5 ms·

Poll: Do you visit the 'new' section of Hacker News?

78 points by ljf 15y ago

Have been wondering this for quite a while, do people visit the new section, and what their reasons for going/not going are.

maeon3 15y ago
Reading through the new section of news.ycombinator reminds me of reading through digg or reddit.
- billswift 15y ago
  The front page reminds me more of Reddit now. I have been spending less time on HN overall for weeks, and a larger proportion of what I do on the New pages. A lot of good and interesting comp sci posts don't get voted up any more.
drtse4 15y ago
Mostly to flag bad/spam posts, for the good ones the HN crowd is a good filter for the worthy stuff.
kalleboo 15y ago
Only when everything on the news page is marked as read and I'm in hyper-procrastination mode.
makethetick 15y ago
When I'm on the website I do, otherwise I pick up the front page posts from Google Reader.
rednum 15y ago
I do it rarely - once in a 2 weeks I think - but if I do I do the first thing (flag bad posts, vote good). I think that how often you visit 'new page' has some significance in this poll, too.
- ljf 15y ago
  I agree - though since it's now made the front page I hope that I get a wider cross section of users - but I know I'll miss a lot of people who just lurk and/or don't vote/don't take part in polls.
tomislaw 15y ago
yes! it is great
illdave 15y ago
Yes, every so often, mainly to vote up "Show HN" posts - at peak times I think a lot of very valid Show HN posts never see the light of day, sadly.
Shunkarthick 15y ago
Yes - to read new posts after i checked all the top posts.
g123g 15y ago
Only when there is nothing interesting for me on the front page. But then I first go to the Ask section, if nothing interesting there only then venture to the new section.
pknerd 15y ago
Yes
ghiculescu 15y ago
I chose "No - I don't have time" but the real reason is more "No - I forget to/don't bother to/I do but get bored after a few bad links and leave, and anyway I'm only there once a fortnight". Incidentally, this poll has guilt tripped me into checking the new page again.
- ljf 15y ago
  I would love to see if there was an uplift in people visiting the newest section after this poll, and how long it lasted.
rbanffy 15y ago
Sometimes there are very interesting posts there that never make it to the home. Perhaps the function that gives a post the score (something like a * voting + b * comments + c * total-comment-karma - d * age, I guess - never got to look into the code) could receive some adjustment, mostly in the age-related factor.
robfitz 15y ago
It's worth noting that this poll has dramatically increased the vote diversity of the new page. I hope that the increased attention will continue -- the new page needs lots more flagging & voting than it currently receives to keep the front page high-quality & diverse.
jgrahamc 15y ago
I wish the new page had two columns. The right column would contain posts that have been flagged, the left column would contain unflagged posts. This would free up space for more valid posts to get looked at by allowing spam posts to be quickly moved aside. The posts could be moved aside when some threshold of people had flagged, and any post I flagged would be moved aside in my view of the new page. Also, it would be good if posts that have made it to the front page were removed from the new page freeing up even more space.
- rednum 15y ago
  The column approach seems to make things clunky to me. From my viewpoint it would be better to see flagged posts grayer - just as comments with negative points, possibly with setting threshold in preferences (since it would be quite stupid to see eg. all page of 'grayed' posts).
- solipsist 15y ago
  How about giving the option of a two column view for users with a high enough karma. 'Top HN' on the left and 'New HN' on the right. As a result, the people with high enough karma to flag would be more inclined to scan the 'New HN' pages and further improve the quality of HN.
  - Dysiode 15y ago
    Even given to everyone it could still be beneficial. I personally simply forget there's a /new/ much of the time, having the option to have new posts passively presented while I'm skimming would be tremendously helpful.
- foob 15y ago
  "Also, it would be good if posts that have made it to the front page were removed from the new page freeing up even more space." I would really dislike it if those stories were removed. If it's only been an hour or two since I've gone through the front page then it's unlikely that there will be more than a couple of new stories there. Instead of rereading every title on the front page I can just go to the new page and scan for articles with scores above whatever threshold I'm in the mood for until I recognize one of them. Giving some indication that a post has been flagged might be nice but I don't see why having the new front page stories on the new page is a bad thing.
jsmcgd 15y ago
I've started to look at the new section more and more. I find the front page is becoming a bit dry. For me, the new section contains a lot more gems that get ignored.
davidjhall 15y ago
I use the Hacker News UX which keeps the New listen open to the right -- I read the top news and scan through the new : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chngbdmhgakoomomnnhfapkpbalpmhid https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chngbdmhgakoomomnn...
chollida1 15y ago
I used to go there and help curate by flagging off topic posts but the flagging feature seems to have been removed, for me atleast. So I no longer visit the new page very much any more.
lhnz 15y ago
Only when I really want to waste time; No.
ctdonath 15y ago
What is this "'new' section" of which you speak? What is the "'old' section" implied?
- ntoshev 15y ago
  http://news.ycombinator.com/newest http://news.ycombinator.com/newest The submissions go there first, and bubble up to HN main page only if they get enough upvotes. This kind of question is pretty useless as a poll, if pg shows actual statistics I think it would be pretty far off.
- golgo13 15y ago
  Oh, there it is. I simply visited the main page and never really scanned the tool bar up there. Cool!
tom_b 15y ago
Mainly when I want to drive more technical/hacking posts up to the front page. It's too time-consuming to do a good job though.
zachman1094 15y ago
No, I never do: I figure anything worth reading will get voted up to the main page, so I just stick to checking that instead of the new page.
sixtofour 15y ago
I spend most of my time in new. I'd spend even more time there if the pages didn't time out so quickly.
smogzer 15y ago
yes, since the community is more cohesive/engineer/enterpreneur than reddit that has lots of noise/funny/look_at_me these days. So in Hacker News, the news tend to be "faster".
atacrawl 15y ago
I only visit the new page if a) I've already read what piques my interest on the home page or b) nothing piques my interest on the home page.
knockknock 15y ago
I read the front page and when the More link fails me I check http://www.hnjs.dotcloud.com/ http://www.hnjs.dotcloud.com/ for top new links from the last 3 hours.
billpatrianakos 15y ago
I look there for a number of reasons: 1. Sometimes I've read a few pages of popular articles and I want something fresh. 2. To be weird and observe spam. I get sad when I see spam on HN and do my best not to comment on spam posts just like I have to try very hard not to reply to email spam with some choice words. 3. Upvote the gems I find in the new section. I must say I do a lot of lurking... more lurking than up/down voting but those are my reasons for visitng the New section.
phektus 15y ago
I tend to read the new page more frequently than the default landing page.
richardk 15y ago
Rarely (only if there's nothing interesting on the main page)
aorshan 15y ago
I don't always check it, but I tend to look later in the day when I've read everything that seems interesting on the home page.
garyrichardson 15y ago
Needs new option: "No, I follow the main RSS in Google Reader only. Going directly to websites is so 2003."
- anonova 15y ago
  It should actually be "somewhat" since the RSS feed is what /newest shows.
trustfundbaby 15y ago
How about changing the home page into a two column layout with the new items on one side and the popular items on the other?
- nantes 15y ago
  Check out https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chngbdmhgakoomomnnhfapkpbalpmhid https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chngbdmhgakoomomnn..., which just does just that.
dpcan 15y ago
ADD: No, I just never think about it. I usually hit the site, and there are 4 or 5 stories that interest me. I check them out, comment, and then by that time my mind has moved on to something else. Too bad I can't display HN in 2 columns, top stories on the left, New on the right.
morpheus4976 15y ago
yes
TeMPOraL 15y ago
I do visit 'new' section to see if there's something worthwhile and upvote accordingly, but only if I'm procrastinating so badly that I've read everything even remotely interesting on the main page and started to see submissions I've read two days before.

78 points by ljf 15y ago

Have been wondering this for quite a while, do people visit the new section, and what their reasons for going/not going are.

maeon3 15y ago

Reading through the new section of news.ycombinator reminds me of reading through digg or reddit.

billswift 15y ago
The front page reminds me more of Reddit now. I have been spending less time on HN overall for weeks, and a larger proportion of what I do on the New pages. A lot of good and interesting comp sci posts don't get voted up any more.

drtse4 15y ago

Mostly to flag bad/spam posts, for the good ones the HN crowd is a good filter for the worthy stuff.

kalleboo 15y ago

Only when everything on the news page is marked as read and I'm in hyper-procrastination mode.

makethetick 15y ago

When I'm on the website I do, otherwise I pick up the front page posts from Google Reader.

rednum 15y ago

I do it rarely - once in a 2 weeks I think - but if I do I do the first thing (flag bad posts, vote good). I think that how often you visit 'new page' has some significance in this poll, too.

ljf 15y ago
I agree - though since it's now made the front page I hope that I get a wider cross section of users - but I know I'll miss a lot of people who just lurk and/or don't vote/don't take part in polls.

tomislaw 15y ago

yes! it is great

illdave 15y ago

Yes, every so often, mainly to vote up "Show HN" posts - at peak times I think a lot of very valid Show HN posts never see the light of day, sadly.

Shunkarthick 15y ago

Yes - to read new posts after i checked all the top posts.

g123g 15y ago

Only when there is nothing interesting for me on the front page. But then I first go to the Ask section, if nothing interesting there only then venture to the new section.

pknerd 15y ago

Yes

ghiculescu 15y ago

I chose "No - I don't have time" but the real reason is more "No - I forget to/don't bother to/I do but get bored after a few bad links and leave, and anyway I'm only there once a fortnight". Incidentally, this poll has guilt tripped me into checking the new page again.

ljf 15y ago
I would love to see if there was an uplift in people visiting the newest section after this poll, and how long it lasted.

rbanffy 15y ago

Sometimes there are very interesting posts there that never make it to the home. Perhaps the function that gives a post the score (something like a * voting + b * comments + c * total-comment-karma - d * age, I guess - never got to look into the code) could receive some adjustment, mostly in the age-related factor.

robfitz 15y ago

It's worth noting that this poll has dramatically increased the vote diversity of the new page. I hope that the increased attention will continue -- the new page needs lots more flagging & voting than it currently receives to keep the front page high-quality & diverse.

jgrahamc 15y ago

I wish the new page had two columns. The right column would contain posts that have been flagged, the left column would contain unflagged posts. This would free up space for more valid posts to get looked at by allowing spam posts to be quickly moved aside. The posts could be moved aside when some threshold of people had flagged, and any post I flagged would be moved aside in my view of the new page. Also, it would be good if posts that have made it to the front page were removed from the new page freeing up even more space.

rednum 15y ago
The column approach seems to make things clunky to me. From my viewpoint it would be better to see flagged posts grayer - just as comments with negative points, possibly with setting threshold in preferences (since it would be quite stupid to see eg. all page of 'grayed' posts).
solipsist 15y ago
How about giving the option of a two column view for users with a high enough karma. 'Top HN' on the left and 'New HN' on the right. As a result, the people with high enough karma to flag would be more inclined to scan the 'New HN' pages and further improve the quality of HN.
- Dysiode 15y ago
  Even given to everyone it could still be beneficial. I personally simply forget there's a /new/ much of the time, having the option to have new posts passively presented while I'm skimming would be tremendously helpful.
foob 15y ago
"Also, it would be good if posts that have made it to the front page were removed from the new page freeing up even more space." I would really dislike it if those stories were removed. If it's only been an hour or two since I've gone through the front page then it's unlikely that there will be more than a couple of new stories there. Instead of rereading every title on the front page I can just go to the new page and scan for articles with scores above whatever threshold I'm in the mood for until I recognize one of them. Giving some indication that a post has been flagged might be nice but I don't see why having the new front page stories on the new page is a bad thing.

jsmcgd 15y ago

I've started to look at the new section more and more. I find the front page is becoming a bit dry. For me, the new section contains a lot more gems that get ignored.

davidjhall 15y ago

I use the Hacker News UX which keeps the New listen open to the right -- I read the top news and scan through the new : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chngbdmhgakoomomnnhfapkpbalpmhid https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chngbdmhgakoomomnn...

chollida1 15y ago

I used to go there and help curate by flagging off topic posts but the flagging feature seems to have been removed, for me atleast. So I no longer visit the new page very much any more.

lhnz 15y ago

Only when I really want to waste time; No.

ctdonath 15y ago

What is this "'new' section" of which you speak? What is the "'old' section" implied?

ntoshev 15y ago
http://news.ycombinator.com/newest http://news.ycombinator.com/newest The submissions go there first, and bubble up to HN main page only if they get enough upvotes. This kind of question is pretty useless as a poll, if pg shows actual statistics I think it would be pretty far off.
golgo13 15y ago
Oh, there it is. I simply visited the main page and never really scanned the tool bar up there. Cool!

tom_b 15y ago

Mainly when I want to drive more technical/hacking posts up to the front page. It's too time-consuming to do a good job though.

zachman1094 15y ago

No, I never do: I figure anything worth reading will get voted up to the main page, so I just stick to checking that instead of the new page.

sixtofour 15y ago

I spend most of my time in new. I'd spend even more time there if the pages didn't time out so quickly.

smogzer 15y ago

yes, since the community is more cohesive/engineer/enterpreneur than reddit that has lots of noise/funny/look_at_me these days. So in Hacker News, the news tend to be "faster".

atacrawl 15y ago

I only visit the new page if a) I've already read what piques my interest on the home page or b) nothing piques my interest on the home page.

knockknock 15y ago

I read the front page and when the More link fails me I check http://www.hnjs.dotcloud.com/ http://www.hnjs.dotcloud.com/ for top new links from the last 3 hours.

billpatrianakos 15y ago

I look there for a number of reasons: 1. Sometimes I've read a few pages of popular articles and I want something fresh. 2. To be weird and observe spam. I get sad when I see spam on HN and do my best not to comment on spam posts just like I have to try very hard not to reply to email spam with some choice words. 3. Upvote the gems I find in the new section. I must say I do a lot of lurking... more lurking than up/down voting but those are my reasons for visitng the New section.

phektus 15y ago

I tend to read the new page more frequently than the default landing page.

richardk 15y ago

Rarely (only if there's nothing interesting on the main page)

aorshan 15y ago

I don't always check it, but I tend to look later in the day when I've read everything that seems interesting on the home page.

garyrichardson 15y ago

Needs new option: "No, I follow the main RSS in Google Reader only. Going directly to websites is so 2003."

anonova 15y ago
It should actually be "somewhat" since the RSS feed is what /newest shows.

trustfundbaby 15y ago

How about changing the home page into a two column layout with the new items on one side and the popular items on the other?

nantes 15y ago
Check out https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chngbdmhgakoomomnnhfapkpbalpmhid https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chngbdmhgakoomomnn..., which just does just that.

dpcan 15y ago

ADD: No, I just never think about it. I usually hit the site, and there are 4 or 5 stories that interest me. I check them out, comment, and then by that time my mind has moved on to something else. Too bad I can't display HN in 2 columns, top stories on the left, New on the right.

morpheus4976 15y ago

yes

TeMPOraL 15y ago

I do visit 'new' section to see if there's something worthwhile and upvote accordingly, but only if I'm procrastinating so badly that I've read everything even remotely interesting on the main page and started to see submissions I've read two days before.