Part-time appliance fixer-upper here. I've done a few brands.
One thing with the newer models, especially Samsungs and the like, is they started using potting compounds to cover their circuit boards (within the plastic casing!), making simple fixes like replacing a voltage regulator or a capacitor essentially impossible. Yes, you can dig through the thing, but you're likely to slice through a trace if you don't slice your hand first. I unfortunately have a stack of these and I don't know what to do with them. [1]
Slightly older models, mid to late 2010s and earlier, are often easier to deal with because their circuitry is based more on simple analog controls for which a replacement part is not only widely available, but is cheap and can sometimes be improvised if needed, than on digital boards. I'm thinking of fridges which use a rheostat for the thermostat control. If one was so inclined and could absolutely not find a replacement, a bespoke set of resistors with a clip to choose termination point could be used instead.
If someone does want to get into this sort of thing, get something that already has a service manual + plenty of youtube videos. "Spare Parts" companies have tons of videos on how to do things, but they usually stop at probing and debugging circuit boards. You have service manuals that -do- contain, on the rare occasion, the schematics. But it's best to go with appliances that have incredibly simple, analog and discrete component systems rather than a plethora of digital ICs and processors.
As this blog post plainly mentions, the parts themselves often cost more than the appliance is worth. I have a box full of carbon brushes and ball bearings when I need to pull out a washer machine motor. A new motor is the cost of the machine, whereas the brushes, even if they are not OEM, work just fine for a few dollars and let the machine work for another one to two years under heavy daily use.
[1] Highly unlikely here, maybe in China, there could develop a second-hand black market where de-potted control boards are highly sought after due to their repairability, but it's a cyberpunk kind of dream at this point.
I'd like for HN to start tagging posts that are not written by terry tao, but are guest posts, like this one. Considering HN internally already uses AI tools to scan through and read the content to determine if it is AI-generated, I assume this is doable.
To back up stvltvs, the OP did more or less just use the one-liner as a zinger. "Protects but doesn't bind X, binds but doesn't protect Y" is the caricature, really. I'm sure you can find more floating examples on HN of it because it is a very lazy, midwit flex that signals the in-group the person spends too much time on the internet.
Stoller is an FDR-ish political progressive who focuses primarily on monopolies and antitrust enforcement. He's the author of "Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40538538-goliath
Answer above is good, but yes he's a known quantity. I am a political moderate and definitely don't agree with everything he says, but I find his POV (and knowledge of antitrust history) to be a valuable perspective.
Apart from jacquesm's wonderful milquetoast comment, if anyone has any practical solutions to this problem that do not involve suspension of disbelief that voting (with or without wallet) and calling "your congresscritter" or whatever other nonsense people spout, now would be a great time to voice it.
If this is your first HN account and you haven't seen the site in the prior decade, the "emotionally charged responses centered in the personal credentials of the author" is the SOP. The site has yielded to that attitude because dang never enforced a sensible code of conduct, and relies mostly on favoritism and in-groups. Who says is more important than what is said, and the critiques you give are ranked according to whom you are critical of.
Think of this as a propaganda channel of a VC startup incubator who is brazenly looking for a product-market fit for anything and everything AI. Look at the roster of the recent startups and how many are AI-focused. Adjust expectations from there.
Do you have examples of sites that you prefer that achieve this, or have a relatively high signal to noise ratio that also have a high volume of discussion? (preferrably not an individual's blog + comment section)
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