10 ms·

I've still never figured out why Hacker News gradually turns down the contrast when something gets downvoted. It's the worst possible way to represent it. Absol

I've still never figured out why Hacker News gradually turns down the contrast when something gets downvoted. It's the worst possible way to represent it. Absolutely frustrating. Even though downvoted comments usually are inflammatory, sometimes I want to read the damn thing so that the rebuttals make sense. And then every Ask HN is low-contrast. Why?

Analemma_ 9y ago
The Ask HN thing is so bizarre. For the longest time I thought everyone just hated Ask HNs and so immediately downvoted them.
- jansho 9y ago
  > The Ask HN thing is so bizarre Agreed. Second bit though, you just jump on the bandwagon?
  - nicky0 9y ago
    You misread it.
Jare 9y ago
I personally like the progressive unreadability of downvoted posts, the semantics are perfect. If for some reason I'm curious about what they say (normally triggered by some answer) then I do the mouse select thing to read them. The Ask HN makes no sense.
- alanh 9y ago
  I think the semantics are good too, but it is still problematic. And note that selecting doesn’t really enhance contrast on Macs.
- pasquinelli 9y ago
  The lowered contrast is a screaming invitation to highlight it myself. Making the text deviate from the rest makes it more noticable, and making me work to see what it says forces me to engage with it in a way I don't usually engage with text. But I think it works. It serves as an advertisement for what sort of talk is discouraged by the community.
eslaught 9y ago
It's not specific to Ask; any text post (as opposed to a URL post) will have grey text. I believe this is to encourage people to post links instead of text, though arguably now that Ask and Show have dedicated front pages they should get special treatment.
a3n 9y ago
The solution to that is to triple-click a paragraph and read it in reverse contrast; it's fine. The reason for ask HN and other text submissions is explained somewhere on HN, it's to not give the original post an advantage over the comments. (Whether you agree with that policy is a legitimate debate, but that's the reason.) The solution is the same, triple-click.

Analemma_ 9y ago

The Ask HN thing is so bizarre. For the longest time I thought everyone just hated Ask HNs and so immediately downvoted them.

jansho 9y ago
> The Ask HN thing is so bizarre Agreed. Second bit though, you just jump on the bandwagon?
- nicky0 9y ago
  You misread it.

Jare 9y ago

I personally like the progressive unreadability of downvoted posts, the semantics are perfect. If for some reason I'm curious about what they say (normally triggered by some answer) then I do the mouse select thing to read them. The Ask HN makes no sense.

alanh 9y ago
I think the semantics are good too, but it is still problematic. And note that selecting doesn’t really enhance contrast on Macs.
pasquinelli 9y ago
The lowered contrast is a screaming invitation to highlight it myself. Making the text deviate from the rest makes it more noticable, and making me work to see what it says forces me to engage with it in a way I don't usually engage with text. But I think it works. It serves as an advertisement for what sort of talk is discouraged by the community.

eslaught 9y ago

It's not specific to Ask; any text post (as opposed to a URL post) will have grey text. I believe this is to encourage people to post links instead of text, though arguably now that Ask and Show have dedicated front pages they should get special treatment.

a3n 9y ago

The solution to that is to triple-click a paragraph and read it in reverse contrast; it's fine. The reason for ask HN and other text submissions is explained somewhere on HN, it's to not give the original post an advantage over the comments. (Whether you agree with that policy is a legitimate debate, but that's the reason.) The solution is the same, triple-click.