5 ms·

Why is the font color for this one HN user profile name green?

2 points by hgarg 10y ago

profile name of HN user "Rabble_Of_One" shows up in green font. While for other users, it's default. What's the difference.

herbst 10y ago
new users are always green ;)
ColinWright 10y ago
What follows is extracted from my comment 1543 days ago to exactly this question, and lightly edited. You do know that pretty much every page has a search box ... https://hn.algolia.com/?query=green%20usernames&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=green%20usernames&sort=byPopul... It's even the top result (for me) on Google: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username You can many, many, many answers from Google if you also add "hacker news" to the search string: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username+hacker+news https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username+hacker+news I know that here on HN it's generally regarded that if you start with "I know I'll get downvoted for this ..." then you simply shouldn't say it. But having said that, there are times when unpopular things need to be said. I'm genuinely not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely not trying to be rude, and I'm genuinely not trying to be superior. I genuinely think people really ought to do some homework before asking questions. When we create a web site we often provide a FAQ, and we hope that people will do some homework and check the FAQ before calling the support line, or sending an email. Why don't we ask the same of ourselves? Why shouldn't we ask that people at least wonder if the answer has been asked before, and then search. So I'm not providing the fish, I'm trying to teach you how to fish. I'm not going to give the answer yet again, I'm telling people how to get the answers for themselves. It shouldn't be necessary, and yet it is. It's possible that people will downvote me, but understand that I'm actually trying to help the community. The question is, and it's a genuine one, how can we say RTFM without sounding snarky?
- corecoder 10y ago
  Jeff Atwood was so right! He was talking of StackOverflow, but it happens on HN too: if you answer a question with a link to a google search, the first or second result will eventually be the question itself, with the increasingly useless (as it goes up in ranking) google search reply. So, answering a question with a link to a google search doesn't make much sense in the long term.
- DanBC 10y ago
  If a thousand people ask "Why is this username green" we can say it's problem with those people for asking, or we can just accept that the UI for HN is opaque and difficult to understand. And a bunch of it is not documented, so searching does nothing. The fact that the algolia search is suboptimal doesn't help.
  - ColinWright 10y ago
    > And a bunch of it is not documented, > so searching does nothing. And yet the search does return comments that contain the explanation. > The fact that the algolia search is > suboptimal doesn't help. And yet the search does return comments that contain the explanation. A search doesn't always return the answer, but (a) in this case it does, and (b) people should try the search first. I agree with you completely that aspects of the UI for HN are opaque and difficult to understand. But if people want to understand them then they should search first. If they can't find the answers they can then say "I've tried this search, I've looked here and there, and I can't find the answer - could you help me please." Trying to find the answers on-line should be part of the Hacker ethos, and should be tried before asking other people to spend their time answering questions that have been answered before.
DanBC 10y ago
New users have a green name. This is supposed to allow existing users to give gentle advice about how HN is supposed to work. sama (or maybe pg, or dang) said that they check /noobcomments regularly and upvote the good comments and provide a bit of advice if needed.

2 points by hgarg 10y ago

profile name of HN user "Rabble_Of_One" shows up in green font. While for other users, it's default. What's the difference.

herbst 10y ago

new users are always green ;)

ColinWright 10y ago

What follows is extracted from my comment 1543 days ago to exactly this question, and lightly edited. You do know that pretty much every page has a search box ... https://hn.algolia.com/?query=green%20usernames&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=green%20usernames&sort=byPopul... It's even the top result (for me) on Google: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username You can many, many, many answers from Google if you also add "hacker news" to the search string: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username+hacker+news https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username+hacker+news I know that here on HN it's generally regarded that if you start with "I know I'll get downvoted for this ..." then you simply shouldn't say it. But having said that, there are times when unpopular things need to be said. I'm genuinely not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely not trying to be rude, and I'm genuinely not trying to be superior. I genuinely think people really ought to do some homework before asking questions. When we create a web site we often provide a FAQ, and we hope that people will do some homework and check the FAQ before calling the support line, or sending an email. Why don't we ask the same of ourselves? Why shouldn't we ask that people at least wonder if the answer has been asked before, and then search. So I'm not providing the fish, I'm trying to teach you how to fish. I'm not going to give the answer yet again, I'm telling people how to get the answers for themselves. It shouldn't be necessary, and yet it is. It's possible that people will downvote me, but understand that I'm actually trying to help the community. The question is, and it's a genuine one, how can we say RTFM without sounding snarky?

corecoder 10y ago
Jeff Atwood was so right! He was talking of StackOverflow, but it happens on HN too: if you answer a question with a link to a google search, the first or second result will eventually be the question itself, with the increasingly useless (as it goes up in ranking) google search reply. So, answering a question with a link to a google search doesn't make much sense in the long term.
DanBC 10y ago
If a thousand people ask "Why is this username green" we can say it's problem with those people for asking, or we can just accept that the UI for HN is opaque and difficult to understand. And a bunch of it is not documented, so searching does nothing. The fact that the algolia search is suboptimal doesn't help.
- ColinWright 10y ago
  > And a bunch of it is not documented, > so searching does nothing. And yet the search does return comments that contain the explanation. > The fact that the algolia search is > suboptimal doesn't help. And yet the search does return comments that contain the explanation. A search doesn't always return the answer, but (a) in this case it does, and (b) people should try the search first. I agree with you completely that aspects of the UI for HN are opaque and difficult to understand. But if people want to understand them then they should search first. If they can't find the answers they can then say "I've tried this search, I've looked here and there, and I can't find the answer - could you help me please." Trying to find the answers on-line should be part of the Hacker ethos, and should be tried before asking other people to spend their time answering questions that have been answered before.

DanBC 10y ago

New users have a green name. This is supposed to allow existing users to give gentle advice about how HN is supposed to work. sama (or maybe pg, or dang) said that they check /noobcomments regularly and upvote the good comments and provide a bit of advice if needed.