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Show HN: Readsure – Pass a quiz that shows you read an article before commenting
- throwanem 10y agoBrilliant, but it'll never be widespread enough to make a meaningful difference. Besides, nobody comments on websites directly any more. Now it all goes to Twitter or Facebook, and they'll never implement anything like this because it'd be directly inimical to their business model.
- nealrs 10y agoyeah, instant articles / amp kind of kill that -- also, native browser share buttons -- but a man can dream!!
- lettergram 10y agoI may however, add it to my blog: http://austingwalters.com/ http://austingwalters.com/ I get a fair number of commenters, so it doesn't seem unreasonable. In either case, I think this would be better for Github issues. It'll force people to actually know what the hell is going on before they comment.
- masukomi 10y agoI disagree. I mean, yes, it won't spread, but for anyone who cares about not having a blog filed with hate spam / bs from people who didn't actually read the article this is a great idea. It may not fix the internet, but there are some blogs where this could make a huge impact on the mental state of their owners.
- rco8786 10y agoHe says, in a comment directly on a website
- ghostly_s 10y agoNot on the site of the article being discussed, you'll note...
- jsnk 10y agoCool idea, but I feel like people will use it to make their comment section an echo chamber. For example, if your article is pro-hilary, you are asking Trump fans to acknowledge certain things you said about pro-hilary to be correct before they get to comment. And they mostly likely will not want to do this.
- nealrs 10y agoPerhaps. I think the "prevent people from sharing until they know what they are sharing" is the most important part to me. Had a fun time hacking on it today though. Just a little Friday joke.
- spiderfarmer 10y agoI don't know. Before you dismiss an opinion, you should at least acknowledge that you understand what they are trying to say. I think it's essential for a healthy discussion.
- oneeyedpigeon 10y agoFor crying out loud, please use labels for radio buttons - it makes them SO much less painful to select. I wish browsers would start flagging errors for this sort of thing.
- spiderfarmer 10y agoIf they do, I hope they use a more subtle message.
- nealrs 10y agoI'll refactor if people are seriously interested in this :)
- whamlastxmas 10y agoWe are
- nealrs 10y agothanks! i'll see what i can do - file issues if you've got more ideas/suggestions!
- personjerry 10y agoThis was really more of a fix
- lucideer 10y agoI actually assumed the site was broken and the radios didn't work at all before reading this comment.
- vortico 10y agoIt could be used to stop bots if nothing else, assuming there's no technical way to post a comment having just the HTML of the page.
- oblio 10y agoNo you didn't. Social engineering: some guy reads it and then posts the answer to your question in the comments.
- nealrs 10y agoi _was_ thinking about taking a browser fingerprint and using that to prevent people from reloading the article / trying a second time. So basically, either you read /grok it or you just don't get to share it -- but that felt like a little much.
- logicallee 10y agoTo say nothing of: "I don't know how but I made it past the quiz - thank God! Could someone summarize the article?"
- matt_wulfeck 10y agoI'm honestly more interested in the discussion then I am with the article in almost all occasions. Even if I don't have any interest in the link I'll still peruse the comments. If you ask me, the whole point of an article is to spark a good discussion.
- vitd 10y agoIt's 50/50 for me. Here on Hacker News there are many articles where the discussion is worthwhile. On many other sites, it's almost never a good idea to read the comments. And I'm not just talking YouTube.
- randall 10y agoYou need informed top comments, at bare minimum.
- MOARDONGZPLZ 10y agoI'm the same way. Often I will see a link that looks interesting with no comments because it just recently landed on the front page. Rather than click the link, I check back in a few hours to read the comments.
- mazlix 10y agoI think it may be a good idea for the top-level comments to have this, but then allow replies to comments not.
- mwcmitchell 10y agoTHE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE SENT TO DRAAAIAAIAIAAANNNN
- mwcmitchell 10y ago:( the name of the article
- smilingtom 10y agoGross. The low quality of this code along with the EPIC meme-ness of it virtually guarantees this will be at the top of HN. Congratulations, OP. You're funded.
- dang 10y agoWe've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the HN guidelines.
- smilingtom 10y agoThat is completely unfair. I have not broken the guidelines.
- paulddraper 10y agoThe internet is broken because of off-topic comments?
- dopeboy 10y agoCase in point. (I kid I kid)
- paulddraper 10y agoWell played.
- sctb 10y agoWe changed the title from “I fixed the Internet”. If anyone can suggest a better one, we can change it again.
- dskloet 10y agoI think something like this is needed for elections. If you want to vote for someone, you have to pass a simple quiz to prove you know what they stand for.
- smaddox 10y agoStated platform != Voting record Of course even if you required people to know a politician's voting record before voting for them, politicians would find some way to game the system.
- personjerry 10y agoI think you're missing the point, which is that voters should at least read about their options in some way or another, rather than blindly (or nearly blindly) choosing the one who will "save our country".
- ElHacker 10y agoYou're proposing aristocracy, that would be a big step backwards. I think there are far better ways to inform people about their choices and give them the power to decide who they want to be represented by. In any case, we should make voting easier for people, not harder.
- personjerry 10y agoSince when does informed voters equal aristocracy?!
- ElHacker 10y agoThat's not what I meant. I'm pro-informed voters. Restricting the vote to only the ones that pass a quiz does lead to aristocracy.
- abakker 10y agoCan you imagine what kind of devious behavior would go into writing, wording, producing, and administering that quiz... Our elections are bad enough with the electoral college, super delegates, and gerrymandering.
- krylon 10y agoFirst of all: This is cool! Can this be automated? That would be really sweet. There is an xkcd[1] comic where instead of captchas, users have to supply valuable insights, thus solving the problem of trolls once and for all. This might be first step towards such a solution. [1] https://xkcd.com/810/ https://xkcd.com/810/
- nealrs 10y agohaha - hadn't seen that one, but it's totally what I was going for!
- MichaelBurge 10y agoIt seems like you'd just increase the volume of spam and tell your spambots to always vote "Constructive". If you release more spam than legitimate users send messages, you'll break through regardless of how they vote. You could even have your spambots downvote the real users, since they'd be displacing your precious viagra ads.
- dpcx 10y agoMeta-moderation is a thing. Slashdot has been doing it for years. Not everyone gets to vote, and systems would need to be in place to check for gaming.
- wckronholm 10y agoI was reminded of this one, instead. https://xkcd.com/481/ https://xkcd.com/481/
- samch 10y agoDidn't want to waste my time reading this, but this kind of project should be considered harmful. /s
- adium 10y agoThe correct answer is fixed on the last option. I don't see how this proves anything. if (ans == 4){ document.getElementById("question_right").style.display = "block"; } else { document.getElementById("question_wrong").style.display = "block"; }
- nealrs 10y agobecause it's a demo (and also a joke!) :)
- ErikAugust 10y agoI have had this idea - but my solution is different. The solution is that the time on site has to approximate the estimated reading time. Extra measure could be taking by tracking the scroll rate.
- Agathos 10y agoY.T.’s mom pulls up the new memo, checks the time, and starts reading it. The estimated reading time is 15.62 minutes. Later, when Marietta [her boss] does her end-of-day statistical roundup, sitting in her private office at 9:00 P.M., she will see the name of each employee and next to it, the amount of time spent reading this memo, and her reaction, based on the time spent, will go something like this: • Less than 10 min.: Time for an employee conference and possible attitude counseling. • 10-14 min.: Keep an eye on this employee; may be developing slipshod attitude. • 14-15.61 min.: Employee is an efficient worker, may sometimes miss important details. • Exactly 15.62 min.: Smartass. Needs attitude counseling. • 15.63-16 min.: Asswipe. Not to be trusted. • 16-18 min.: Employee is a methodical worker, may sometimes get hung up on minor details. • More than 18 min.: Check the security videotape, see just what this employee was up to (e.g., possible unauthorized restroom break). Y.T.’s mom decides to spend between fourteen and fifteen minutes reading the memo. It’s better for younger workers to spend too long, to show that they’re careful, not cocky. It’s better for older workers to go a little fast, to show good management potential. She’s pushing forty. She scans through the memo, hitting the Page Down button at reasonably regular intervals, occasionally paging back up to pretend to reread some earlier section. The computer is going to notice all this. It approves of rereading. It’s a small thing, but over a decade or so this stuff really shows up on your work-habits summary.
- ErikAugust 10y agoIt will happen. I'm sure of it.
- nealrs 10y agogotta love a Snowcrash reference!!
- pmiller2 10y ago
- mrwnmonm 10y agoi tried until i got the right answer without reading anything :)
- rollinDyno 10y agoThis is not directly related to Readsure, but I've been thinking about comments becoming the main content. It'd be interested to see which percentage of people go directly to the comments in aggregators like reddit or hacker news. Even more interesting to me would be to see how many people would pass the quiz by reading only the comments. Sometimes the comment section is rich enough and can provide more information than the source itself if one has good inferring skills.
- callmekatootie 10y agoI think this has a flaw. Considering that you will be presenting the end user with multiple options and the choice to only select one, the user can simply spend 4-5 seconds to select each option one by one until they get it right - Does not really verify that the end user indeed read the article