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Show HN: Rabbit Holes

43 points by amanmathur 2y ago

Built a way to spatially explore wikipedia topics! Enter a topic of your choice and dig into the rabbit hole. All content is from Wikipedia—related topics are generated with GPT based on the summary. Spacebar to expand a topic inline, arrow keys to move around, and "J" to open journey view!

thomascountz 2y ago
This is a cool idea and is fun to explore. It would be cool to be able to revisit a page/topic via the journey view. (Perhaps you can, but I'm unable to on Firefox iOS). I think it's interesting that each time I revisit a topic, I might be given a different set of choices; leading me down a different branch. Thanks for sharing!
- amanmathur 2y ago
  thanks!
robbles 2y ago
I opened this on a mobile device, and it only shows the top and bottom topic buttons. I was pretty confused until I tried turning on "desktop site" in Chrome and saw the left/right buttons. Having only a linear track of topics kind of undermines the overall idea!
- amanmathur 2y ago
  yeah was originally a way to keep mobile more constrained and usable -- but definitely isn't as fun. Will add 4 directions back in on mobile :)
g-adamante 2y ago
I like the concept! I don't like the wall of text. It's hard to concentrate / parse what's in the text box. Keep working on it, it has potential.
- amanmathur 2y ago
  can present the text in a more readable way, thanks for the feedback!
piyushtechsavy 2y ago
Cool idea, however I feel the linked topics are pretty narrow and may not be very related. It could be more like a map.
cobertos 2y ago
So is down "deeper" into the rabbit hole? Or is down more specific and up is more general? Or is it just a related topic (meaning up and down aren't different in any way)?
- amanmathur 2y ago
  right now they're all random topics, but thinking about adding meaning to the directions in next iteration
dimal 2y ago
Cool idea. I’d suggest a few tweaks to improve text formatting. Justified text generally doesn’t read well on a device. Better to justify left. And paragraph breaks seem to be lost, which makes it harder to read and scan.
rickcarlino 2y ago
Would be fun if it had a language selector.
samstave 2y ago
"All wikipedia entries lead to philosophy: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=wikipedia+always+leads+to+philisophy&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=wikipedia+always+leads+to+p... https://old.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/iqatv/wikipedia_always_leads_to_philosophy/ https://old.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/iqatv/wikipedia... -- Did any of this come up for you when you built this? Is this a rabbit hole https://i.imgur.com/PDjVH2J.png https://i.imgur.com/PDjVH2J.png But the UI is neat -- but it REALLY needs a minimap in the corner that will give me the path of my Rabbit's Warren. https://i.imgur.com/E0WpuQU.png https://i.imgur.com/E0WpuQU.png Also navigate by WSAD like Bards Tale - and walk through the concept map with keyboard.
vintagedave 2y ago
Great idea. Your site may have been hugged to death, but if it's supposed to be working now, please check on Safari: viewing a topic shows a blank scrollable rectangle where there should be article text, and not much else. I second another commenter's idea of a minimap: let's visually build the rabbit warren! Just like this: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Rabbit-warren-with-entrances-1-15-covers-an-area-of-260-m-2-Point-A-indicates-the_fig1_236661270 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Rabbit-warren-with-entra...
bhargav 2y ago
Love this concept but I wish it did not pick topics that were so "distant" from the current topic. Initial topic: Pizza Recommended nodes: Pizzerias, Italian cuisine, Woodfired Ovens, Neapolitan Pizzas At L1, I'd expect more of the last, such as type of pizza.

43 points by amanmathur 2y ago

thomascountz 2y ago

This is a cool idea and is fun to explore. It would be cool to be able to revisit a page/topic via the journey view. (Perhaps you can, but I'm unable to on Firefox iOS). I think it's interesting that each time I revisit a topic, I might be given a different set of choices; leading me down a different branch. Thanks for sharing!

amanmathur 2y ago
thanks!

robbles 2y ago

I opened this on a mobile device, and it only shows the top and bottom topic buttons. I was pretty confused until I tried turning on "desktop site" in Chrome and saw the left/right buttons. Having only a linear track of topics kind of undermines the overall idea!

amanmathur 2y ago
yeah was originally a way to keep mobile more constrained and usable -- but definitely isn't as fun. Will add 4 directions back in on mobile :)

g-adamante 2y ago

I like the concept! I don't like the wall of text. It's hard to concentrate / parse what's in the text box. Keep working on it, it has potential.

amanmathur 2y ago
can present the text in a more readable way, thanks for the feedback!

piyushtechsavy 2y ago

Cool idea, however I feel the linked topics are pretty narrow and may not be very related. It could be more like a map.

cobertos 2y ago

So is down "deeper" into the rabbit hole? Or is down more specific and up is more general? Or is it just a related topic (meaning up and down aren't different in any way)?

amanmathur 2y ago
right now they're all random topics, but thinking about adding meaning to the directions in next iteration

dimal 2y ago

Cool idea. I’d suggest a few tweaks to improve text formatting. Justified text generally doesn’t read well on a device. Better to justify left. And paragraph breaks seem to be lost, which makes it harder to read and scan.

rickcarlino 2y ago

Would be fun if it had a language selector.

samstave 2y ago

"All wikipedia entries lead to philosophy: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=wikipedia+always+leads+to+philisophy&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=wikipedia+always+leads+to+p... https://old.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/iqatv/wikipedia_always_leads_to_philosophy/ https://old.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/iqatv/wikipedia... -- Did any of this come up for you when you built this? Is this a rabbit hole https://i.imgur.com/PDjVH2J.png https://i.imgur.com/PDjVH2J.png But the UI is neat -- but it REALLY needs a minimap in the corner that will give me the path of my Rabbit's Warren. https://i.imgur.com/E0WpuQU.png https://i.imgur.com/E0WpuQU.png Also navigate by WSAD like Bards Tale - and walk through the concept map with keyboard.

vintagedave 2y ago

Great idea. Your site may have been hugged to death, but if it's supposed to be working now, please check on Safari: viewing a topic shows a blank scrollable rectangle where there should be article text, and not much else. I second another commenter's idea of a minimap: let's visually build the rabbit warren! Just like this: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Rabbit-warren-with-entrances-1-15-covers-an-area-of-260-m-2-Point-A-indicates-the_fig1_236661270 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Rabbit-warren-with-entra...

bhargav 2y ago

Love this concept but I wish it did not pick topics that were so "distant" from the current topic. Initial topic: Pizza Recommended nodes: Pizzerias, Italian cuisine, Woodfired Ovens, Neapolitan Pizzas At L1, I'd expect more of the last, such as type of pizza.