll never get certain privileges.

Not to say the system is perfectly tuned for bots, because it's not. The point is that proof of identity is not the only option.

	▲	3rodents 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		HN is almost entirely about the comments. Voting is useful as a tool for loosely sorting content but otherwise, HN could easily do without it. Some of the most valuable comments come from people with barely any karma. And that’s why HN is great! The restrictions on voting and flagging for new users could be removed without impacting the quality of HN. I can’t imagine any scenario in which HN’s current system could survive the same slopification that is happening on reddit. HN is doing okay at the moment because nobody is yet publishing ebooks and videos on how to astroturf HN to launch your SaaS. Unfortunately, Reddit hasn’t escaped that fate.

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AndyKelley 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

invitation tree. lobste.rs already has it, works great.