6 ms·

Ask HN: What would it take to have a DM feature on HN?

7 points by flashgordon 8y ago

I understand this could be a tricky "product" feature and needs some thinking but has this been considered before? Any pointers to previous threads would be greatly appreciated.

paulcole 8y ago
Would love to hear the estimate from one of the many people who think Dropbox/Twitter/Facebook are simple weekend projects. They could probably knock this one out in less time than it took me to write this comment.
Someone1234 8y ago
The site doesn't even support basic text formatting features like tables, lists, quotes, and code sections that don't scroll. I'm just pleased we got the comment expand/collapse, people were asking for that for years. DM is a whole other kettle of fish, since it would change how the site is meant to be used, and may open the admins up to more law enforcement inquiries.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ekr 8y ago
For those wondering, DM stands for direct messaging (I hope I wasn't the only one).
- muzani 8y ago
  Yeah, I was wondering why HN needed dungeon masters.
muzani 8y ago
It might not be a good fit. I just see HN as a way to gather nerds, have them talk about news, and somewhat funnel them into YC recruitment. It doesn't seem to be designed as a community, more like a bazaar.
remyp 8y ago
The current workaround is to put your contact info in your profile, which has worked well for me. With that said, I did create a small app to encourage HN users to message 1-on-1: https://findkismet.com https://findkismet.com
flashgordon 8y ago
So the reason I am looking for a DM feature is not so much that it becomes a chat, but often you do see requests to be DMed for furthering a conversation offline - say for jobs or projects etc. And often this results in hunting down the "target"'s email from their profile and firing up an email client etc. Yes a very first world problem but still was hoping for a slightly easier way to do this (short of writing a browser plugin). I do like @remyp's app idea but it still requires me a few "redirects" mentally.

7 points by flashgordon 8y ago

I understand this could be a tricky "product" feature and needs some thinking but has this been considered before? Any pointers to previous threads would be greatly appreciated.

paulcole 8y ago

Would love to hear the estimate from one of the many people who think Dropbox/Twitter/Facebook are simple weekend projects. They could probably knock this one out in less time than it took me to write this comment.

Someone1234 8y ago

The site doesn't even support basic text formatting features like tables, lists, quotes, and code sections that don't scroll. I'm just pleased we got the comment expand/collapse, people were asking for that for years. DM is a whole other kettle of fish, since it would change how the site is meant to be used, and may open the admins up to more law enforcement inquiries.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ekr 8y ago

For those wondering, DM stands for direct messaging (I hope I wasn't the only one).

muzani 8y ago
Yeah, I was wondering why HN needed dungeon masters.

muzani 8y ago

It might not be a good fit. I just see HN as a way to gather nerds, have them talk about news, and somewhat funnel them into YC recruitment. It doesn't seem to be designed as a community, more like a bazaar.

remyp 8y ago

The current workaround is to put your contact info in your profile, which has worked well for me. With that said, I did create a small app to encourage HN users to message 1-on-1: https://findkismet.com https://findkismet.com

flashgordon 8y ago

So the reason I am looking for a DM feature is not so much that it becomes a chat, but often you do see requests to be DMed for furthering a conversation offline - say for jobs or projects etc. And often this results in hunting down the "target"'s email from their profile and firing up an email client etc. Yes a very first world problem but still was hoping for a slightly easier way to do this (short of writing a browser plugin). I do like @remyp's app idea but it still requires me a few "redirects" mentally.