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

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

#231

Post by masklinn »

criddell wrote: post #176
masklinn wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It mostly does the opposite because it means getting replies quickly tapers off. After a few days the odds of keeping up a discussion are low, and older discussions are baiscally locked out forever.

Reducing back-and-forth discussions is a feature. Look at any post that gets a significant number of comments and then scroll to pick out the deepest threads. When the depth comes from lots of people adding information or opinions, the quality is generally pretty high. When the depth comes from a small number of people going back-and-forth, it’s usually not very interesting. Adding more of the latter type would make…

> Reducing back-and-forth discussions is a feature.

So your opinion is that discussions are bad.

> When the depth comes from lots of people adding information or opinions, the quality is generally pretty high.

That's not a discussion that’s a lot if people broadcasting into the void (it’s also not true, if lots of people are replying to the same comment they’re usually adding identical or strongly overlapping information on a relatively basic subject).

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

#232

Post by pvg »

krapp wrote: post #219
pvg wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The design is based directly on the design of several (what we now call) 'Web 2.0' sites so the idea it's a sop to the retro-hipster sensibilities of 90's-longing users itself feels like a bit of an overwrought personal indulgence.

“So the most important thing a community site can do is attract the kind of people it wants. A site trying to be as big as possible wants to attract everyone. But a site aiming at a particular subset of users has to attract just those—and just as importantly, repel everyone else. I've made a conscious effort to do this on HN. The graphic design is as plain as possible, and the site rules discourage dramatic link titl…

None of this says 'ignore standards and the web of the last 30 years'. Some of this stuff was, again, literal web 2.0 shit. Yes, sure, that line of thinking exists here culturally but even its origin is a decade (i.e. a millennium, in web time) off from your original bit of hyperbole.

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

#233

Post by everdrive »

That little bit of a friction makes all the difference. The only people who will see replies are those who are invested in the discussion. (ie, those who will return and refresh the page to see who has added what comments.) Alert replies would simply increase "engagement," and at least broadly we've seen that engagement is good for user addiction, but poor for discourse and site health.

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

#234

Post by p49k »

ss108 wrote: post #105
loceng wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only one of them has contact info in their profile - so at least it'd get to them? https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=tomcam They thought it'd make a good blog post too, so you can repurpose it for that?

Yeah, I just don't have a blog LOL But I have been thinking about making one, maybe this can kick it off. Would have to be anonymous until I successfully make it back into tech.

You could also do some sort of “Tell HN: this is why I moved from tech to law and back” post, although it does seem like the site penalizes those sort of posts so it might not be very visible either.

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

#235

Post by warrenm »

cirrus3 wrote: post #212
warrenm wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 :)

From replies, it seems that most people prefer it that way, so I wouldn't say it is _highly_ debatable. It appears to be different from your preference and that's about all.

>I wouldn't say it is _highly_ debatable

It is highly debatable - that some people happen to think letting conversations die because they can't find when someone is trying to engage them is ... certainly a different way of interacting with the world than is normal

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

#236

Post by robbiep »

passivate wrote: post #230
robbiep wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve replied to multiple days old comments and been replied to in turn. I think when you do this you’re not performing for an audience but responding to another person or couple of people individually. The fact not many people are going to see it should be irrelevant - is a piece of art (or a notebook doodle) not worth doing because it has an audience of one?

I didn't phrase it correctly. What I meant was, I want to continue an old comment thread, but then I wonder if its worth doing since the other party probably isn't going to respond or even know that I replied.

I’ve found dropping an upvote and the comment usually triggers a response

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

#237

Post by marojejian »

Hacker news is sadly a community where Posts, and conversations die quickly. Without features like notifications no one would ever come back to notice the comments like this. There are other choices that could be made to enable conversations to live on and grow versus flame out and die.

Without such features the same conversations Will need to be repeated again and again as I see you so often here and exactly the same way, but never to progress forward. Much like our society itself.

Hacker news is one of my main sources of information, so it is definitely better than other even worse options. But it is sad that despite my reading over 500 posts a week,

I almost never comment or participate in conversations because the way I consume hacker news is slow. It’s sad and I wish I could affect it, but I can’t because no one will ever read this comment.

I don’t know why I am posting this, just speaking to myself so cathartic perhaps.

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

#238

Post by FranksTV »

tempestn wrote: post #217
secondaryacct wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah as a reddit troll myself I enjoy the freedom of never caring and pursuing flaming here... people like me get addicted to the reaction and start writing only to trigger reactions. Here at least I post constructively sometimes.

Given you're aware of doing this, could you take some action to prevent it?

Yeah, browse hackernews instead of reddit!

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

#239

Post by shafyy »

dang wrote: post #171
shafyy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last night I had a dream that HN had a new UI. Time to spend less time on HN.

What did it look like?

Sorry, missed your comment (haha). I don't recall it in full detail, but just remembered it look like a more modern UI with rounded corners and more padding. But still the same colors and functionalities.
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