5 ms·

Show HN: HN Follow – Follow Your Friends on HN

76 points by film42 12y ago

film42 12y ago
Hey everyone, this was a little weekend hack. I hope you find it useful! Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to check out my follow page: https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=film42 https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=film42 Another example, HN top 10: https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=hn-top-10 https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=hn-top-10
- KhalilK 12y ago
  Well, all it takes is to add &edit=true to anyone's follow page...
  - seszett 12y ago
    Or just click the "Edit" button. I think it's intended (avoiding the need for some kind of auth).
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - film42 12y ago
    Yup. For now that's all it takes. I wasn't really concerned preventing other people from editing a profile up until now. I liked how HN Notify allows anyone to opt-in or opt-out, so I copied that style. I figured HN would prefer it that way.
    - KhalilK 12y ago
      It is indeed simple to setup in a pleasant way, but there are plenty of trolls out there. Kudos nonetheless!
      - film42 12y ago
        Thank you! Seems like enough people have expressed concern about the ability to edit any profile. I'll add something simple to lock a profile down soon.
- 3rd3 12y ago
  You should verify users by giving them a code they have to put in a comment somewhere.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - austenallred 12y ago
    Probably in their HN profile would make the most sense.
    - 3rd3 12y ago
      That’s a much better idea. It wouldn’t even require storing credentials since the profile page can be updated pretty quickly.
      - film42 12y ago
        Feel free to make a contribution! Source: https://github.com/film42/hn-follow https://github.com/film42/hn-follow
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- findjashua 12y ago
  Nice! I was working on something similar, except that it was a chrome extension that put a follow/unfollow button by the username, and required authentication via google credentials. But, since I didn't keep a limit on the number of people you could follow, as the number of people I was following increased, waiting for Firebase responses to return (for ordering comments by id) started taking too long and killed the user experience. I wish there was a way to do a bulk query (ala Elasticsearch), so I could get all comment ids in one request. The response time would still increase with increasing number of users, but it would be marginal compared to the current situation.
porter 12y ago
I honestly don't know why this isn't already built into HN.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- michaelochurch 12y ago
  Hi.
- film42 12y ago
  I just wanted to let you know that your comment put a smile on my face. Thank you!
- eevilspock 12y ago
  Because it would undermine HN's goal that we vote for and comment on content on its own merits, not whether it was posted or commented on by someone you like. I don't think HN is doing that great a job in surfacing the best content or encouraging better discourse in comments, but making it easy to follow favorite users instead of going to the front page would make it worse, IMHO.
  - fivedogit 12y ago
    As I was building my "follow" chrome extension... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn2go/logdfcelflpgcbfebibbeajmhpofckjh https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn2go/logdfcelflpg... (shameless plug) ... I definitely wondered about this. All of a sudden, it turns HN into a popularity contest where the elite get all the attention and everyone else is completely ignored.
    - minimaxir 12y ago
      It should be noted that YC founders have a special Orange username that's visible only to other YC founders. The purpose is to prevent flame wars between founders, but I have my suspicions that such submissions receive more up votes on average. (Cannot prove statistically without the list, unfortunately.)
JacobAldridge 12y ago
If you're scratching your head trying to think of 10 names, this might help jog your memory - https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders
- film42 12y ago
  Here's a list of the Top 10: https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=hn-top-10 https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=hn-top-10
- spindritf 12y ago
  'tptacek maintains a "must read" list in his profile. I'd add kasey_junk to it. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=tptacek https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=tptacek
  - film42 12y ago
    I made one with a few of the usernames on his must follow list: https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=tptacek-must-read https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=tptacek-must-read
  - tptacek 12y ago
    That's a good idea. Thanks!
vermooten 12y ago
I haven't got any friends :(
- mhurron 12y ago
  Quit complaining, it simplifies a lot.
liotier 12y ago
Follow you enemies too !
napoleond 12y ago
Cool! I've been working on a little Chrome extension that does something similar (and has a quite similar name ;) ): https://github.com/napoleond/follow-hn https://github.com/napoleond/follow-hn Have been meaning to polish it a bit more, but I suppose now is as good a time as any to share it. One outstanding feature that I think will be pretty useful is caching user comments--right now it re-constructs the comment feed on every page load, which isn't ideal.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- film42 12y ago
  I love this! Feel free to piggy back off of the HN Follow API. I already support caching! :)
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- fivedogit 12y ago
  Same here. Finished it a couple of days ago. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn2go/logdfcelflpgcbfebibbeajmhpofckjh https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn2go/logdfcelflpg... https://github.com/fivedogit/hn2go-backend https://github.com/fivedogit/hn2go-backend https://github.com/fivedogit/hn2go-chromex https://github.com/fivedogit/hn2go-chromex The funny part is that @raquo and I posted our "follow" apps/extensions (separate projects) this week and got no love from HN. And then this thread took off for some reason. Timing? Titling? God I hate the randomness of marketing.
  - austenallred 12y ago
    I don't think it's random at all. From a would-be user's perspective it makes complete sense to me that this post took off and yours didn't get too far. I want to explain why, not to be a dick, but because I feel like all hackers (myself included) have a hard time seeing things from the user's perspective. First, the title of your submission: > Show HN: Search HN by keywords, user, score, Read online, on mobile or RSS It's completely unclear what your product is. Honestly it sounds like you packaged up HN with some more CSS and an RSS reader or something? I don't really know. "Read online?" How else would I read HN? "Search HN?" I don't really have anyting to search for, and if I did I would just use Google. The reason film42's post took off is because people were interested in following. Yours didn't even mention following. Now let's look at film42's title: > Show HN: HN Follow – Follow Your Friends on HN My first reaction? "Oh cool, I have a lot of friends who use HN, I wonder what they've been saying." Then perhaps the best part of film42's app is that he used HN's styling in a way that almost felt like you hadn't left HN. It is completely familiar, and, as others have pointed out, it feels like something that should have been part of HN already. The friction of onboarding was completely eliminated - I didn't have to sign up for or download anything, but I could use it and wanted more. The missing auth is probably a mistake in the long-run, but missing that feature probably reduced some friction getting started. At the end of the day, you have 5 seconds to impress me or I'm gone. It's quite possible, when your app doesn't take off, that the only thing you did wrong was not use those 5 seconds.
nickstinemates 12y ago
I have been using HNWatcher for this - I especially appreciate the emails it sends. I'll take a look. Thanks for sharing!
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
RRWagner 12y ago
Is there a current open-source version of HN that one could use to create a small HN for a group of friends? How close of a clone to HN could one create using Wordpress?
- EGreg 12y ago
  I'm working on something like that. If you're interested, contact me.
- dood 12y ago
  Reddit's source is available: https://github.com/reddit/reddit https://github.com/reddit/reddit
- chriskelley 12y ago
  You could start from the lobste.rs source, available here: https://github.com/jcs/lobsters https://github.com/jcs/lobsters There is a mirror floating around of news.arc[1], the original version of HN from pg, but it's pretty dated and missing tons of the secret sauce. [1]https://github.com/wting/hackernews https://github.com/wting/hackernews
- jlas 12y ago
  I'd recommend Telescope: http://www.telesc.pe/ http://www.telesc.pe/

76 points by film42 12y ago

Hey everyone, this was a little weekend hack. I hope you find it useful! Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to check out my follow page: https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=film42 https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=film42 Another example, HN top 10: https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=hn-top-10 https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=hn-top-10

KhalilK 12y ago
Well, all it takes is to add &edit=true to anyone's follow page...
- seszett 12y ago
  Or just click the "Edit" button. I think it's intended (avoiding the need for some kind of auth).
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- film42 12y ago
  Yup. For now that's all it takes. I wasn't really concerned preventing other people from editing a profile up until now. I liked how HN Notify allows anyone to opt-in or opt-out, so I copied that style. I figured HN would prefer it that way.
  - KhalilK 12y ago
    It is indeed simple to setup in a pleasant way, but there are plenty of trolls out there. Kudos nonetheless!
    - film42 12y ago
      Thank you! Seems like enough people have expressed concern about the ability to edit any profile. I'll add something simple to lock a profile down soon.
3rd3 12y ago
You should verify users by giving them a code they have to put in a comment somewhere.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- austenallred 12y ago
  Probably in their HN profile would make the most sense.
  - 3rd3 12y ago
    That’s a much better idea. It wouldn’t even require storing credentials since the profile page can be updated pretty quickly.
    - film42 12y ago
      Feel free to make a contribution! Source: https://github.com/film42/hn-follow https://github.com/film42/hn-follow
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
findjashua 12y ago
Nice! I was working on something similar, except that it was a chrome extension that put a follow/unfollow button by the username, and required authentication via google credentials. But, since I didn't keep a limit on the number of people you could follow, as the number of people I was following increased, waiting for Firebase responses to return (for ordering comments by id) started taking too long and killed the user experience. I wish there was a way to do a bulk query (ala Elasticsearch), so I could get all comment ids in one request. The response time would still increase with increasing number of users, but it would be marginal compared to the current situation.

porter 12y ago

I honestly don't know why this isn't already built into HN.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
michaelochurch 12y ago
Hi.
film42 12y ago
I just wanted to let you know that your comment put a smile on my face. Thank you!
eevilspock 12y ago
Because it would undermine HN's goal that we vote for and comment on content on its own merits, not whether it was posted or commented on by someone you like. I don't think HN is doing that great a job in surfacing the best content or encouraging better discourse in comments, but making it easy to follow favorite users instead of going to the front page would make it worse, IMHO.
- fivedogit 12y ago
  As I was building my "follow" chrome extension... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn2go/logdfcelflpgcbfebibbeajmhpofckjh https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn2go/logdfcelflpg... (shameless plug) ... I definitely wondered about this. All of a sudden, it turns HN into a popularity contest where the elite get all the attention and everyone else is completely ignored.
  - minimaxir 12y ago
    It should be noted that YC founders have a special Orange username that's visible only to other YC founders. The purpose is to prevent flame wars between founders, but I have my suspicions that such submissions receive more up votes on average. (Cannot prove statistically without the list, unfortunately.)

JacobAldridge 12y ago

If you're scratching your head trying to think of 10 names, this might help jog your memory - https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders

film42 12y ago
Here's a list of the Top 10: https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=hn-top-10 https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=hn-top-10
spindritf 12y ago
'tptacek maintains a "must read" list in his profile. I'd add kasey_junk to it. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=tptacek https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=tptacek
- film42 12y ago
  I made one with a few of the usernames on his must follow list: https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=tptacek-must-read https://hn-follow.desh.es/?user=tptacek-must-read
- tptacek 12y ago
  That's a good idea. Thanks!

vermooten 12y ago

I haven't got any friends :(

mhurron 12y ago
Quit complaining, it simplifies a lot.

liotier 12y ago

Follow you enemies too !

napoleond 12y ago

Cool! I've been working on a little Chrome extension that does something similar (and has a quite similar name ;) ): https://github.com/napoleond/follow-hn https://github.com/napoleond/follow-hn Have been meaning to polish it a bit more, but I suppose now is as good a time as any to share it. One outstanding feature that I think will be pretty useful is caching user comments--right now it re-constructs the comment feed on every page load, which isn't ideal.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
film42 12y ago
I love this! Feel free to piggy back off of the HN Follow API. I already support caching! :)
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
fivedogit 12y ago
Same here. Finished it a couple of days ago. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn2go/logdfcelflpgcbfebibbeajmhpofckjh https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn2go/logdfcelflpg... https://github.com/fivedogit/hn2go-backend https://github.com/fivedogit/hn2go-backend https://github.com/fivedogit/hn2go-chromex https://github.com/fivedogit/hn2go-chromex The funny part is that @raquo and I posted our "follow" apps/extensions (separate projects) this week and got no love from HN. And then this thread took off for some reason. Timing? Titling? God I hate the randomness of marketing.
- austenallred 12y ago
  I don't think it's random at all. From a would-be user's perspective it makes complete sense to me that this post took off and yours didn't get too far. I want to explain why, not to be a dick, but because I feel like all hackers (myself included) have a hard time seeing things from the user's perspective. First, the title of your submission: > Show HN: Search HN by keywords, user, score, Read online, on mobile or RSS It's completely unclear what your product is. Honestly it sounds like you packaged up HN with some more CSS and an RSS reader or something? I don't really know. "Read online?" How else would I read HN? "Search HN?" I don't really have anyting to search for, and if I did I would just use Google. The reason film42's post took off is because people were interested in following. Yours didn't even mention following. Now let's look at film42's title: > Show HN: HN Follow – Follow Your Friends on HN My first reaction? "Oh cool, I have a lot of friends who use HN, I wonder what they've been saying." Then perhaps the best part of film42's app is that he used HN's styling in a way that almost felt like you hadn't left HN. It is completely familiar, and, as others have pointed out, it feels like something that should have been part of HN already. The friction of onboarding was completely eliminated - I didn't have to sign up for or download anything, but I could use it and wanted more. The missing auth is probably a mistake in the long-run, but missing that feature probably reduced some friction getting started. At the end of the day, you have 5 seconds to impress me or I'm gone. It's quite possible, when your app doesn't take off, that the only thing you did wrong was not use those 5 seconds.

nickstinemates 12y ago

I have been using HNWatcher for this - I especially appreciate the emails it sends. I'll take a look. Thanks for sharing!

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

RRWagner 12y ago

Is there a current open-source version of HN that one could use to create a small HN for a group of friends? How close of a clone to HN could one create using Wordpress?

EGreg 12y ago
I'm working on something like that. If you're interested, contact me.
dood 12y ago
Reddit's source is available: https://github.com/reddit/reddit https://github.com/reddit/reddit
chriskelley 12y ago
You could start from the lobste.rs source, available here: https://github.com/jcs/lobsters https://github.com/jcs/lobsters There is a mirror floating around of news.arc[1], the original version of HN from pg, but it's pretty dated and missing tons of the secret sauce. [1]https://github.com/wting/hackernews https://github.com/wting/hackernews
jlas 12y ago
I'd recommend Telescope: http://www.telesc.pe/ http://www.telesc.pe/