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I don't like it. Hacker news is nice right now because it doesn't have all the crap you want to add. I don't want this site to turn into a "social media game" l

by jbob2000 11y ago

I don't like it. Hacker news is nice right now because it doesn't have all the crap you want to add. I don't want this site to turn into a "social media game" like reddit. I like that the power users feel limited, it keeps them inline with 98% of the other users here.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Smirnoff 11y ago
Hi jbob2000. I understand your concerns. In fact I have got a few people tell me that they like the HN the way it because of the great content. Don't get us wrong, we don't want to change that. What we do want is to give some people the ability to make their experience richer. This is not for everyone but it can be helpful for some people. Personal anecdote -- I asked a question one time but no one answered it. I deleted my question but as I was doing that Kevin Hale (a YC partner) responded back. After he posted it looked like he was talking to no-one. Fortunately, dang emailed me to notify that there was a response and asked if he could bring back my post. If I had gotten a notification about a response, this peculiar situation could have been avoided.
- jbob2000 11y ago
  I am fine with some users experiencing those peculiar situations, they don't happen for like 99% of the users here. I like that this site is thin on features, it gets rid of all the people who don't need to be here; recruiters, marketers, spammers. If you start answering some of these usability problems, you're just making it easier for all of the web's cruft to jump onto our platform.
altotrees 11y ago
I agree with this. Part of what makes Hacker News great, in my opinion, is the fact that it contains few of those usual social media bells and whistles mentioned above. I feel like it places more emphasis on quality content and in-depth responses. I don't really feel the need to "follow" anyone, but do take a look at the top user list from time to time. That is not to say that things like notifications might not be useful, just that I come here more for the content and intelligent thought, and less for the social aspect.
gr3yh47 11y ago
specifically comment reply notifications would be a very welcome feature. It's annoying to manually track discussions as an active user.
- DanBC 11y ago
  There's a risk it promotes flamewars. I'm not sure how to tackle that? Maybe a built in delay bofre accepting replies on notified messages?
  - krapp 11y ago
    I would argue the new comments page promotes flamewars as well, probably moreso than notifications would, since it shows potentially every troll comment. It just begs people to engage in tangential, out-of-context commenting and drive-by voting. The obvious, direct way to deal with it would be to just accept the risk and moderate as usual. There are already plenty of flame-retardant features here, I don't know that we would need more.
- jbob2000 11y ago
  Yeah, but then HN becomes "serious business". So what if you don't see that there's a reply to your comment? And so what if you don't reply to a discussion? It's just a dinky message board for tech news and that's why it's great.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

Smirnoff 11y ago

Hi jbob2000. I understand your concerns. In fact I have got a few people tell me that they like the HN the way it because of the great content. Don't get us wrong, we don't want to change that. What we do want is to give some people the ability to make their experience richer. This is not for everyone but it can be helpful for some people. Personal anecdote -- I asked a question one time but no one answered it. I deleted my question but as I was doing that Kevin Hale (a YC partner) responded back. After he posted it looked like he was talking to no-one. Fortunately, dang emailed me to notify that there was a response and asked if he could bring back my post. If I had gotten a notification about a response, this peculiar situation could have been avoided.

jbob2000 11y ago
I am fine with some users experiencing those peculiar situations, they don't happen for like 99% of the users here. I like that this site is thin on features, it gets rid of all the people who don't need to be here; recruiters, marketers, spammers. If you start answering some of these usability problems, you're just making it easier for all of the web's cruft to jump onto our platform.

altotrees 11y ago

I agree with this. Part of what makes Hacker News great, in my opinion, is the fact that it contains few of those usual social media bells and whistles mentioned above. I feel like it places more emphasis on quality content and in-depth responses. I don't really feel the need to "follow" anyone, but do take a look at the top user list from time to time. That is not to say that things like notifications might not be useful, just that I come here more for the content and intelligent thought, and less for the social aspect.

gr3yh47 11y ago

specifically comment reply notifications would be a very welcome feature. It's annoying to manually track discussions as an active user.

DanBC 11y ago
There's a risk it promotes flamewars. I'm not sure how to tackle that? Maybe a built in delay bofre accepting replies on notified messages?
- krapp 11y ago
  I would argue the new comments page promotes flamewars as well, probably moreso than notifications would, since it shows potentially every troll comment. It just begs people to engage in tangential, out-of-context commenting and drive-by voting. The obvious, direct way to deal with it would be to just accept the risk and moderate as usual. There are already plenty of flame-retardant features here, I don't know that we would need more.
jbob2000 11y ago
Yeah, but then HN becomes "serious business". So what if you don't see that there's a reply to your comment? And so what if you don't reply to a discussion? It's just a dinky message board for tech news and that's why it's great.