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Then maybe you'd find this interesting: https://www.talkyard.io/-32/how-hacker-news-can-be-improved-3-things https://www.talkyard.io/-32/how-hacker-news-can-be-

Then maybe you'd find this interesting: https://www.talkyard.io/-32/how-hacker-news-can-be-improved-3-things https://www.talkyard.io/-32/how-hacker-news-can-be-improved-... "How Hacker News [or Reddit] can be improved" (If / when you find things that don't work like you want, I'd be happy for any feedback: https://www.talkyard.io/forum/ https://www.talkyard.io/forum/ )

jasonv 7y ago
Thanks for the links. Will dig in more. I'm looking to build a forum/discussion for a non-technical audience with some of the policies that HN has implemented well... community will be non-monetized, but it'll be connected to a separate, sponsoring monetization channel. I've not actually spent a lot of time on a Discourse forum, but have liked some of the plug-ins they support, and the wiki topic element, the ability to theme it, and the ability to limit or lock categories based on karma and groups. FYI on where I'm coming from.
- KajMagnus 7y ago
  > forum/discussion for a non-technical audience How interesting — what would your community be about? (if I may ask) Non-tech people is a long term goal with Talkyard. As of now, though, I'm thinking none of Talkyard or Discourse or Flarum (did you know about Flarum? https://flarum.org https://flarum.org) or Nodebb are particularly easy to use, for non-tech people? E.g. Markdown for formatting text, and navigating between topics and categories, feel confusing to me. > Discourse [...] the plug-ins they support, and the wiki topic element, the ability to theme it, and the ability to limit or lock categories based on karma and groups Some of those things, but not all, work with Talkyard: 1) Wiki topics / categories — yes, by configuring category permissions (see this reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22704726 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22704726 ). 2) Locking categories based on groups and trust levels — yes (see the same link). 3) Plugins: No, unfortunately not. I think there'll will be a WebAssembly based plugin system in the distant future. 4) Theming: Can be done but not so easy — one needs to write CSS code. A theme & colors editor is planned. > liked some of the plug-ins they support I'm curious about which plugins :- )
vthriller 7y ago
Re: finding new comments, I've seen another solution on one of the news site forums that I quite liked: messages are folding individually (i.e. only content is hidden but not the children), and when you enter the thread through the "new" link, only new messages are shown in an unfolded state.
- KajMagnus 7y ago
  It'd be interesting to have a look at that news site forum (if you have a link?). > messages are folding individually (i.e. only content is hidden but not the children) Seems like a nice way to give a concise overview of the discussion (who replies to who, how long each thread is). I think it'd be nice to see the first rows of each message, so one knows what it is about (maybe one has forgotten). > only new messages are shown in an unfolded state (So that one directly sees the messages one hasn't read before, and can start reading them effortlessly, right) > only new messages are shown I wonder how they determine which messages are new. Maybe it's [new since one's last visit]? Or messages one hasn't read yet? Not that easy to know which messages the visitor has read, if many messages are visible on the screen at the same time :- )
  - vthriller 7y ago
    > It'd be interesting to have a look at that news site forum (if you have a link?). I doubt that you will find it particularly useful (site in Russian, and I've no idea how reliably that feature works for unregistered users), but anyway: https://www.opennet.ru/forum/ https://www.opennet.ru/forum/ > I wonder how they determine which messages are new. Maybe it's [new since one's last visit]? It is. While not as powerful as status tracking for individual messages (can't skip some messages for future read as easily, can't mark message as unread etc.), it is enough for most users most of the time.
    - KajMagnus 7y ago
      A bunch of interesting things going on at that forum, Opennet.ru/forum :- ) Nice to be able to "preview" a discussion directly on the topic list page, and interesting shortcuts the forum has: Открыть первые 10. — Open the first 10. (I used Google Translate) Открыть последние комментарии. — View recent comments. Раскрыть ответы 1 уровня. — Expand Level 1 Answers. Линейный вид. — Linear view. Sth like the expand-level-1-answers button is something people have suggested for Talkyard too. > It is [...] enough for most users most of the time Ok, thanks, interesting to know

jasonv 7y ago

Thanks for the links. Will dig in more. I'm looking to build a forum/discussion for a non-technical audience with some of the policies that HN has implemented well... community will be non-monetized, but it'll be connected to a separate, sponsoring monetization channel. I've not actually spent a lot of time on a Discourse forum, but have liked some of the plug-ins they support, and the wiki topic element, the ability to theme it, and the ability to limit or lock categories based on karma and groups. FYI on where I'm coming from.

KajMagnus 7y ago
> forum/discussion for a non-technical audience How interesting — what would your community be about? (if I may ask) Non-tech people is a long term goal with Talkyard. As of now, though, I'm thinking none of Talkyard or Discourse or Flarum (did you know about Flarum? https://flarum.org https://flarum.org) or Nodebb are particularly easy to use, for non-tech people? E.g. Markdown for formatting text, and navigating between topics and categories, feel confusing to me. > Discourse [...] the plug-ins they support, and the wiki topic element, the ability to theme it, and the ability to limit or lock categories based on karma and groups Some of those things, but not all, work with Talkyard: 1) Wiki topics / categories — yes, by configuring category permissions (see this reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22704726 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22704726 ). 2) Locking categories based on groups and trust levels — yes (see the same link). 3) Plugins: No, unfortunately not. I think there'll will be a WebAssembly based plugin system in the distant future. 4) Theming: Can be done but not so easy — one needs to write CSS code. A theme & colors editor is planned. > liked some of the plug-ins they support I'm curious about which plugins :- )

vthriller 7y ago

Re: finding new comments, I've seen another solution on one of the news site forums that I quite liked: messages are folding individually (i.e. only content is hidden but not the children), and when you enter the thread through the "new" link, only new messages are shown in an unfolded state.

KajMagnus 7y ago
It'd be interesting to have a look at that news site forum (if you have a link?). > messages are folding individually (i.e. only content is hidden but not the children) Seems like a nice way to give a concise overview of the discussion (who replies to who, how long each thread is). I think it'd be nice to see the first rows of each message, so one knows what it is about (maybe one has forgotten). > only new messages are shown in an unfolded state (So that one directly sees the messages one hasn't read before, and can start reading them effortlessly, right) > only new messages are shown I wonder how they determine which messages are new. Maybe it's [new since one's last visit]? Or messages one hasn't read yet? Not that easy to know which messages the visitor has read, if many messages are visible on the screen at the same time :- )
- vthriller 7y ago
  > It'd be interesting to have a look at that news site forum (if you have a link?). I doubt that you will find it particularly useful (site in Russian, and I've no idea how reliably that feature works for unregistered users), but anyway: https://www.opennet.ru/forum/ https://www.opennet.ru/forum/ > I wonder how they determine which messages are new. Maybe it's [new since one's last visit]? It is. While not as powerful as status tracking for individual messages (can't skip some messages for future read as easily, can't mark message as unread etc.), it is enough for most users most of the time.
  - KajMagnus 7y ago
    A bunch of interesting things going on at that forum, Opennet.ru/forum :- ) Nice to be able to "preview" a discussion directly on the topic list page, and interesting shortcuts the forum has: Открыть первые 10. — Open the first 10. (I used Google Translate) Открыть последние комментарии. — View recent comments. Раскрыть ответы 1 уровня. — Expand Level 1 Answers. Линейный вид. — Linear view. Sth like the expand-level-1-answers button is something people have suggested for Talkyard too. > It is [...] enough for most users most of the time Ok, thanks, interesting to know