I'd like to see a browser extension or something similar for HN that would let one add tags to user names, and display those tags next to user names on comments and submissions.
I often see someone take a pro-X position in some discussion and have a vague recollection that I've seen them take an anti-X position in some other discussion but it would be too much work to go digging through their comment history to check that.
For example, people who argue we need to ban cars in cities and suburbs because they are dangerous for kids playing in the street but who argue against every proposal to protect kids from online dangers saying that it should entirely be the parent's responsibility to control where their kids go.
Or people whose strong criticisms of most police procedure go completely out the window when the discussion involves some kind of crime that they personally have been a victim of and there they argue for more surveillance and easier warrant requirements.
My guess is that a lot of cases it is just good old fashioned self-centered thinking. But some probably have some good justification for the seeming contradiction which could lead to some interesting and insightful discussion.
Yeah there was something like this for reddit. Maybe part of Reddit Enhancement Suite? Probably would be relatively easy to port that functionality for HN, or other sites with users.
Aidea: a chatgpt query builder that you feed a snapshot of your online discourse, the surrounding contexts and it tries to find things like hypocrisy/ class/culture blindness, in how you communicate.. or think.
I often see someone take a pro-X position in some discussion and have a vague recollection that I've seen them take an anti-X position in some other discussion but it would be too much work to go digging through their comment history to check that.
For example, people who argue we need to ban cars in cities and suburbs because they are dangerous for kids playing in the street but who argue against every proposal to protect kids from online dangers saying that it should entirely be the parent's responsibility to control where their kids go.
Or people whose strong criticisms of most police procedure go completely out the window when the discussion involves some kind of crime that they personally have been a victim of and there they argue for more surveillance and easier warrant requirements.
My guess is that a lot of cases it is just good old fashioned self-centered thinking. But some probably have some good justification for the seeming contradiction which could lead to some interesting and insightful discussion.