12 ms·

Show HN: HN as TikTok, welcome to HN hell

170 points by sirobg 2y ago

Inspired by WikiTok (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42936723 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42936723) After making HN paradise: https://meet.hn https://meet.hn I had to make https://hnhell.com https://hnhell.com Fully created with v0.dev: wanted to make the joke but didn't have time for it. Thanks v0! It's even better as you will probably enjoy some very cursed errors/problems, which is expected in hell.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
danieldevries 2y ago
Me likey
joseppudev 2y ago
[flagged]
redbell 2y ago
Oh, thanks! That was such a quick implementation—and a nice addition to the Show HN gallery, especially for HN-related projects. When I came across WikiTok yesterday, the first thought that popped into my mind was how this format could work for HN. And here we are! With the abundance of AI coding assistants available today, creating prototypes, demos, or MVPs can now be done in just a few hours instead of taking days or even weeks. As developers, we should absolutely take advantage of these tools to stay ahead and remain innovative—otherwise, we might risk being left behind!
- sirobg 2y ago
  To be fair it is really not great, but it works for the joke and I'm impressed by how good it works for how little time it took.
- techjamie 2y ago
  I made a prototype template for a site and had it exactly how I wanted in about an hour. I mocked it up in Photopea, gave Claude an image, and told it to generate HTML that would make a page with those qualities. A few tweaks and a couple more prompts later and I had all the main elements I wanted in place, and just need to fill content which I won't use AI for. Probably saved me several hours because I suck at frontend.
  - fuzzzerd 2y ago
    I also struggle with frontend, can you share any more about how you did this? All local? From a service? My usage so Fae is limited to copilot, but I'd like to try other things.
    - grimgrin 2y ago
      claude isn’t local. the key is providing the image to direct the html and css from the llm
MasterScrat 2y ago
I think both of these projects miss what makes TikTok (and reels in general) so effective. A good TikTok video gets "injected into your brain". You have zero effort to provide and suddenly this stuff is in your mind. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I realize the danger, but that's the core mechanism. A friend in marketing describes this in terms of "brain calories". Eg if people have to think in order to understand your landing page, you failed to communicate your ideas efficiently, as it "requires too many brain calories". TikTok content requires zero brain calories. One could say that only very shallow information could be spread this way (eg people dancing, video game clips) but I'm not sure that's true. The real challenge would be to turn an arbitrary source of information (wikipedia, hn) and make it immediately graspable. I suspect modern AI models could already go quite far in this direction. Veritasium is a good example of interesting yet very graspable content: https://www.tiktok.com/@veritasium/video/7329576935317622058 https://www.tiktok.com/@veritasium/video/7329576935317622058
- aaron695 2y ago
  [dead]
- xtiansimon 2y ago
  > "A good TikTok video gets "injected into your brain"" I worked in marketing, so I'm generally immune to outrageous metaphor, such as "injected" into your brain. That said, I just want to point out the irony we're still using phrases like this after 20+ years of research on networked media and user interaction, and soft science research into cognitive psychology and behavioral psychology, as well as research into human biology and the brain. So when I hear brain injection as the secret to successful technologies like TikTok's algorithm (plus music licensing), I see a vast gap. I'm reminded about the general distain for new disciplines such as memetics and problematic disciplines such as semiotics, which nevertheless offer more precise language and less hyperbole. Established disciplines such as behavioral science, for example, say we don't need these disciplines, because they're problematic and add nothing. So I ask, Why haven't the sciences I speak of contributed more to the general discourse?
  - micah94 2y ago
pipeline_peak 2y ago
Use an LLM to summarize each page in one sentence. This takes too much effort to feel like TikTok.
- intalentive 2y ago
  Summarize in one image
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
  > summarize each page in one sentence Or the entire comments section. That could be some good comedy.
carabiner 2y ago
Both URLs blocked by corporate firewall because of bad SSL.
sebastiennight 2y ago
The concept has potential... It's still an aggregator of links though. You're missing the "zero effort" factor, which could be achieved by summarizing the content and generating some AI cartoon or video based on it. It would be somewhat costly but much more fun to browse.
- johnisgood 2y ago
  Yeah, that is it. These websites (like this one) are really just aggregators, nothing special about it, really. Now, AI cartoon / video based off of it, that is a different story indeed.
busymom0 2y ago
Bug report: On iPhone (with Safari url bar set to bottom), the titles are all clipped at the bottom. I think it has to do with your website using the screen height instead of the visible part only.
- AirMax98 2y ago
  100dvh is your friend.
  - electrovir 2y ago
    I coincidentally just discovered this unit today for work! What a godsend.
  - flessner 2y ago
    Is 100dvh preferred over 100svh in this case? I never noticed a difference between them as the viewport size mostly doesn't change without scrolling... which shouldn't happen for both, right?
ge96 2y ago
haha clicking on this link in the app
Liftyee 2y ago
Fun little project! And possibly my future productivity black hole... I noticed that on mobile Firefox the bottom part of the screen (username, date) are cut off by the address bar. Just a nitpick
Funes- 2y ago
Make it generate a short video for every thread, with a summary of the subject and some of the quarrels in the comments section and you're set. Make sure it uses all the ridiculous shenanigans tiktok users resort to, as well.
- nkozyra 2y ago
  Yeah honestly with the AI tools we have now it would be feasible to turn each entry into an engagement bait 1 min video (but please nobody do this) This is simply a swipeable view of hn.
Jotalea 2y ago
I like this.
capela 2y ago
Use 100dvh!!!
themrredbeard 2y ago
I kinda like it for discovery. It plops content in my face that I might have missed or ignored. Not a replacement but great for skimming.
tempodox 2y ago
I expected dancing teenagers singing the texts of the posts.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
subarctic 2y ago
This is actually pretty good. Would be nice if it supported arrow keys to scroll down/up on your computer
lxgr 2y ago
Pretty good! Could definitely use more thunder and subway surfers overlays, though.
lopatin 2y ago
The bad SSL cert is the perfect feature for this.
hsuduebc2 2y ago
Ah my favorite content source in brain rot format. Thank you
didip 2y ago
To make it truly hell, you need AI help: Generate a scantily clad anime furry dancing for 30 seconds while talking about summarized HN content (SSH, Rails, React, etc.) narrated by a seductive female AI voice.
- yakshaving_jgt 2y ago
  I will give you the full amount for 20% of the business.
  - oldMobileOnWifi 2y ago
    No joke but I use Pinterest for circuit building and IC pinout diagrams when suddenly my feed started being filled with 3D A.I. generated goth hello kitty images. <sarcasm> Never before have I ever been so eager to check Pinterest for new content. I'd say you have a potential startup idea on your hands! </sarcasm>
elazersf 2y ago
[dead]
bloudermilk 2y ago
This a fun little experiment. Nice job!
rbits 2y ago
For this to work properly, I feel like it has to show the article without having to click on anything. As it is right now the experience doesn't feel much like TikTok
bicepjai 2y ago
Funny I was thinking the same after seeing wikitok
mhovan 2y ago
That was definitely hell on my LittleSnitch "protected" laptop. I was bombarded with outgoing network connections before I closed the browser tab. I must have approved/denied several hundred connections to different sites before abandoning the effort.
hambos22 2y ago
Neat! You should add scroll-snap-stop: always; to each slide so it won't scroll past the next slide due to inertia.
anon115 2y ago
what if stripe.com was a really good tiktok video?
eamonobr 2y ago
This is cool! I’ve had it on my back burner to recreate the fun of StumbleUpon, but make it a TikTok copycat UI. I planned to go back and feed it with years of HN links. This is basically it!
thecuntdaniel 2y ago
[flagged]

170 points by sirobg 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

danieldevries 2y ago

Me likey

joseppudev 2y ago

[flagged]

redbell 2y ago

Oh, thanks! That was such a quick implementation—and a nice addition to the Show HN gallery, especially for HN-related projects. When I came across WikiTok yesterday, the first thought that popped into my mind was how this format could work for HN. And here we are! With the abundance of AI coding assistants available today, creating prototypes, demos, or MVPs can now be done in just a few hours instead of taking days or even weeks. As developers, we should absolutely take advantage of these tools to stay ahead and remain innovative—otherwise, we might risk being left behind!

sirobg 2y ago
To be fair it is really not great, but it works for the joke and I'm impressed by how good it works for how little time it took.
techjamie 2y ago
I made a prototype template for a site and had it exactly how I wanted in about an hour. I mocked it up in Photopea, gave Claude an image, and told it to generate HTML that would make a page with those qualities. A few tweaks and a couple more prompts later and I had all the main elements I wanted in place, and just need to fill content which I won't use AI for. Probably saved me several hours because I suck at frontend.
- fuzzzerd 2y ago
  I also struggle with frontend, can you share any more about how you did this? All local? From a service? My usage so Fae is limited to copilot, but I'd like to try other things.
  - grimgrin 2y ago
    claude isn’t local. the key is providing the image to direct the html and css from the llm

MasterScrat 2y ago

I think both of these projects miss what makes TikTok (and reels in general) so effective. A good TikTok video gets "injected into your brain". You have zero effort to provide and suddenly this stuff is in your mind. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I realize the danger, but that's the core mechanism. A friend in marketing describes this in terms of "brain calories". Eg if people have to think in order to understand your landing page, you failed to communicate your ideas efficiently, as it "requires too many brain calories". TikTok content requires zero brain calories. One could say that only very shallow information could be spread this way (eg people dancing, video game clips) but I'm not sure that's true. The real challenge would be to turn an arbitrary source of information (wikipedia, hn) and make it immediately graspable. I suspect modern AI models could already go quite far in this direction. Veritasium is a good example of interesting yet very graspable content: https://www.tiktok.com/@veritasium/video/7329576935317622058 https://www.tiktok.com/@veritasium/video/7329576935317622058

aaron695 2y ago
[dead]
xtiansimon 2y ago
> "A good TikTok video gets "injected into your brain"" I worked in marketing, so I'm generally immune to outrageous metaphor, such as "injected" into your brain. That said, I just want to point out the irony we're still using phrases like this after 20+ years of research on networked media and user interaction, and soft science research into cognitive psychology and behavioral psychology, as well as research into human biology and the brain. So when I hear brain injection as the secret to successful technologies like TikTok's algorithm (plus music licensing), I see a vast gap. I'm reminded about the general distain for new disciplines such as memetics and problematic disciplines such as semiotics, which nevertheless offer more precise language and less hyperbole. Established disciplines such as behavioral science, for example, say we don't need these disciplines, because they're problematic and add nothing. So I ask, Why haven't the sciences I speak of contributed more to the general discourse?
- micah94 2y ago

pipeline_peak 2y ago

Use an LLM to summarize each page in one sentence. This takes too much effort to feel like TikTok.

intalentive 2y ago
Summarize in one image
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
> summarize each page in one sentence Or the entire comments section. That could be some good comedy.

carabiner 2y ago

Both URLs blocked by corporate firewall because of bad SSL.

sebastiennight 2y ago

The concept has potential... It's still an aggregator of links though. You're missing the "zero effort" factor, which could be achieved by summarizing the content and generating some AI cartoon or video based on it. It would be somewhat costly but much more fun to browse.

johnisgood 2y ago
Yeah, that is it. These websites (like this one) are really just aggregators, nothing special about it, really. Now, AI cartoon / video based off of it, that is a different story indeed.

busymom0 2y ago

Bug report: On iPhone (with Safari url bar set to bottom), the titles are all clipped at the bottom. I think it has to do with your website using the screen height instead of the visible part only.

AirMax98 2y ago
100dvh is your friend.
- electrovir 2y ago
  I coincidentally just discovered this unit today for work! What a godsend.
- flessner 2y ago
  Is 100dvh preferred over 100svh in this case? I never noticed a difference between them as the viewport size mostly doesn't change without scrolling... which shouldn't happen for both, right?

ge96 2y ago

haha clicking on this link in the app

Liftyee 2y ago

Fun little project! And possibly my future productivity black hole... I noticed that on mobile Firefox the bottom part of the screen (username, date) are cut off by the address bar. Just a nitpick

Funes- 2y ago

Make it generate a short video for every thread, with a summary of the subject and some of the quarrels in the comments section and you're set. Make sure it uses all the ridiculous shenanigans tiktok users resort to, as well.

nkozyra 2y ago
Yeah honestly with the AI tools we have now it would be feasible to turn each entry into an engagement bait 1 min video (but please nobody do this) This is simply a swipeable view of hn.

Jotalea 2y ago

I like this.

capela 2y ago

Use 100dvh!!!

themrredbeard 2y ago

I kinda like it for discovery. It plops content in my face that I might have missed or ignored. Not a replacement but great for skimming.

tempodox 2y ago

I expected dancing teenagers singing the texts of the posts.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

subarctic 2y ago

This is actually pretty good. Would be nice if it supported arrow keys to scroll down/up on your computer

lxgr 2y ago

Pretty good! Could definitely use more thunder and subway surfers overlays, though.

lopatin 2y ago

The bad SSL cert is the perfect feature for this.

hsuduebc2 2y ago

Ah my favorite content source in brain rot format. Thank you

didip 2y ago

To make it truly hell, you need AI help: Generate a scantily clad anime furry dancing for 30 seconds while talking about summarized HN content (SSH, Rails, React, etc.) narrated by a seductive female AI voice.

yakshaving_jgt 2y ago
I will give you the full amount for 20% of the business.
- oldMobileOnWifi 2y ago
  No joke but I use Pinterest for circuit building and IC pinout diagrams when suddenly my feed started being filled with 3D A.I. generated goth hello kitty images. <sarcasm> Never before have I ever been so eager to check Pinterest for new content. I'd say you have a potential startup idea on your hands! </sarcasm>

elazersf 2y ago

[dead]

bloudermilk 2y ago

This a fun little experiment. Nice job!

rbits 2y ago

For this to work properly, I feel like it has to show the article without having to click on anything. As it is right now the experience doesn't feel much like TikTok

bicepjai 2y ago

Funny I was thinking the same after seeing wikitok

mhovan 2y ago

That was definitely hell on my LittleSnitch "protected" laptop. I was bombarded with outgoing network connections before I closed the browser tab. I must have approved/denied several hundred connections to different sites before abandoning the effort.

hambos22 2y ago

Neat! You should add scroll-snap-stop: always; to each slide so it won't scroll past the next slide due to inertia.

anon115 2y ago

what if stripe.com was a really good tiktok video?

eamonobr 2y ago

This is cool! I’ve had it on my back burner to recreate the fun of StumbleUpon, but make it a TikTok copycat UI. I planned to go back and feed it with years of HN links. This is basically it!

thecuntdaniel 2y ago

[flagged]