I am very grateful that HN does not have alert notifications. It sets it clearly apart from the social networks and positions it as a useful tool to learn information.
Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
201–210 of 239 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#202Because it would be a total nightmare.
What makes you think that?
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#203TL;DR: 9,000 notifications in 25 days! Notifications are evil. Or, they can be... Flo by Moen: I have received nearly 9,000 emails from Flo between January 24th and today, February 17th. Yes, that is an average of 360 emails per for 25 days. Curious? Read on. Our insurance company had us install a water leak sensor device made by Moen called "Flo": https://www.moen.com/search/smart+water My opinion (and just my opini…
I didn't say you should get 9000 emails in 25 days
I said there should be a way to see that you have replies to a submission or comment so you know someone's looking for your response
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
So ... now I need to use an external tool for something that's intentionally-lacking on the main site? no thanks :)
No problem :) As I said in a parallel reply, people not knowing when they get a response improves the discussion quality here.
In your opinion not knowing when a response occurs improves "discussion quality"
Objectively, it reduces the opportunity for "discussion" - since you don't know someone is actually having a "discussion" (or trying to have one) with you
Whether that correlates to better or worse "quality" is highly debatable :)
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
HN isn't a forum.
...says the person replying to a comment ;)
Allowing comments on a news aggregator doesn't mean it's a forum. The fact that HN purposely doesn't have much of the standard functionality of a forum should clue you in to the fact that it isn't one.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#206TL;DR: 9,000 notifications in 25 days! Notifications are evil. Or, they can be... Flo by Moen: I have received nearly 9,000 emails from Flo between January 24th and today, February 17th. Yes, that is an average of 360 emails per for 25 days. Curious? Read on. Our insurance company had us install a water leak sensor device made by Moen called "Flo": https://www.moen.com/search/smart+water My opinion (and just my opini…
I didn't say you should get 9000 emails in 25 days I said there should be a way to see that you have replies to a submission or comment so you know someone's looking for your response
This was not a reply to what you said. It is a real-life example of how evil notification can be. Probably the most extreme example I have ever seen.
As for your comment, I understand. I went 11 days before posting the above reply. I was really busy with work. Frankly, I appreciate that HN does not have notifications. Most of what we all discuss in online forums, going back to my days on USENET, isn't important enough to consume the clock cycles. Notifications would just make us waste more time.
Yes, I am calling most of it a waste of time. If I was pressed to pick a number I would say that 1% to 5% might have some value. This might sound harsh. Take it as one person's opinion, which means it has little value and isn't at all relevant to your own context.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#207This has been addressed by dang before, one representative pastequote from a recent (ish) comment: Yes, I think we'll continue to avoid the notification system, not just because of flamewars but also because (relatedly) it's not so compatible with curiosity. Push notifications seem to jack up the nervous system in a way that's good for engagement but not necessarily for users—we all experience this elsewhere on the i…
Strongly agreed! I think the requirement that at least two participants need to make some effort to keep the conversation going, is generally an extremely good thing. For the very rare thread where I hope for a belated reply, I'll keep a tab open and refresh it every day or two until I give up or it expires.
I agree strongly too.
Participants in a subthread might not even look again so default action is no reply. This is a great feature because it allows non-constructive subthreads to fade away with ease. Notifications would change this whole dynamic.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#208This has been addressed by dang before, one representative pastequote from a recent (ish) comment: Yes, I think we'll continue to avoid the notification system, not just because of flamewars but also because (relatedly) it's not so compatible with curiosity. Push notifications seem to jack up the nervous system in a way that's good for engagement but not necessarily for users—we all experience this elsewhere on the i…
Then provide a daily or weekly digest. What's the point in contributing to a black hole with no feedback?
You can go and check your threads using the Thread link above. If course I now realize this comment is sort of redundant... :)
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Most users don't want them. And for those that do, there's https://www.hnreplies.com/ , as well as other options mentioned elsewhere here.
That you have to use one of what ...a dozen[ish] options I've seen posted today to get to what is a fundamentally standard part of every forum experience (except this one) shows how out of touch the HN devs are, imo
They aren't out of touch, they understand the culture. People here want Hacker News to feel like the last thirty years of the web didn't happen. They don't want Hacker News to be modern, least of all to be like other forums. They want the Bohemian indulgence of 90's era web ugliness with complete disregard for standards, and the ascetic purity of painfully minimalist UX that appeals to their contrarian, anti-modern sensibilities.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN alert users in some manner to new replies?
#210Lots of sour grapes rationalizing. Every deprived addict, from the grounded Minecraft player to the imprisoned dope fiend, will tell you the deprivation was good for him, but as soon he's given a shot at another fix, he'll instantly take it. I hate Slack's always-on nature. That I keep using it should tell me how I really feel about it.
Both can be true. We can hate the things that addict us and still be uncontrollably driven to them. If I could guaranteed overpower all my subconscious drives by choice I'd take that opportunity in a heartbeat.
You can hate the guilt, but you can't hate the pleasure -- that wouldn't make any sense.