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I think numbers speak for infinite scroll to keep users on the site. No matter how bad it is: Either the problem is wider or there is a benefit. A wider probl

I think numbers speak for infinite scroll to keep users on the site. No matter how bad it is: Either the problem is wider or there is a benefit. A wider problem would be tying people to services with annoyances and playing on addictive behavior. A Benefit would be an undisturbed flow of skimming over content or using the edge of the screen as a reading aid (I hate it, when I scroll down one screen on HN and the site bottoms out. I than need to find until where I read and where the previously unseen content begins¹). ¹ ok, might need to write an extention for a red line fading away after you skipped a page :). A bit like the "read until here" lines in irc clients.

dredmorbius 10y ago
False dichotomy. You state "either the problem is wider, or there is a benefit". There are other options. The possibility, say, that infinite scroll (plus crappy filtering) feeds into psychological dysfunctions such as FOMO. That optimises for keeping-users-on-site, but may well (and I'd argue doesn't) optimise for user satisfaction, utility, or ultimately, satisfaction. As Clay Shirky says, it's not information overload, it's filter failure. The slogan of the old nn Usenet reader was "no news is good news". A stream full of crap isn't a good thing. A stream with an occasional flow of gems is far better. I've suggested datelines (to tell when entries were added), read/unread indicators, and introducing of other-than-alread-seen content into streams. I've yet to see any of these adopted.
anotheryou 10y ago
made the extention as a greasemonkey script. But for now not working on hn: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/20937-red-read-line https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/20937-red-read-line To avoid a custom solution for HN i need to experiment on how demanding it is to add scroll listeners to every div on a page...
- anotheryou 10y ago
  oh and only Firefox... will update some time

dredmorbius 10y ago

False dichotomy. You state "either the problem is wider, or there is a benefit". There are other options. The possibility, say, that infinite scroll (plus crappy filtering) feeds into psychological dysfunctions such as FOMO. That optimises for keeping-users-on-site, but may well (and I'd argue doesn't) optimise for user satisfaction, utility, or ultimately, satisfaction. As Clay Shirky says, it's not information overload, it's filter failure. The slogan of the old nn Usenet reader was "no news is good news". A stream full of crap isn't a good thing. A stream with an occasional flow of gems is far better. I've suggested datelines (to tell when entries were added), read/unread indicators, and introducing of other-than-alread-seen content into streams. I've yet to see any of these adopted.

anotheryou 10y ago

made the extention as a greasemonkey script. But for now not working on hn: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/20937-red-read-line https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/20937-red-read-line To avoid a custom solution for HN i need to experiment on how demanding it is to add scroll listeners to every div on a page...

anotheryou 10y ago
oh and only Firefox... will update some time