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I think a bot which references submissions that already have comments would be incredibly useful, especially on duplicate submissions that don’t have comments b

by ugh 16y ago

I think a bot which references submissions that already have comments would be incredibly useful, especially on duplicate submissions that don’t have comments but received a few upvotes. I don’t think you should reference duplicate submissions without comments, that just seems pointless. I don’t think that dupes by themselves are bad, but stumbling across a story which was already richly discussed on HN in the past without being able to find that discussion is certainly not optimal. I also think you should work on the bot’s politeness. It’s easy to perceive the waltzing in of a bot that says nothing but “This submission has ended up with the points and comments” and provides a link as rude. Technically, sure, that sentence is not or at least not overtly negative but it is easy to perceive it as such. I would formulate the bot’s phrases consciously positive, showing that your intent is not to be smug about submitters of dupes but that you just want to help, you just want to provide a service.

icey 16y ago
I wonder if it would have gotten a better reception if it was "RelatedStoriesBot" instead of "DupDetector". I used it as a way to find more comments on a topic, and liked it pretty well for that. Of course, I liked it when RiderOfGiraffes was posting them as well; although I wondered how he was able to actually read any of the stories because he seemed to be everywhere with dupe reports.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
  This has turned into a brain dump - apologies. I had hoped that the DupDetector would give me more time to read stories, but I found two things: 1. There were many, many more dupes being found than I expected. Checking the robot's output before confirming the posting took about the same amount of time as it used to take finding fewer, but doing it by hand. Fully automating it would only take a little more work, and maybe I'd then get the time back. 2. I was reading a bit more, but I found that the additional material wasn't interesting. I was probably already reading everything I found useful, interesting, instructive, or engaging. I'm working on a script to help me with that as well. The problem I'm finding is the sheer volume, and most of it is repeats, politics, repeats, TSA, repeats, wikileaks, repeats, Assange, repeats, etc. The proportion of material with deep technical content is much less than I remember. Consider - as I write this anything older than 40 minutes old has already fallen off the "newest" page. At that pace it can't all be worth reading. It's suggested that newcomers read the "news" page, and perhaps the "over" page so they get enculturated with what this site is about. Similarly, it's suggested that older hands inhabit the "newest" page so we can vote up those things that deserve it, and flag the inappropriate. But I can't keep up with "newest" any more, and much of what I would find interesting is vanishing before I can find it. Searching deeper will find it sometimes, but the 'bots were intended to help. So I'm working on trying to help, working on trying to find the good stuff (by some definition), and working on adding value. So, for what it's worth, that's what I think. I hope it sparks off some interesting or useful thoughts.
  - J3L2404 16y ago
    I like the bot (I thought it was you) and I think it would work if the OP deletes the post. It would be up to them, as it probably should be because, as the PG Essay kerfuffle earlier showed, sometimes posts should be seen again. I hope you have time to give some details on the bot itself. In my opinion DupDetector should live on.

by ugh 16y ago

icey 16y ago

I wonder if it would have gotten a better reception if it was "RelatedStoriesBot" instead of "DupDetector". I used it as a way to find more comments on a topic, and liked it pretty well for that. Of course, I liked it when RiderOfGiraffes was posting them as well; although I wondered how he was able to actually read any of the stories because he seemed to be everywhere with dupe reports.

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
This has turned into a brain dump - apologies. I had hoped that the DupDetector would give me more time to read stories, but I found two things: 1. There were many, many more dupes being found than I expected. Checking the robot's output before confirming the posting took about the same amount of time as it used to take finding fewer, but doing it by hand. Fully automating it would only take a little more work, and maybe I'd then get the time back. 2. I was reading a bit more, but I found that the additional material wasn't interesting. I was probably already reading everything I found useful, interesting, instructive, or engaging. I'm working on a script to help me with that as well. The problem I'm finding is the sheer volume, and most of it is repeats, politics, repeats, TSA, repeats, wikileaks, repeats, Assange, repeats, etc. The proportion of material with deep technical content is much less than I remember. Consider - as I write this anything older than 40 minutes old has already fallen off the "newest" page. At that pace it can't all be worth reading. It's suggested that newcomers read the "news" page, and perhaps the "over" page so they get enculturated with what this site is about. Similarly, it's suggested that older hands inhabit the "newest" page so we can vote up those things that deserve it, and flag the inappropriate. But I can't keep up with "newest" any more, and much of what I would find interesting is vanishing before I can find it. Searching deeper will find it sometimes, but the 'bots were intended to help. So I'm working on trying to help, working on trying to find the good stuff (by some definition), and working on adding value. So, for what it's worth, that's what I think. I hope it sparks off some interesting or useful thoughts.
- J3L2404 16y ago
  I like the bot (I thought it was you) and I think it would work if the OP deletes the post. It would be up to them, as it probably should be because, as the PG Essay kerfuffle earlier showed, sometimes posts should be seen again. I hope you have time to give some details on the bot itself. In my opinion DupDetector should live on.