4 ms·

This begs the question: why were these features undocumented, and left to an unpaid volunteer to weed out? The combined valuation of the top YC companies was o

This begs the question: why were these features undocumented, and left to an unpaid volunteer to weed out? The combined valuation of the top YC companies was over US$300 billion as of January 2021. Certainly their news aggregator could get a little bit of love.

skavi 6y ago
I’ve always seen these features as something akin to easter eggs. Stuff you learn over time as you become part of the “in” crowd.
- minimaxir 6y ago
  FWIW, I've never liked this argument, although that's not why I initially made this list. The best case scenario from the community perspective is that it increases elitism, although companies like Snapchat went viral with teens for hiding away features. Note that relatively few companies hide features for serendipity nowadays.
dang 6y ago
It isn't lack of love, it's that it isn't in HN's DNA to spell everything out. The site guidelines, for example, make no attempt to be comprehensive (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html). The currency on HN is interest, not money, so 'unpaid volunteer' isn't the best way to frame this. If someone is interested enough to put together and maintain a list like this, that's in the spirit of the community in a way having an official list would not be. (Btw we're all in favor of it and I believe I've sent Max some details to add to the list. If pages like this are going to exist—and they will, because online communities are endlessly interested in themselves—better that they be accurate.)
- dang 6y ago
  Re "better that they be accurate", I figured I'd check it again, since I haven't in a couple years. That led to the following errata, which I will send to Max. I thought I'd share them here too in case people are interested in this level of detail. > it can be [dead] again at which point it can't be re-vouched I don't think that's right? Pretty sure it can be re-vouched. I'd have to check the code to be sure. > the [+x] number on the right Since changed to [x more], to make it easier to click. > will usually be at the top of the front page at that time It would be better to say "on the front page". The "$Person has died" thread is usually at the top for a while, but we leave the black bar up for longer than that. > the line between technology and politics is blurred I've written a lot about how we approach this; it might be helpful to point to some of that. I usually direct people to these links first: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22902490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22902490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21607844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21607844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014869 There's lots more at https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=political%20overlap%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... > The web button next to submissions Removed in July 2020. I removed 'past' as well but there was more pushback about that so I put it back. > what the front page looks like at any point in time Not quite - it's a blended view of the front page for a 24-hour period, sort of like a weighted average of a bunch of snapshots. That turns out to be unsatisfyingly hard to get right; different algorithms produce very different blends, and none of them feels like a real front page. You can always look at https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://news.ycombinator.com https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://news.ycombinator.com to see specific snapshots. > https://news.ycombinator.com/lists https://news.ycombinator.com/lists We added one for whoishiring and one for Peter Roberts' immigration AMAs. I should also add the Launch HN list for YC startups. (Edit: added now.) > All public URLS with user-generated content I don't have a comprehensive list but the quantifier "all" there can't be right.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- minimaxir 6y ago
  > I believe I've sent Max some details to add to the list. For transparency, I'll confirm that dang sent over some things when I first wrote the list in 2018.

skavi 6y ago

I’ve always seen these features as something akin to easter eggs. Stuff you learn over time as you become part of the “in” crowd.

minimaxir 6y ago
FWIW, I've never liked this argument, although that's not why I initially made this list. The best case scenario from the community perspective is that it increases elitism, although companies like Snapchat went viral with teens for hiding away features. Note that relatively few companies hide features for serendipity nowadays.

dang 6y ago

It isn't lack of love, it's that it isn't in HN's DNA to spell everything out. The site guidelines, for example, make no attempt to be comprehensive (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html). The currency on HN is interest, not money, so 'unpaid volunteer' isn't the best way to frame this. If someone is interested enough to put together and maintain a list like this, that's in the spirit of the community in a way having an official list would not be. (Btw we're all in favor of it and I believe I've sent Max some details to add to the list. If pages like this are going to exist—and they will, because online communities are endlessly interested in themselves—better that they be accurate.)

dang 6y ago
Re "better that they be accurate", I figured I'd check it again, since I haven't in a couple years. That led to the following errata, which I will send to Max. I thought I'd share them here too in case people are interested in this level of detail. > it can be [dead] again at which point it can't be re-vouched I don't think that's right? Pretty sure it can be re-vouched. I'd have to check the code to be sure. > the [+x] number on the right Since changed to [x more], to make it easier to click. > will usually be at the top of the front page at that time It would be better to say "on the front page". The "$Person has died" thread is usually at the top for a while, but we leave the black bar up for longer than that. > the line between technology and politics is blurred I've written a lot about how we approach this; it might be helpful to point to some of that. I usually direct people to these links first: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22902490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22902490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21607844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21607844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014869 There's lots more at https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=political%20overlap%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... > The web button next to submissions Removed in July 2020. I removed 'past' as well but there was more pushback about that so I put it back. > what the front page looks like at any point in time Not quite - it's a blended view of the front page for a 24-hour period, sort of like a weighted average of a bunch of snapshots. That turns out to be unsatisfyingly hard to get right; different algorithms produce very different blends, and none of them feels like a real front page. You can always look at https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://news.ycombinator.com https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://news.ycombinator.com to see specific snapshots. > https://news.ycombinator.com/lists https://news.ycombinator.com/lists We added one for whoishiring and one for Peter Roberts' immigration AMAs. I should also add the Launch HN list for YC startups. (Edit: added now.) > All public URLS with user-generated content I don't have a comprehensive list but the quantifier "all" there can't be right.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
minimaxir 6y ago
> I believe I've sent Max some details to add to the list. For transparency, I'll confirm that dang sent over some things when I first wrote the list in 2018.