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As the topic has been discussed on HN over the years, I've often thought it might be cool to create a browser extension that only shows reviews from HN users wi

As the topic has been discussed on HN over the years, I've often thought it might be cool to create a browser extension that only shows reviews from HN users with the option of specifying a minimal karma threshold. Perhaps the HN community is too small, so substitute reddit where appropriate. Anyone have thoughts on such a thing?

jaytaylor 9y ago
That's a neat idea, how would you confirm identity, though? Could be challenging to reach critical mass. Why tie it to only HN and/or reddit? It could be a choice for users to make, about which sites to correlate with which review sites. In any case, interesting idea, thanks for sharing!
- def_true_false 9y ago
  Something like what keybase does with e.g. reddit should work.
- libertyEQ 9y ago
  As def_true_false mentioned, the way keybase handles things would be what I was thinking, but the crypto doesn't have to be as strong, nor the workflow so elaborate. And for those mentioning gaming, HN does pretty well against all but the most sophisticated and motivated. Browse with 'show dead' on you can see there are plenty of attempts. A link to their profiles on HN and reddit would allow for review of their comment histories in order to determine authenticity/ how closely tastes align. Even Amazon could allow us to filter reviewers by review history, or other such criteria. Edit: You are probably right about allowing other identity providers, but the idea was to minimize the addressable market in order to study the dynamics of such a platform. Your comment definitely made me think of it as a possibly viable idea, thanks!
- nasredin 9y ago
  >That's a neat idea, how would you confirm identity, though? I am surprised there is not a Bitcoin-inspired "solution" to the problem of fake reviews.
non_sequitur 9y ago
Are sites like fakespot not sufficient (or any other popular meta review sites)? HN/reddit review writers would be such a tiny subset of purchasers that you probably wouldnt get much relevant data.
- libertyEQ 9y ago
  The goal would be to seek out the signal instead of trying to identify the noise.
pessimizer 9y ago
reddit is constantly being gamed, too.
SubiculumCode 9y ago
That would just destroy HN , :-)

jaytaylor 9y ago

That's a neat idea, how would you confirm identity, though? Could be challenging to reach critical mass. Why tie it to only HN and/or reddit? It could be a choice for users to make, about which sites to correlate with which review sites. In any case, interesting idea, thanks for sharing!

def_true_false 9y ago
Something like what keybase does with e.g. reddit should work.
libertyEQ 9y ago
As def_true_false mentioned, the way keybase handles things would be what I was thinking, but the crypto doesn't have to be as strong, nor the workflow so elaborate. And for those mentioning gaming, HN does pretty well against all but the most sophisticated and motivated. Browse with 'show dead' on you can see there are plenty of attempts. A link to their profiles on HN and reddit would allow for review of their comment histories in order to determine authenticity/ how closely tastes align. Even Amazon could allow us to filter reviewers by review history, or other such criteria. Edit: You are probably right about allowing other identity providers, but the idea was to minimize the addressable market in order to study the dynamics of such a platform. Your comment definitely made me think of it as a possibly viable idea, thanks!
nasredin 9y ago
>That's a neat idea, how would you confirm identity, though? I am surprised there is not a Bitcoin-inspired "solution" to the problem of fake reviews.

non_sequitur 9y ago

Are sites like fakespot not sufficient (or any other popular meta review sites)? HN/reddit review writers would be such a tiny subset of purchasers that you probably wouldnt get much relevant data.

libertyEQ 9y ago
The goal would be to seek out the signal instead of trying to identify the noise.

pessimizer 9y ago

reddit is constantly being gamed, too.

SubiculumCode 9y ago

That would just destroy HN , :-)