5 ms·

Every time he posts we identify him as the author of Nagle's and someone that's done pioneering research in TCP/IP. It would be great if HN had some sort of an

Every time he posts we identify him as the author of Nagle's and someone that's done pioneering research in TCP/IP. It would be great if HN had some sort of annotation for distinguished commentators.

msie 10y ago
We would have the same problem as the black bar. But this is a great(?) idea for a browser extension...
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  But not everyone would have the extension.
  - taneq 10y ago
    Isn't that precisely the point, though? If you want it, you can have it. If you don't, then you aren't bothered by it.
    - bbcbasic 10y ago
      So schoen's comment should become "Hopefully HN readers ++without the famous chrome extension++ know that Animats is the inventor of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagle%27s_algorithm" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagle%27s_algorithm" ... Reminds me of snooker i.e. "and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green"
      - khedoros1 10y ago
        No, it should become "". Animats has his name in his account's "about" for anyone who's interested, and if we had an extension, anyone could annotate the account name as they please. Anyone who isn't interested might not care who's commenting anyhow. When someone's identity is pertinent, it seems like they tend to state it eventually anyhow.
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  What is the black bar?
  - krapp 10y ago
    When someone "notable" in the tech community dies, sometimes the staff adds a small black bar to the top of the layout. They never mention whose death it's meant to commemorate, though, you're just supposed to know.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      Usually the news about that death are on the front page, so it's easy to figure it out...
      - krapp 10y ago
        It must not be that easy (or intuitive,) since every time it goes up someone posts a thread asking what it is and what it's for. edit: and now that I think about it, a thread is a far more fitting memorial for someone than a minor alteration of the stylesheet, so why even have the black bar to begin with?
        TeMPOraL 10y ago
        > It must not be that easy (or intuitive,) since every time it goes up someone posts a thread asking what it is and what it's for. I'd say it's a feature. HN is a place with its customs, some of them are not documented and you get to learn them as you participate. > why even have the black bar to begin with For the same reason people wear / display black ribbons.
- dredmorbius 10y ago
  I like the extension idea. Actually, I'd really like to see reading tools which addressed a number of end-user needs: 1. Tracking content stats: how much have I read today, how does this compare to trend, what is my trend? 2. Some sort of "spendable ratings currency" that would indicate quality of an item. Ideally that would be some sort of compound metric. Time, commentary, re-shares, multiple re-visits over time, references in other items (from others, from you) as part of that. Also perhaps a specific metric of how good or bad something was (probably on a 5 or 7 point scale), though I'd tend to discount that. Flags for problematic content (bullshit, clickbait, etc.) These are only personal interest metrics. At best they'd be shared with a few trusted friends. 3. Attribution and reputation tracking by both author and publisher. Find someone whose stuff is really, really good, though they publish rarely? Note that. Find someone who couldn't tell a black eye if you gave them one? Note that. You'd end up with a set of ranked sources by quality and credibility. 4. Filters / indicators to note content's likely quality. Based on previous reputation. 5. A tagging / classification system. Having thought about this a lot, I'm inclined to go with an extant ontology, probably the USLOCCS, as that's been developed, is widely used, and isn't constained by IP restrictions as Dewey Decimal is. (USLOCCS: U.S. Library of Congress Catalog Classification System). 6. Uniform presentation + user editing. A Readability / Pocket like standard page presentation model. The ability to edit that (either in stock ways or specific elements) to further clean it up. Export to other formats (ePub, PDF, text). 7. Page annotations. I want to be able to keep notes on things. I find it curious that the Web today is so metrics driven, but nobody has saw fit to provide metrics to end users themselves.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    One thing I always wanted for HN extension (and regularly think about writing) is notes attached to users. I'd like to be able to note down stuff about a particular user (like, "that Cloudflare guy; knows a lot about DNSSEC", or "that rocket scientist from NASA with interest in birds", etc.), and have them easily viewed later by e.g. hovering over their name.
    - dredmorbius 10y ago
      G+ in one of its many failed implementations had something vaguely like that. It was overloaded with Gmail contacts, and resulted in G+ profiles being added to your mail-related address book. Since I was using this in large part (though not exclusively) to keep tabs on annoying gits online, this was a less than salubrious "feature". Sigh. Reddit + RES offers tags. I'll note specific individuals, here usually focusing on clueful. Though it's limited to a word or two, and isn't inherently shared across systems (RES uses local storage). But yes, generally, this is another of those "why aren't Web developers providing users with a pretty obviously useful tool". It's more than clear who's paying the piper here, and it ain't us.
mikeash 10y ago
Apparently we do, it's just sort of... manual.
Klathmon 10y ago
I'm actually kind of happy with it how it is now. Reading the comment without knowing the commenters "notability" let's the comment stand on its own. After the comment I can read that the person did X or Y. But having the comment distinguished somehow would give it more "weight" than it necessarily deserves. After all, just because someone is notable doesn't make them infallible.
- p333347 10y ago
  I wonder how you deal with remarks made by known people in real life where there isn't this obscuring mechanism. If you have a plan to deal with that, the same can be applied here. Personally, having a "blue tick" like thing for distinguished posters is helpful psychologically as it reassures me that I am not reading comments by newly minted young adult or a 20+ years experienced person doing mostly rote work. Now, there is nothing inherently bad about comments made by such posters, just that it would be far more reassuring to know that a poster is, hopefully, bringing in his publicly acknowledged experience into what he is saying, especially on topics in which that person is known for. To make it clear, they could even be a 20 something distinguished person! The point is not about age but about accomplishment.
  - Klathmon 10y ago
    If it's important to the conversation, the commenter can point out their own past experience (which Animats did by saying "As one of the early workers on network congestion"). Just because it's difficult to remove the "person" from the "message" in face-to-face conversation doesn't mean we can't strive for something better online. I have a very relevant example! A few days ago I was reading a comment here about someone that drinks tap water and how (anecdotally) they are fine, and they didn't understand the craze with bottled water. Being completely honest, I made a "mental picture" of him as a mid 20's "hipster" silicon-valley type. And I agreed with his overall message. But halfway through his comment, he had a link to his "beverage container of choice" that he drinks water from. I read the whole comment before opening that link. I had assumed that it would point to a glass and leather "artisan" water bottle... The link pointed to something similar to this: http://assets.suredone.com/1766/media-photos/sd009014-vintage-7-eleven-drink-aladdin-super-big-gulp-plus-insulated-mug-travel-52-oz.jpg http://assets.suredone.com/1766/media-photos/sd009014-vintag... After opening the link, my whole view changed. Suddenly that "mental image" changed into a mid 40's overweight sysadmin, and (as much as I'm ashamed to say it), I suddenly "trusted" their message less... I realized what had just happened, and I realized that just thinking I knew who this person was affected my thinking. If I had known that person's age, size, gender, profession, etc... Would I have given their message a second thought? Honestly I don't think I would have. And that makes me feel like shit. I have prejudisms (is that a word?) that I don't consciously know I have, and if possible I'd like to not apply them. Reading HN comments as faceless-nameless comments helps me read the message with none of that "baggage". And if I later read about the person behind the comment (and learn that it's not what I expected), it can go a long way toward reducing the prejudice that I may have that I don't even know I have.

Every time he posts we identify him as the author of Nagle's and someone that's done pioneering research in TCP/IP. It would be great if HN had some sort of annotation for distinguished commentators.

msie 10y ago

We would have the same problem as the black bar. But this is a great(?) idea for a browser extension...

bbcbasic 10y ago
But not everyone would have the extension.
- taneq 10y ago
  Isn't that precisely the point, though? If you want it, you can have it. If you don't, then you aren't bothered by it.
  - bbcbasic 10y ago
    So schoen's comment should become "Hopefully HN readers ++without the famous chrome extension++ know that Animats is the inventor of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagle%27s_algorithm" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagle%27s_algorithm" ... Reminds me of snooker i.e. "and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green"
    - khedoros1 10y ago
      No, it should become "". Animats has his name in his account's "about" for anyone who's interested, and if we had an extension, anyone could annotate the account name as they please. Anyone who isn't interested might not care who's commenting anyhow. When someone's identity is pertinent, it seems like they tend to state it eventually anyhow.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
What is the black bar?
- krapp 10y ago
  When someone "notable" in the tech community dies, sometimes the staff adds a small black bar to the top of the layout. They never mention whose death it's meant to commemorate, though, you're just supposed to know.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    Usually the news about that death are on the front page, so it's easy to figure it out...
    - krapp 10y ago
      It must not be that easy (or intuitive,) since every time it goes up someone posts a thread asking what it is and what it's for. edit: and now that I think about it, a thread is a far more fitting memorial for someone than a minor alteration of the stylesheet, so why even have the black bar to begin with?
      - TeMPOraL 10y ago
        > It must not be that easy (or intuitive,) since every time it goes up someone posts a thread asking what it is and what it's for. I'd say it's a feature. HN is a place with its customs, some of them are not documented and you get to learn them as you participate. > why even have the black bar to begin with For the same reason people wear / display black ribbons.
dredmorbius 10y ago
I like the extension idea. Actually, I'd really like to see reading tools which addressed a number of end-user needs: 1. Tracking content stats: how much have I read today, how does this compare to trend, what is my trend? 2. Some sort of "spendable ratings currency" that would indicate quality of an item. Ideally that would be some sort of compound metric. Time, commentary, re-shares, multiple re-visits over time, references in other items (from others, from you) as part of that. Also perhaps a specific metric of how good or bad something was (probably on a 5 or 7 point scale), though I'd tend to discount that. Flags for problematic content (bullshit, clickbait, etc.) These are only personal interest metrics. At best they'd be shared with a few trusted friends. 3. Attribution and reputation tracking by both author and publisher. Find someone whose stuff is really, really good, though they publish rarely? Note that. Find someone who couldn't tell a black eye if you gave them one? Note that. You'd end up with a set of ranked sources by quality and credibility. 4. Filters / indicators to note content's likely quality. Based on previous reputation. 5. A tagging / classification system. Having thought about this a lot, I'm inclined to go with an extant ontology, probably the USLOCCS, as that's been developed, is widely used, and isn't constained by IP restrictions as Dewey Decimal is. (USLOCCS: U.S. Library of Congress Catalog Classification System). 6. Uniform presentation + user editing. A Readability / Pocket like standard page presentation model. The ability to edit that (either in stock ways or specific elements) to further clean it up. Export to other formats (ePub, PDF, text). 7. Page annotations. I want to be able to keep notes on things. I find it curious that the Web today is so metrics driven, but nobody has saw fit to provide metrics to end users themselves.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  One thing I always wanted for HN extension (and regularly think about writing) is notes attached to users. I'd like to be able to note down stuff about a particular user (like, "that Cloudflare guy; knows a lot about DNSSEC", or "that rocket scientist from NASA with interest in birds", etc.), and have them easily viewed later by e.g. hovering over their name.
  - dredmorbius 10y ago
    G+ in one of its many failed implementations had something vaguely like that. It was overloaded with Gmail contacts, and resulted in G+ profiles being added to your mail-related address book. Since I was using this in large part (though not exclusively) to keep tabs on annoying gits online, this was a less than salubrious "feature". Sigh. Reddit + RES offers tags. I'll note specific individuals, here usually focusing on clueful. Though it's limited to a word or two, and isn't inherently shared across systems (RES uses local storage). But yes, generally, this is another of those "why aren't Web developers providing users with a pretty obviously useful tool". It's more than clear who's paying the piper here, and it ain't us.

mikeash 10y ago

Apparently we do, it's just sort of... manual.

Klathmon 10y ago

I'm actually kind of happy with it how it is now. Reading the comment without knowing the commenters "notability" let's the comment stand on its own. After the comment I can read that the person did X or Y. But having the comment distinguished somehow would give it more "weight" than it necessarily deserves. After all, just because someone is notable doesn't make them infallible.

p333347 10y ago
I wonder how you deal with remarks made by known people in real life where there isn't this obscuring mechanism. If you have a plan to deal with that, the same can be applied here. Personally, having a "blue tick" like thing for distinguished posters is helpful psychologically as it reassures me that I am not reading comments by newly minted young adult or a 20+ years experienced person doing mostly rote work. Now, there is nothing inherently bad about comments made by such posters, just that it would be far more reassuring to know that a poster is, hopefully, bringing in his publicly acknowledged experience into what he is saying, especially on topics in which that person is known for. To make it clear, they could even be a 20 something distinguished person! The point is not about age but about accomplishment.
- Klathmon 10y ago
  If it's important to the conversation, the commenter can point out their own past experience (which Animats did by saying "As one of the early workers on network congestion"). Just because it's difficult to remove the "person" from the "message" in face-to-face conversation doesn't mean we can't strive for something better online. I have a very relevant example! A few days ago I was reading a comment here about someone that drinks tap water and how (anecdotally) they are fine, and they didn't understand the craze with bottled water. Being completely honest, I made a "mental picture" of him as a mid 20's "hipster" silicon-valley type. And I agreed with his overall message. But halfway through his comment, he had a link to his "beverage container of choice" that he drinks water from. I read the whole comment before opening that link. I had assumed that it would point to a glass and leather "artisan" water bottle... The link pointed to something similar to this: http://assets.suredone.com/1766/media-photos/sd009014-vintage-7-eleven-drink-aladdin-super-big-gulp-plus-insulated-mug-travel-52-oz.jpg http://assets.suredone.com/1766/media-photos/sd009014-vintag... After opening the link, my whole view changed. Suddenly that "mental image" changed into a mid 40's overweight sysadmin, and (as much as I'm ashamed to say it), I suddenly "trusted" their message less... I realized what had just happened, and I realized that just thinking I knew who this person was affected my thinking. If I had known that person's age, size, gender, profession, etc... Would I have given their message a second thought? Honestly I don't think I would have. And that makes me feel like shit. I have prejudisms (is that a word?) that I don't consciously know I have, and if possible I'd like to not apply them. Reading HN comments as faceless-nameless comments helps me read the message with none of that "baggage". And if I later read about the person behind the comment (and learn that it's not what I expected), it can go a long way toward reducing the prejudice that I may have that I don't even know I have.