3 ms·

It's definitely partly that, but it's also that the reading experience for many articles is atrocious. If I click the comments link, I get to the comments immed

by wiml 5y ago

It's definitely partly that, but it's also that the reading experience for many articles is atrocious. If I click the comments link, I get to the comments immediately — perhaps incomplete, uninformed, argumentative, but they're right there. If I click on the article, I have to wait for a bunch of branding banners, ads, sidebars, and analytics scripts to load. Then I have to wade through some popups for cookies and the site's app and wouldn't I like to subscribe? Then I have to read a couple pages of the author reminiscing about a bagel they once ate before they actually start talking about the topic at hand — along with some more slow-loading fade-in images and scrollbar hijacking. It's exhausting! I don't have time for all that.

BayAreaEscapee 5y ago
I do the same thing. Often, I'll look at what kind of comments are made on HN to decide if the article is even worth reading. I agree with your position that lots of web site are annoying in the way they load slowly and display lots of nonsense, ads and overlays and awful UIs in addition to the article itself. Once in a while someone here will take a swipe at the primitive layout of Hacker News. But I love the utilitarian layout of Hacker News. It's simple, clear, uncluttered, fast and intuitive. Saying that it looks like 1992 isn't a meaningful criticism.
Kinrany 5y ago
Could HN measure and display the time it takes for the link to load? Are there browser extensions for that?
ALittleLight 5y ago
Even if the article were to load instantly you might have to actually read some or all of it to understand if it was worth reading or not. I often check the comments first just to make sure the comment section isn't full of people complaining about the article not being worthwhile.
runawaybottle 5y ago
I immediately start rolling my eyes when someone starts their article with some crap like ‘It was a dank afternoon, Trump had just won re-election. This was difficult for Johnny to take, but he managed to get up and head downtown. Little did he know, it would be the most important day for downtown ever, as Bitcoin was coming to town’. Like, goodness. TSDR - too shitty, didn’t read. Matt Taibbi usually takes Thomas Friedman to town for writing like that: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/late-is-enough-on-thomas-friedmans-new-book-109962/amp/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/late... https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/create-your-own-thomas-friedman-op-ed-column https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/create-your-own-thomas-f...

by wiml 5y ago

BayAreaEscapee 5y ago

I do the same thing. Often, I'll look at what kind of comments are made on HN to decide if the article is even worth reading. I agree with your position that lots of web site are annoying in the way they load slowly and display lots of nonsense, ads and overlays and awful UIs in addition to the article itself. Once in a while someone here will take a swipe at the primitive layout of Hacker News. But I love the utilitarian layout of Hacker News. It's simple, clear, uncluttered, fast and intuitive. Saying that it looks like 1992 isn't a meaningful criticism.

Kinrany 5y ago

Could HN measure and display the time it takes for the link to load? Are there browser extensions for that?

ALittleLight 5y ago

Even if the article were to load instantly you might have to actually read some or all of it to understand if it was worth reading or not. I often check the comments first just to make sure the comment section isn't full of people complaining about the article not being worthwhile.

runawaybottle 5y ago

I immediately start rolling my eyes when someone starts their article with some crap like ‘It was a dank afternoon, Trump had just won re-election. This was difficult for Johnny to take, but he managed to get up and head downtown. Little did he know, it would be the most important day for downtown ever, as Bitcoin was coming to town’. Like, goodness. TSDR - too shitty, didn’t read. Matt Taibbi usually takes Thomas Friedman to town for writing like that: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/late-is-enough-on-thomas-friedmans-new-book-109962/amp/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/late... https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/create-your-own-thomas-friedman-op-ed-column https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/create-your-own-thomas-f...