11 ms·
I would agree but I definitely click on links in the comments that seem pertinent to the discussion (at least for high SNR places like HN)
by r00fus 3y ago
I would agree but I definitely click on links in the comments that seem pertinent to the discussion (at least for high SNR places like HN)
- medstrom 3y agoYea, oddly I click more links in the comments than the original link! It's not only what naravara points out, that Web 2.0 trained us to avoid clicking links (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39942472 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39942472), especially when it's the "central link", it's also simply that I want to start in a forum-thread. That's what motivates the initial engagement. The discussion thread is the compelling thing, the original bait. Then, once I've gleaned context from the discussion, there rarely seems to be any mystery left in the link worth the effort to scroll back to the top and click. So a problem is that HN assumes you want to start with the link. What if it didn't? I'm willing to bet that if all HN frontpage links just took you directly to the comments (like an old phpBB forum) and then the OP had to post the link as a comment, I'd click it a lot more often. Psychology be funny.