The game mechanic of social sites like HN is not helping general productivity. The usage of HN should be an award of real work being done. Here's an idea. (so

The game mechanic of social sites like HN is not helping general productivity. The usage of HN should be an award of real work being done. Here's an idea. (someone implements it quick :) - Block all distracting sites. Can be done as simply as remapping the hostnames to localhost. - Monitor user activities. Hook into the OS to monitor keystrokes and mouse movement (I know how to do it on Windows, not sure about other OS). - Accumulate reward points for work activities. Factor both intensity of typing and duration into the reward. Display reward points to visually encourage work. - Once reward points reach a certain level, a half-hour or hourly pass is granted to access the blocked sites. - Once the time on the pass is used up, the sites are blocked again. Bonus: block all games or other distracting programs.