The target customer for this wants a laptop that will live in a dedicated space and rarely/never travel, except to the couch. 15 inches is perfect for that.

I put Linux on an old Surface tablet. Works better than Windows on the same device. The only thing that isn't working under Linux is the camera. Built in extra privacy as a bonus!

I have thought about it, and I guess you bring up a good point, if I absolutely want a webcam, I guess I can plug in one... Maybe the camera "not working" is a hidden bonus for me.

You quoted him and then put words into his mouth based on your own strongly held beliefs. Words he neither said nor implied.

Surely your boss notices your non-attendance.

If it's actually really mandatory, my manager will probably also relay that directly to me. And that resets the count for "less mandatory the more layers up you go".

Starting to wonder if some people who complain about all day meetings just don’t realize they are optional.

The bosses function is to shield you from random time wasting junk. Either you haven't had to survive in a borg corporate environment or you have and you had a bad boss for it.

Your court date will be weeks after receiving the citation in the mail. Most families talk once in a while.

The state is constitutionally unable to force you to testify against yourself because the judge ruled these tickets are quasi criminal

Because you'll be paying the fine if you don't.

The photo will show the driver. Presumably, you recognize your partner and/or your children.

Twins.

Which is why they are supposed to have a sworn officer review the camera footage. I have certainly had a camera flash me while waiting to turn right on red, still outside the intersection. They never sent me a ticket however since I had clearly not done anything illegal.

There are too many examples of them rubber-stamping.

Many US states have switched to that approach. The ticket goes to the registered owner of the vehicle and no penalty points are attached. It's treated more like a parking citation than a traditional moving violation.

This leads inevitably to karma farming bots who upvote each other’s submissions à la Reddit.

It’s a speed bump at best.

Yeah I considered that - but any friction is better than none. Maybe integrate an additional consideration by which low karma (threshold < 5 karma) accounts cannot upvote other low karma accounts.

Honestly, we don’t really have the same cold start problem that a brand new social media site would. We already have plenty of reputable active users here. So HN could restrict new accounts to only being able to comment initially. As they participate, their comments receive upvotes, allowing them to build up enough karma (even a small amount of 25) which unlocks the ability to upvote, and then, finally, the ability to create posts.

Creating more friction can also lead to a higher percentage of bots. I for one immefiately leave when I realize that I need to jump through several hoops before I'm actually allowed to participate on a site. Someone building a bot farm on the other hand is probably willing to tolerate quite some friction before giving up.

That's true. On the other hand, Hacker News is a pretty well known entity, so I think new users would be more willing to put in the time.

I also don't think it's too unreasonable to ask people to make comments and participate in the community before allowing them to do more.

A speed bump might still be preferable to nothing.