5 ms·

Ask HN: Trying to find an old HN post, failing at search

27 points by xbkandxe 2y ago

Hey all…been trying desperately on and off for weeks to find something I could've sworn was posted to HN. It was someone showing off their incredibly minimal bare git repo site, basically. Think cgit but even more basic. Thanks in advance.

xbkandxe 2y ago
Can't edit my post now…but I'm _pretty_ sure it was just HTML/CSS/JS, no running code anywhere. Could be wrong.
- throwitaway1123 2y ago
  Are you thinking of stagit maybe? Which (as the name suggests) is a static git frontend: https://github.com/oxalorg/stagit https://github.com/oxalorg/stagit
  - xbkandxe 2y ago
    Unfortunately not what I was looking for, but still neat; thanks for sharing!
Nextgrid 2y ago
Shot in the dark but Sourcehut? It fits the minimal theme.
- xbkandxe 2y ago
  [dead]
pestatije 2y ago
this is really intriguing to me...do you not have browser history? i could tell you each and every single webpage ive been to in the last years
- LVB 2y ago
  Including the ones you visited on your phone, and even maybe as an in-app web view? Add to that the HN reader app I use and I’m finding a lot more escapes browser history.
- xbkandxe 2y ago
  [dead]
realityfactchex 2y ago
Might help for you to describe anything that was on their bare site
- xbkandxe 2y ago
  [dead]
distalx 2y ago
Hey, I know the feeling! It can be frustrating when we can't find something we're sure we saw on HN. When default search failed me in the past, I've had some luck with experimental search projects that people have created. I'm sharing them hoping one might help you find what you're looking for: * [Vectara](https://search-hackernews.vercel.app/ https://search-hackernews.vercel.app/) * [Hacker Search](https://hackersearch.net/ https://hackersearch.net/) * [HN Discussion Search](https://searchhacker.news/ https://searchhacker.news/) * [Hacker News Search](https://hn.lixiasearch.com/ https://hn.lixiasearch.com/) * [DeepHN](https://deephn.org/ https://deephn.org/) Give them a try and see if any of these tools can help you track down the post you're looking for. Good luck!
- flanbiscuit 2y ago
  Thanks for these! I tried a few of these and https://hn.lixiasearch.com/ https://hn.lixiasearch.com/ turned up exactly what I was looking for as the first result. Gonna have to bookmark that one. I also had a HN story I've been looking for that I couldn't find via HN's algolia search, nor any major search engine.
  - incognito124 2y ago
    What did you search for anyways?
    - flanbiscuit 2y ago
      This was the post I was looking for: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29894300 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29894300 This was last night so I'm forgetting exactly what I searched but it was something like: "blog about a developer helping his mom with her chromebook she couldn't update". HN's algolia search is sometimes helpful but you need to know exactly what was either in the title or in the comments. I tried multiple keywords like "ChromeOS", "mom", "javascript error", "chromebook", and so on. I couldn't remember the exact details of the story. Now that I know "optional chaining" is in the title, I can find it right away.
- wingerlang 2y ago
akeck 2y ago
Is it any of these? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=false&query=%22Static%20site%22&sort=byPopularity&type=show_hn https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=fal...
- xbkandxe 2y ago
  [dead]
aaron695 2y ago
rgit - https://git.inept.dev/~doyle/rgit.git/about https://git.inept.dev/~doyle/rgit.git/about https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32213671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32213671
- xbkandxe 2y ago
  [dead]
terrycody 2y ago
Sometimes, you have to use Google functions as its better for searching things, though not always. Do you remember any keywords? Names? Use site:ycombinator.com "keyword" on Google search, and adjust the timeline to narrow the results.
- xbkandxe 2y ago
  [dead]
snthpy 2y ago
Is there a project to easily sync to a local sqlite db?
soulchild37 2y ago
Source Hut? https://sr.ht https://sr.ht
- xbkandxe 2y ago
  [dead]
laveekestates 2y ago
[dead]
dzonga 2y ago
I think algolia - limited search functions. even the filter facets have changed compared to years ago. maybe as a defensive mechanism against ai and other scrappers.
xbkandxe 2y ago
This is probably the closest to what I'm remembering: https://ratfactor.com/repos/reporat/ https://ratfactor.com/repos/reporat/ — but it's still not quite it.
codazoda 2y ago
I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for but I've blogged about using Markdown on GitHub as a site. https://joeldare.com/hosting-markdown-on-github-with-neat-css https://joeldare.com/hosting-markdown-on-github-with-neat-cs... Edit: Err, this is probably not what you meant.

27 points by xbkandxe 2y ago

xbkandxe 2y ago

Can't edit my post now…but I'm _pretty_ sure it was just HTML/CSS/JS, no running code anywhere. Could be wrong.

throwitaway1123 2y ago
Are you thinking of stagit maybe? Which (as the name suggests) is a static git frontend: https://github.com/oxalorg/stagit https://github.com/oxalorg/stagit
- xbkandxe 2y ago
  Unfortunately not what I was looking for, but still neat; thanks for sharing!

Nextgrid 2y ago

Shot in the dark but Sourcehut? It fits the minimal theme.

xbkandxe 2y ago
[dead]

pestatije 2y ago

this is really intriguing to me...do you not have browser history? i could tell you each and every single webpage ive been to in the last years

LVB 2y ago
Including the ones you visited on your phone, and even maybe as an in-app web view? Add to that the HN reader app I use and I’m finding a lot more escapes browser history.
xbkandxe 2y ago
[dead]

realityfactchex 2y ago

Might help for you to describe anything that was on their bare site

xbkandxe 2y ago
[dead]

distalx 2y ago

Hey, I know the feeling! It can be frustrating when we can't find something we're sure we saw on HN. When default search failed me in the past, I've had some luck with experimental search projects that people have created. I'm sharing them hoping one might help you find what you're looking for: * [Vectara](https://search-hackernews.vercel.app/ https://search-hackernews.vercel.app/) * [Hacker Search](https://hackersearch.net/ https://hackersearch.net/) * [HN Discussion Search](https://searchhacker.news/ https://searchhacker.news/) * [Hacker News Search](https://hn.lixiasearch.com/ https://hn.lixiasearch.com/) * [DeepHN](https://deephn.org/ https://deephn.org/) Give them a try and see if any of these tools can help you track down the post you're looking for. Good luck!

flanbiscuit 2y ago
Thanks for these! I tried a few of these and https://hn.lixiasearch.com/ https://hn.lixiasearch.com/ turned up exactly what I was looking for as the first result. Gonna have to bookmark that one. I also had a HN story I've been looking for that I couldn't find via HN's algolia search, nor any major search engine.
- incognito124 2y ago
  What did you search for anyways?
  - flanbiscuit 2y ago
    This was the post I was looking for: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29894300 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29894300 This was last night so I'm forgetting exactly what I searched but it was something like: "blog about a developer helping his mom with her chromebook she couldn't update". HN's algolia search is sometimes helpful but you need to know exactly what was either in the title or in the comments. I tried multiple keywords like "ChromeOS", "mom", "javascript error", "chromebook", and so on. I couldn't remember the exact details of the story. Now that I know "optional chaining" is in the title, I can find it right away.
wingerlang 2y ago

akeck 2y ago

Is it any of these? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=false&query=%22Static%20site%22&sort=byPopularity&type=show_hn https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=fal...

xbkandxe 2y ago
[dead]

aaron695 2y ago

rgit - https://git.inept.dev/~doyle/rgit.git/about https://git.inept.dev/~doyle/rgit.git/about https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32213671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32213671

xbkandxe 2y ago
[dead]

terrycody 2y ago

Sometimes, you have to use Google functions as its better for searching things, though not always. Do you remember any keywords? Names? Use site:ycombinator.com "keyword" on Google search, and adjust the timeline to narrow the results.

xbkandxe 2y ago
[dead]

snthpy 2y ago

Is there a project to easily sync to a local sqlite db?

soulchild37 2y ago

Source Hut? https://sr.ht https://sr.ht

xbkandxe 2y ago
[dead]

laveekestates 2y ago

[dead]

dzonga 2y ago

I think algolia - limited search functions. even the filter facets have changed compared to years ago. maybe as a defensive mechanism against ai and other scrappers.

xbkandxe 2y ago

This is probably the closest to what I'm remembering: https://ratfactor.com/repos/reporat/ https://ratfactor.com/repos/reporat/ — but it's still not quite it.

codazoda 2y ago

I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for but I've blogged about using Markdown on GitHub as a site. https://joeldare.com/hosting-markdown-on-github-with-neat-css https://joeldare.com/hosting-markdown-on-github-with-neat-cs... Edit: Err, this is probably not what you meant.