3 ms·

That doesn't seem like a reason to disallow necro-replies? The primary reason people write replies isn't communication with the parent commenter.

• jedberg 7y ago
  True but at the same time if you refute a claim someone made in the comments, it seems only fair to give them a chance to reply.
  • jefftk 7y ago
    Which is a good reason to add a reply-notification system, not a good reason to block replies
    • jedberg 7y ago
      I think HN lacks a notification system intentionally. HN is very much geared towards reducing flame wars, and I think that is part of it. If they wanted a notification system I'm sure they could have implemented it.
      • dang 7y ago
        Yes, I think we'll continue to avoid the notification system, not just because of flamewars but also because (relatedly) it's not so compatible with curiosity. Push notifications seem to jack up the nervous system in a way that's good for engagement but not necessarily for users—we all experience this elsewhere on the internet, and on HN we're in the blessed position of not needing to juice the numbers. On the other hand, it can be hard to discover replies, and certainly new/interesting comments in large threads, when you want them. I'm currently working on a new-comment-highlighter (draws a colored bar to the left of comments since you last viewed the page) as one step toward helping with this. If anyone wants to help test this, email hn@ycombinator.com and I'll switch it on for you.