Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#21

Post by civilized » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:42 PM UTC

krapp wrote: post #20

lolinder wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't change nothing, but they're very careful when they introduce a change. Most are so subtle you wouldn't notice, and that's the point. Some in recent memory I can think of: * prev/next/parent links * Show HN can now have both a text body and a link (they used to only have a link and you had to submit a reply with your explanation)

>Most are so subtle you wouldn't notice, and that's the point. That can't be the point. There's no reason to introduce new features with the expectation that no one will ever notice or use them. Honestly, I think this forum cargo-cults its "minimalist" aesthetic far too much.

Obviously GP comment is saying you don't notice because the changes integrate so well into the existing system, not saying it's desirable for users to literally not notice the features. Otherwise the maintainers of HN are morons introducing features that no one will use.

Honestly... nitpicking comments with some dumb hyper-literal interpretation to find something tiny and pointless to disagree about is an aspect of HN I could do without.

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#22

Post by account42 » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:42 PM UTC

warning26 wrote: post #2

Honestly I’m glad it doesn’t. Reply notifications may increase engagement, but I’d argue they reduce the quality of discussion, since such notifications would encourage rapid back and forth arguments.

They could do delayed notifications. Not having them at all sucks because you are pretty much guaranteed not to see replies to older comments.

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#23

Post by ycombinete » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

lolinder wrote: post #14

civilized wrote: post #4

I love that they don't change anything. Social media services like Reddit that change things eventually change into shit.

They don't change nothing, but they're very careful when they introduce a change. Most are so subtle you wouldn't notice, and that's the point. Some in recent memory I can think of: * prev/next/parent links * Show HN can now have both a text body and a link (they used to only have a link and you had to submit a reply with your explanation)

I'm constantly tapping these prev/next links while browsing on my phone, when I try to tap the collapse [-].

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#24

Post by kgwxd » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:46 PM UTC

I used https://hnrss.github.io/ for a while. I worked really well but I eventually realized I didn't want it.

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#25

Post by 1123581321 » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:47 PM UTC

ilaksh wrote: post #19

Its typical that everyone is defending the status quo. I doubt the reason it doesn't have that feature is because they are against it. I think it's just one of those things that adds a significant amount of complexity without a ton of benefit for most people. But I also think if they had several developers working on the site, they would have done it. You can just scan down recent threads to see if there are replies.…

I could be misremembering but think dang really is against it. He’s a philosophical guy about community management.

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#26

Post by gerikson » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

jimmyvalmer wrote: post #17

Automatic plug whenever I see this asked: nnhackernews.

Thanks for the tip, I just installed (via MELPA), added it as a secondary select method, and restarted Gnus. I can see the "groups" show up, but when I try to enter them I get

> Symbol’s value as variable is void: t1

Open an issue at https://github.com/dickmao/nnhackernews ?

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#27

Post by WithinReason » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

It's a filter, and it works very well. If you're tech savvy you can figure it out for yourself, if you're not then what are you doing on HN?

Here is your latest reply RSS feed: https://hnrss.org/replies?id=warrenm

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#28

Post by mettamage » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

I feel with HN. If you want specific behavior, program for it. When you're done, preferably don't publish the code, so that it can easily take the extra few requests that you're making ;-)

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#29

Post by mxstbr » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

I've been using this Chrome extension for a while and it's worked really well for me: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-notifi...

They recently tweeted

> In the last 30 days, Hacker News users sent out 337,875 comments, responding to 29,258 users.

https://twitter.com/magicbell_io/status/1488441548857561095

Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?

#30

Post by mFixman » Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

warning26 wrote: post #2

Honestly I’m glad it doesn’t. Reply notifications may increase engagement, but I’d argue they reduce the quality of discussion, since such notifications would encourage rapid back and forth arguments.

The problem is that old discussions become effectively invisible.

If I reply to a post or comment that's over several days old there's almost no chance the author will ever see it.