[flagged]
Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
11–20 of 85 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#12I usually/only read comments with replies to get different opinions and go to next sibling comments if child comments aren't interesting to me anymore.
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#13I look for comments with responses. Comments with responses are usually more interesting, that filters out like 90% of comments.
If those comments were interesting I read more.
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#14I minimise threads that get more narrow or argumentative than I'm interested in for a particular topic.
Sometimes in a particularly large discussion I'll do that even for top-level comments without replies that I've either read (and won't reply to/not interested in replies to) or skimmed/read enough and decided I won't read.
Help others by voting (both directions) and flagging/vouching where necessary.
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#15There's the [-] button on the right which hides a subthread. Then go to the next. On particularly huge ones, just go to the next page.
From that, it's like a party. Just go out and talk to someone at random. Past a certain level of discussion, there's going to be repeated conversations on the topic anyway.
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#16[flagged]
This is strange to me. Flagging should be reserved for comments that flagrantly break the rules. There's plenty of stuff I disagree with that is formulated in a perfectly polite and serious way. I come here to have my own views challenged as much as anything.
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#17Tree structures suck for that. Linear style all the way.
Tree structures are the only way it remains manageable at all, IMHO. No tree = no structure = no way to skip forwards.
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#18I just... read them all?
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#19It took me a while to realize that there is a "prev" and a "next" button next to every comment. It makes navigation much easier when there are long threads. Using [-]/[+] is another option.
If the problem is just the sheer amount of data and not navigation, you can simply bookmark the thread and come back later. The algorithm usually does a good job getting the best comments on top after things have settled down, just read these. Plus, if you forget about the topic and don't come back to it, maybe it wasn't that interesting after all, that's a good filter.
Re: Ask HN: How do you read and follow the discussions on big threads?
#20[flagged]
Flagging is for rule breaking, not disapproval.