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Removing features to decrease maintenance overhead is also a pretty legit reason, and you don't have to be a corporate site for that to apply to you (I would sa

Removing features to decrease maintenance overhead is also a pretty legit reason, and you don't have to be a corporate site for that to apply to you (I would say it applies even more to a hobby site). That said, I really hope favorites isn't removed because even though I only discovered the feature a few years ago, I really cherish the comments I've favorited.

ryandrake 6y ago
Also, “it’s not used frequently” is a really bad reason to remove a feature. Frequency of use is not a proxy for usefulness. I don’t use my backup software’s “restore” feature often but that doesn’t mean it should be removed.
AlchemistCamp 6y ago
What's the maintenance cost of the web, save and hide buttons now that they've been implemented and working for years?
- iso947 6y ago
  Standard MO of software engineers is to rewrite code into the latest and greatest framework/language/style every couple of years to keep the resume fresh.
  - oefrha 6y ago
    That hardly applies to HN, which still runs on Arc like it did 13 years ago.
krapp 6y ago
"decreasing maintenance overhead" could apply equally to every feature on the site, though. How often do people use polls?
- TheRealPomax 6y ago
  there are polls?
  - krapp 6y ago
    > there are polls? ...Exactly. It's been a feature forever, it complicates the codebase, and no one ever uses it. Two examples[0,1]. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7033047 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7033047 [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2445039 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2445039
  - oefrha 6y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll https://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll Hardly ever see it used in any capacity though. Re gp: removing buttons shown on every page is probably more about simplifying interface and reclaiming space than maintenance overhead.
    - TheRealPomax 6y ago
      there's no space to reclaim, honestly. If removing a 12pt line of text saves space, please buy a phone that supports more than just WAP.

ryandrake 6y ago

Also, “it’s not used frequently” is a really bad reason to remove a feature. Frequency of use is not a proxy for usefulness. I don’t use my backup software’s “restore” feature often but that doesn’t mean it should be removed.

AlchemistCamp 6y ago

What's the maintenance cost of the web, save and hide buttons now that they've been implemented and working for years?

iso947 6y ago
Standard MO of software engineers is to rewrite code into the latest and greatest framework/language/style every couple of years to keep the resume fresh.
- oefrha 6y ago
  That hardly applies to HN, which still runs on Arc like it did 13 years ago.

krapp 6y ago

"decreasing maintenance overhead" could apply equally to every feature on the site, though. How often do people use polls?

TheRealPomax 6y ago
there are polls?
- krapp 6y ago
  > there are polls? ...Exactly. It's been a feature forever, it complicates the codebase, and no one ever uses it. Two examples[0,1]. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7033047 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7033047 [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2445039 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2445039
- oefrha 6y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll https://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll Hardly ever see it used in any capacity though. Re gp: removing buttons shown on every page is probably more about simplifying interface and reclaiming space than maintenance overhead.
  - TheRealPomax 6y ago
    there's no space to reclaim, honestly. If removing a 12pt line of text saves space, please buy a phone that supports more than just WAP.