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84-Year-Old Gamer Has More Than 900k ‘Grandkids’

71 pointsby 6y agonytimes.com
31 comments
6y agoHN ↗

I'm not the only one who thought this was going to be more of a Genghis Khan situation rather than a PewDiePie, right...?

6y agoHN ↗

TLDR: An old person does a thing that other people do, somehow this is newsworthy and is presented with factually incorrect title, even on printed media as "She Has 900,000 Grandkids and Fights Big Spiders"

6y agoHN ↗

"Grandkids" is in quotes in even the original article's title, clearly indicating it's being used metaphorically.

6y agoHN ↗

Not on the original one printed on Sept. 6, 2020 , Section ST, Page 4 of the New York edition

6y agoHN ↗

There could be typographic reasons for that, space matters more on paper.

6y agoHN ↗

Or, maybe, the quotes are just there to tell you something, like the fact they're not literal grandkids and internet readers need extra help.

6y agoHN ↗

Wow, I did not expect clickbait to make its way to the number 1 spot on HN. I would be curious to see if this was due to some someone gaming the algorithm or people carelessly upvoting the headline. Though it is a bit funny that the platform that clickbait is most prevalent on is part of the topic of discussion. Youtube subscribers in this case = Grandkids in the title.

6y agoHN ↗

Come on, they even put "grandkids" in quotes.

6y agoHN ↗

Youtube subscribers in this case = Grandkids in the title.

Yeah, everyone got that. Immediately. In terms of inferential leaps I have to make every day that wasn't even a bunny hop. Why do you think it needs to be brought to trial at the Hague?

6y agoHN ↗

The fact the majority of the discussion is about that title, and not the content of the article has me thinking that not everyone got that immediately.

6y agoHN ↗

I didn't get it immediately. It wasted my time while I read the comments to figure out the joke.

6y agoHN ↗

Oh geez. This view is sure better, but the fact that it's needed indicates that hn is jumping the shark.

6y agoHN ↗

Thanks for that hidden feature. And there's no ads aswell! Do you know what is the difference in the algorithm? They just count "old users" votes? How long do you need to have an account for to be considered old?

6y agoHN ↗

Looking at OP's history, he seems to like sharing clickbait titles on HN. I am assuming he really wants to gather internet points

6y agoHN ↗

900,000 followers on YouTube.

75,000 followers on Twitter.

7,000 followers on Instagram.

Bethesda is making her a character in the Skyrim sequel.

She's 84.

I thought this was interesting and charming and quite inspiring.

6y agoHN ↗

I did not expect clickbait to make its way to the number 1 spot on HN.

I upvoted the story because I found it interesting. Hearing about someone being successful at something is great, and for them to be successful at something you wouldn't necessarily expect is even better. The implication that I, or any of the other ~50 people who voted for this story, am being 'careless' by upvoting something I like is wholly unfair. I don't have to vote based on what you think should be at the top of the front page. HN is not a carefully curated list of stories that dkroy might like.

6y agoHN ↗

Not entirely surprising. My parents bought me a Nintendo because ... well, they wanted one. I started on an Atari VCS 2600 because they got one while my mother was pregnant. Two years old and all of us (sister included) would be playing Missile Command, Clowns, Pac-Man or Centipede as a family.

I got things like Zelda, Metroid and R.C. Pro-AM because my father wanted them. For years after I was sent to bed, I'd hear the hum and screeching of R.C. Pro-AM coming from the living room. Or the sounds of Snake Rattle N' Roll.

He's a bit frustrated with his mind going, but my father still plays and 100%s Zelda games without looking for a guide. My mom spends a lot of time with Roller Coaster Tycoon, Stardew Valley and recently FTL, but she still breaks out the Wii for Virtual Console favorites of hers (mostly "black box" NES games).

With a fixed income, video games are astonishing amount of entertainment per dollar, and old games don't get, "less fun" over time. I still have all my old games (and still play them) for that reason.

6y agoHN ↗

This title is starving for your clicks. Here's an accurate and honest title that represents this article:

84 Year Old Gamer has 900k+ Online Followers on YouTube.

It's not really hard to strive for honest titles, but I guess clicks matter in desperate times for the New York Times. What a shame for journalism there.

6y agoHN ↗

I don't know about you but having the word in inverted commas made me think it was talking about YouTube subscribers almost instantly.

6y agoHN ↗

OP here. Title I posted:

84-year-old gamer Shirley Curry has 900k YouTube followers

I suspect if moderator hadn’t changed title to New York Times headline, it wouldn’t have been flagged.

6y agoHN ↗

I recently heard a podcast in which a disabled lady, 76 years old, talked about how she played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In real life, she could hardly move, so it was her way of going for a walk. She would wandered arround in the woods, or climbed mountains, just to enjoy the sceneries. It helped her cope through her disablily. I thought it was a wonderful way of using a game. :)

6y agoHN ↗

I can always count on HN to take an uplifting story, ignore its contents, and complain about a perfectly reasonable headline.

Anyway, when was a kid I used to think retirement would be the perfect opportunity to do a massive amount of gaming. I tend to not be that optimistic since I worry I won't have the eyesight, memory, or even interest in my 80s, if I even make it that long. It's pretty remarkable to see someone doing it and doing it really well.

6y agoHN ↗

What’s the opposite of flagging a post here on HN? Upvoting?

How many people does it take to get something flagged?

6y agoHN ↗

commenting on it. i saw a suggestion that moderators would remove a flag if it had more comments than flag votes.

unfortunately so far this post only has 3 on topic comments. the rest are about the title or the flag