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I'd rather not. There are enough nagging notifications in my day as it is. When I want to see whether I have any active conversations, I click on "threads." H

I'd rather not. There are enough nagging notifications in my day as it is. When I want to see whether I have any active conversations, I click on "threads." HN has one of the best comment sections on the web, in my opinion, because it's focused on thoughtful discussions that add to the main article as opposed to long Reddit-style conversations that bob and weave and become almost a separate entity of their own. I think a notification feature in HN would encourage a more Reddit-style comment section, and take away from the slightly more laconic, thoughtful, and ultimately valuable comments that appear here now. The great and valuable comments would still appear, but they'd stand a chance of being immersed in a larger sea of back-and-forth noise, making them less prominent.

skizm 12y ago
So more clicks/effort to get back to your comments means you're more willing to put in an effort when making comments? And therefore leads to better comments in general?
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hollerith 12y ago
Your comment conflates two things that should be kept separate: (1) long chains of replies between two participants (which I also believe should be discouraged simply because experience has shown those comments to be of lower quality) and (2) eliminating the need for people to repeatedly scan for replies to their own comments. Rapid scanning of long pages of text -- particularly if it involves scanning past comments I have already seen -- is probably the worst aspect of how I currently use the internet, and I am trying to eliminate as much of it as I can because I don't like and don't trust the way it makes me feel. There are other ways of discouraging long chains of replies between two comment writers: the HN server software already sometimes omits the "reply" link on some comments until some "cooling off" period has expired, and the duration of the "cooling off" interval could be lengthened. >There are enough nagging notifications in my day as it is. I use http://hnnotify.com/ http://hnnotify.com/, which sends me an email whenever someone replies to one of my comments. If every one of those emails produced a "notification" (something that tried to get my attention right at the moment the email hit my computer or my phone), then, yeah, that would be a mis-use of my brain and would negate any value I get from hnnotify.
wuliwong 12y ago
Pretty interesting thought. I don't use reddit much, so I'll take your word for those comment sections being of poor quality. It would seem there might need to be additional UI/UX work to navigate back-and-forth type discussions but I don't believe it would be insurmountable. A UI that focused on the top level comments with expandable threads, would seem to leave the initial experience nearly the same but with the "deep dive" available to those who wish to partake.

skizm 12y ago

So more clicks/effort to get back to your comments means you're more willing to put in an effort when making comments? And therefore leads to better comments in general?

deleted 12y ago
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hollerith 12y ago

Your comment conflates two things that should be kept separate: (1) long chains of replies between two participants (which I also believe should be discouraged simply because experience has shown those comments to be of lower quality) and (2) eliminating the need for people to repeatedly scan for replies to their own comments. Rapid scanning of long pages of text -- particularly if it involves scanning past comments I have already seen -- is probably the worst aspect of how I currently use the internet, and I am trying to eliminate as much of it as I can because I don't like and don't trust the way it makes me feel. There are other ways of discouraging long chains of replies between two comment writers: the HN server software already sometimes omits the "reply" link on some comments until some "cooling off" period has expired, and the duration of the "cooling off" interval could be lengthened. >There are enough nagging notifications in my day as it is. I use http://hnnotify.com/ http://hnnotify.com/, which sends me an email whenever someone replies to one of my comments. If every one of those emails produced a "notification" (something that tried to get my attention right at the moment the email hit my computer or my phone), then, yeah, that would be a mis-use of my brain and would negate any value I get from hnnotify.

wuliwong 12y ago

Pretty interesting thought. I don't use reddit much, so I'll take your word for those comment sections being of poor quality. It would seem there might need to be additional UI/UX work to navigate back-and-forth type discussions but I don't believe it would be insurmountable. A UI that focused on the top level comments with expandable threads, would seem to leave the initial experience nearly the same but with the "deep dive" available to those who wish to partake.