I would prefer an extension that stopped me reading the article until I had read the comments.
Show HN: RTFA, a Chrome extension to hide HN comments until you read the article
21–25 of 25 posts
Re: Show HN: RTFA, a Chrome extension to hide HN comments until you read the article
#22Hiding the Reply links might make sense if you can't stop yourself from commenting before reading, but hiding the comments themselves doesn't make sense. I find that HN (along with LWN) is one of the few sites with high-value comments, and I often want to read the first few to get context for the article.
Yes, I often read the comments, decide that the article is uninteresting on that basis, and leave it at that.
Re: Show HN: RTFA, a Chrome extension to hide HN comments until you read the article
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a point of note, there's research on this topic. Comments influence/bias how people feel/think about the content they read: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/a-blog-around-the-clock/... You're not just getting landscape, you're getting the messy human battlefield of human opinion (sometimes for better, often for worse). Personally i wish there were a plugin that would prevent voting until you've opened the link…
I think more often for better, at least for this forum. I read commentary first more probabalistically based on the hype-sensationalism character of the title. I dont subscribe to the hivemind theory, in almost every thread there is well-argued commentary falling on both sides of the issues presented. I don't want to reward linkbait and hype. A pdf link on the efficient implementation of the radon transform or compil…
I notice a trend here in HN, the first comment will most of the times be opposite to the article (this thread is just another example).
Re: Show HN: RTFA, a Chrome extension to hide HN comments until you read the article
#24I don't have a preference about which one to read first, for ex. with articles like "I stopped using X and why you should stop too", I find more value in reading the comments first, because usually the top comment will be a counter-argument more worthy than the original article.
But with articles that teaches something new to me, for ex. "Scaling X to a million users", I prefer to read the article first.
Re: Show HN: RTFA, a Chrome extension to hide HN comments until you read the article
#25The people who need it the most won't use it. But you are onto something.
The next step: Get in touch with Google so that it's included into official Chrome in some way. It doesn't have to be installed by default - just a one time pop-up when a user first visits Hacker News. An offer to install it.
The next step +1: Encourage people to expand the extension to other sites. Write it in a modular way, write documentation.