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I think I am like you. I recognize almost no one. It gives me this weird feeling that every comment comes from a unique person, and that the number of people co

by mongol 4y ago

I think I am like you. I recognize almost no one. It gives me this weird feeling that every comment comes from a unique person, and that the number of people commenting is approximately infinite. Which I understand rationally to be wrong, but still.

Kaibeezy 4y ago
Concur, it feels lonely out in space. Do you think that if the username were subtly emphasized (bold, or on its own line) we would notice it more?
- prox 4y ago
  The value should be in the arguments and the merit of the comment itself, nothing should emphasize the user in my view. That said it’s sometimes nice to just click the name and see if there is a profile.
  - Kaibeezy 4y ago
    On that theory, maybe not show the username at all, just a link to the profile? I’d be curious whether people here would like more/less awareness of usernames. I suppose I’ll find out if my comments on it get any reactions.
    - benj111 4y ago
      But if youre having a conversation with someone who's raising points over multiple comments it would be nice to know those points so you can argue against them, else you risk strawmanning.
      - ctack 4y ago
        Could have a thread only title or id
        kergonath 4y ago
        Is that really a problem that needs solving? Right now, you see the user name only if you want to, it works fine.
        benj111 4y ago
        True, but then you get random character strings. It's harder to keep track of diYsj5;£ and diYaba36£- versus benj111 and ctack. I suppose the current model follows the way actual human discourse works. We can identify people but they don't have a karma score over their head. Annonymising everything would be breaking that. It might work sure. But it feels like changing something that already works.
        krapp 4y ago
        There are ways to generate unique identifiers besides random strings. Many sites generate them based on words rather than characters. And given how few unique commenters there likely are in any thread, even if they were random strings they wouldn't need to be very long. Three characters would be sufficient for most cases. Plus, in a threaded forum, you're always replying either as a child to one specific commenter or to the main thread anyway, which adds greater context. IDs could be generated locally for each user and applied only to other users commenting to them. The site could even highlight which comments belong to which users. There are multiple ways this can be done. >I suppose the current model follows the way actual human discourse works. It doesn't, and it isn't intended to. Normal human discourse is noisy, repetitive and emotive, and isn't graded on quality, brevity and uniqueness as it is here. The goal here is signal over noise. Identity is noise most of the time, so it should be eliminated, or at least reduced as much as possible. >But it feels like changing something that already works. Just because something works doesn't mean it can't be improved upon. Hacker News isn't perfect. Given the amount of effort put into minimizing the UI here, reducing contrast and the number of links on a page, all in the service of minimizing distraction from the information itself, why not also eliminate usernames? What value does the specific string "krapp" bring to this conversation? or "benj111?" None, beyond providing a link to a profile which is empty more often than not, and a way to keep track of identifiers. None of that requires specific identities.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- mongol 4y ago
  Unsure. But I don't think it matters so much actually.
- InCityDreams 4y ago
  ...depends on the medium? My pc-at-home view is very different to my android 'materalistic' (app) view. I rarely care about the username, though for the longest time i didn't spot/ think/ know about 'dang', actually being 'dan g'.
- baisq 4y ago
  If this was a problem, the solution would be to allow avatars, and give a unique one (like gravatar) to users who don't set an avatar themselves.
  - Kaibeezy 4y ago
    And also the option whether to see them or not. Set your options for more or less social interaction. Would it alter the zeitgeist subtly or dramatically? Most noticeable to the more social or less social people? Here in Konishi polis.
  - gala8y 4y ago
    I agree. That's why things are as they are and ad hoc ideas about changing them are better left unexecuted. If anyone wants a quick, nice pop-up on mouse-over, there is 'Refinded Hacker News' plugin for Chrome and FF: https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news
dTal 4y ago
In a certain sense it is true that every comment comes from a unique person. You are not the same person you were yesterday :)

by mongol 4y ago

Kaibeezy 4y ago

Concur, it feels lonely out in space. Do you think that if the username were subtly emphasized (bold, or on its own line) we would notice it more?

prox 4y ago
The value should be in the arguments and the merit of the comment itself, nothing should emphasize the user in my view. That said it’s sometimes nice to just click the name and see if there is a profile.
- Kaibeezy 4y ago
  On that theory, maybe not show the username at all, just a link to the profile? I’d be curious whether people here would like more/less awareness of usernames. I suppose I’ll find out if my comments on it get any reactions.
  - benj111 4y ago
    But if youre having a conversation with someone who's raising points over multiple comments it would be nice to know those points so you can argue against them, else you risk strawmanning.
    - ctack 4y ago
      Could have a thread only title or id
      - kergonath 4y ago
        Is that really a problem that needs solving? Right now, you see the user name only if you want to, it works fine.
      - benj111 4y ago
        True, but then you get random character strings. It's harder to keep track of diYsj5;£ and diYaba36£- versus benj111 and ctack. I suppose the current model follows the way actual human discourse works. We can identify people but they don't have a karma score over their head. Annonymising everything would be breaking that. It might work sure. But it feels like changing something that already works.
        krapp 4y ago
        There are ways to generate unique identifiers besides random strings. Many sites generate them based on words rather than characters. And given how few unique commenters there likely are in any thread, even if they were random strings they wouldn't need to be very long. Three characters would be sufficient for most cases. Plus, in a threaded forum, you're always replying either as a child to one specific commenter or to the main thread anyway, which adds greater context. IDs could be generated locally for each user and applied only to other users commenting to them. The site could even highlight which comments belong to which users. There are multiple ways this can be done. >I suppose the current model follows the way actual human discourse works. It doesn't, and it isn't intended to. Normal human discourse is noisy, repetitive and emotive, and isn't graded on quality, brevity and uniqueness as it is here. The goal here is signal over noise. Identity is noise most of the time, so it should be eliminated, or at least reduced as much as possible. >But it feels like changing something that already works. Just because something works doesn't mean it can't be improved upon. Hacker News isn't perfect. Given the amount of effort put into minimizing the UI here, reducing contrast and the number of links on a page, all in the service of minimizing distraction from the information itself, why not also eliminate usernames? What value does the specific string "krapp" bring to this conversation? or "benj111?" None, beyond providing a link to a profile which is empty more often than not, and a way to keep track of identifiers. None of that requires specific identities.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
mongol 4y ago
Unsure. But I don't think it matters so much actually.
InCityDreams 4y ago
...depends on the medium? My pc-at-home view is very different to my android 'materalistic' (app) view. I rarely care about the username, though for the longest time i didn't spot/ think/ know about 'dang', actually being 'dan g'.
baisq 4y ago
If this was a problem, the solution would be to allow avatars, and give a unique one (like gravatar) to users who don't set an avatar themselves.
- Kaibeezy 4y ago
  And also the option whether to see them or not. Set your options for more or less social interaction. Would it alter the zeitgeist subtly or dramatically? Most noticeable to the more social or less social people? Here in Konishi polis.
- gala8y 4y ago
  I agree. That's why things are as they are and ad hoc ideas about changing them are better left unexecuted. If anyone wants a quick, nice pop-up on mouse-over, there is 'Refinded Hacker News' plugin for Chrome and FF: https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news

dTal 4y ago

In a certain sense it is true that every comment comes from a unique person. You are not the same person you were yesterday :)