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There are a few capabiliti es lacking from Algolia which I'd really like to see in a replacement: - Negative search / exclusion: the ability to exclude terms

There are a few capabiliti es lacking from Algolia which I'd really like to see in a replacement: - Negative search / exclusion: the ability to exclude terms from a search, as in "procfs -linux", which would look for any references to "procfs" which did not also reference "linux". Edit: This exists, see dang's reply below. - Replies to a specific user, e.g., "by:dredmorbius inreplyto:skeptrune <search terms>". I'm often looking for a specific context of my own previous comments. - An improved date-bounding interface. If there's one thing that frustrates me about Algolia's interface, it's the GUI (and syntax) for defining dates. It's cumbersome, and at least on my browser, the dates are generally hard to read or invisible. Going back years is especially cumbersome. I'll add: Algolia has been massively useful, and the fact that I can search HN, especially for my own content, has been a huge part of the value of the site, and is worlds ahead of other online platforms. (Mastodon / the Fediverse is catching up here, Diaspora*'s lack of search was among my main frustrations with the site and explains my absence there after more than a decade of participation.)

dang 2y ago
Algolia does do search term exclusion. Compare https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=procfs%20linux&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... and https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=procfs%20-linux&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu.... On the second point - HN has an undocumented endpoint https://news.ycombinator.com/replies?id=skeptrune&by=dredmorbius https://news.ycombinator.com/replies?id=skeptrune&by=dredmor... but that doesn't give you search of course.
- tptacek 2y ago
  whoah
  - spasibot 2y ago
    Just guessed another two undocumented endpoints "deadcomments" and "deadstories", these take you to a special admin login page if you're logged out, or say "Unknown." if logged in: https://news.ycombinator.com/deadcomments https://news.ycombinator.com/deadcomments https://news.ycombinator.com/deadstories https://news.ycombinator.com/deadstories And the endpoint "flagged", which is empty for me: https://news.ycombinator.com/flagged https://news.ycombinator.com/flagged But if you add a username, e.g. "?id=dang", it says "Can't display that." instead: https://news.ycombinator.com/flagged?id=dang https://news.ycombinator.com/flagged?id=dang Interesting to stumble upon these even if they do nothing for a non-admin user!
    - tptacek 2y ago
      `/flagged` is the list of stories you've flagged.
      - spasibot 2y ago
        That makes sense, thank you.
    - dredmorbius 2y ago
      /flagged, /upvoted, and /favorites, with an "?id=<your_userID>" are how your own flagged, upvoted, and favourited posts/comments are displayed. "&kind=comments" specifically returns flagged comments, otherwise posts. For upvotes and faves, the argument is "&comments=t", for consistency one presumes... Favourites can be displayed for other users, upvoted and flagged cannot (for mere mortals). I suspect downvotes can also be displayed, though I don't know that syntax.
      - r721 2y ago
        I recently found out that "/vouched?id=<your_userID>" also works.
  - dredmorbius 2y ago
    The replies/by is particularly handy in sorting out why a dead account has been banned, or if there've been previous moderator interactions. That's my own principle use.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  Search term exclusion: TIL! I swear I've tried that w/o luck before. Possibly was confounding that with OR pairing, usually given as "(termA|termB)". I'm pretty sure that doesn't work as expected (and just tested it). It's also annoyingly absent from DDG search, which is out of scope for here. I'd been made aware of the undocumented endpoint but didn't want to spill the beans ;-) It's apparently expensive. OK to run manually, but don't script it.
  - dang 2y ago
    Oh yes, OR clauses would be great. Maybe Trieve can give us propositional logic over search terms!
    - skeptrune 2y ago
      Can do!
- niutech 2y ago
  Is it possible to add the alternative ("OR") operator? https://github.com/algolia/hn-search/issues/169 https://github.com/algolia/hn-search/issues/169
skeptrune 2y ago
>Replies to a specific user Will definitely make sure to add that to our search before launch! That is a really good idea. >Improved date-bounding interface Note taken :) We also have negated terms which will work the same way.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  While you're taking notes ... Comments to a posts from a specific domain might also be useful. HN exposes that in its story syntax and I'm pretty sure that's in the API as well.
  - skeptrune 2y ago
    Yep, already did that one! Making it performant was a pain, but it should be useful. Other feature requests/ideas would definitely be appreciated.
    - dredmorbius 2y ago
      The one other: a URL-based selector for comments vs. posts. That's one thing Algolia seems to be missing. It defaults to post search, I'm usually looking for comments. That's one additional step, which isn't fatal but is vaguely annoying. I think that's my main gripes / wants. And I'm a heavy user of Algolia and other search tools, so I think that's a reasonably complete set.
- tillulen 2y ago
  I would like to sort comments by the level of the author’s expertise in whatever they are discussing. HN is a goldmine, but finding valuable knowledge within heated or elaborate discussions requires too much commitment to read through everything. A weighted number of a comment’s upvotes is one signal. However, I can often tell when an author has deep knowledge or comprehensive experience with a subject just by reading their comment. Do you think it might be possible to automate that kind of judgment?
  - 2y ago

dang 2y ago

Algolia does do search term exclusion. Compare https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=procfs%20linux&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... and https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=procfs%20-linux&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu.... On the second point - HN has an undocumented endpoint https://news.ycombinator.com/replies?id=skeptrune&by=dredmorbius https://news.ycombinator.com/replies?id=skeptrune&by=dredmor... but that doesn't give you search of course.

tptacek 2y ago
whoah
- spasibot 2y ago
  Just guessed another two undocumented endpoints "deadcomments" and "deadstories", these take you to a special admin login page if you're logged out, or say "Unknown." if logged in: https://news.ycombinator.com/deadcomments https://news.ycombinator.com/deadcomments https://news.ycombinator.com/deadstories https://news.ycombinator.com/deadstories And the endpoint "flagged", which is empty for me: https://news.ycombinator.com/flagged https://news.ycombinator.com/flagged But if you add a username, e.g. "?id=dang", it says "Can't display that." instead: https://news.ycombinator.com/flagged?id=dang https://news.ycombinator.com/flagged?id=dang Interesting to stumble upon these even if they do nothing for a non-admin user!
  - tptacek 2y ago
    `/flagged` is the list of stories you've flagged.
    - spasibot 2y ago
      That makes sense, thank you.
  - dredmorbius 2y ago
    /flagged, /upvoted, and /favorites, with an "?id=<your_userID>" are how your own flagged, upvoted, and favourited posts/comments are displayed. "&kind=comments" specifically returns flagged comments, otherwise posts. For upvotes and faves, the argument is "&comments=t", for consistency one presumes... Favourites can be displayed for other users, upvoted and flagged cannot (for mere mortals). I suspect downvotes can also be displayed, though I don't know that syntax.
    - r721 2y ago
      I recently found out that "/vouched?id=<your_userID>" also works.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  The replies/by is particularly handy in sorting out why a dead account has been banned, or if there've been previous moderator interactions. That's my own principle use.
dredmorbius 2y ago
Search term exclusion: TIL! I swear I've tried that w/o luck before. Possibly was confounding that with OR pairing, usually given as "(termA|termB)". I'm pretty sure that doesn't work as expected (and just tested it). It's also annoyingly absent from DDG search, which is out of scope for here. I'd been made aware of the undocumented endpoint but didn't want to spill the beans ;-) It's apparently expensive. OK to run manually, but don't script it.
- dang 2y ago
  Oh yes, OR clauses would be great. Maybe Trieve can give us propositional logic over search terms!
  - skeptrune 2y ago
    Can do!
niutech 2y ago
Is it possible to add the alternative ("OR") operator? https://github.com/algolia/hn-search/issues/169 https://github.com/algolia/hn-search/issues/169

skeptrune 2y ago

>Replies to a specific user Will definitely make sure to add that to our search before launch! That is a really good idea. >Improved date-bounding interface Note taken :) We also have negated terms which will work the same way.

dredmorbius 2y ago
While you're taking notes ... Comments to a posts from a specific domain might also be useful. HN exposes that in its story syntax and I'm pretty sure that's in the API as well.
- skeptrune 2y ago
  Yep, already did that one! Making it performant was a pain, but it should be useful. Other feature requests/ideas would definitely be appreciated.
  - dredmorbius 2y ago
    The one other: a URL-based selector for comments vs. posts. That's one thing Algolia seems to be missing. It defaults to post search, I'm usually looking for comments. That's one additional step, which isn't fatal but is vaguely annoying. I think that's my main gripes / wants. And I'm a heavy user of Algolia and other search tools, so I think that's a reasonably complete set.
tillulen 2y ago
I would like to sort comments by the level of the author’s expertise in whatever they are discussing. HN is a goldmine, but finding valuable knowledge within heated or elaborate discussions requires too much commitment to read through everything. A weighted number of a comment’s upvotes is one signal. However, I can often tell when an author has deep knowledge or comprehensive experience with a subject just by reading their comment. Do you think it might be possible to automate that kind of judgment?
- 2y ago