Show HN: Hacker Smacker – Spot great (and terrible) HN commenters at a glance

Post by verdverm » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 10:16 PM UTC

cpeterso wrote: post #49

scrumper wrote: post #6

I wonder what the second order effects of this on the HN karma system will be. It'll create a graph of karmic supernodes perhaps. Say I green-blob someone with a big reputation here, say jacquesm; no doubt lots of other people will do the same. The friends-of-friends icon is going to appear widely but it'll all be a single edge away from Jacques' node. Is that much of a signal? I dunno. That's 30 seconds of thought a…

> Version two: hide foes? That's a good idea. Here's my bad idea: the extension auto downvotes foes and auto upvotes friends. :)

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 10:17 PM UTC

tyre wrote: post #52

ineedasername wrote: post #4

I’d encourage a change of labels away from “friend/foe”. It may seem minor but the subtle loaded nature of those paired terms encourages an adversarial stance rather than one of productive discourse. It’s not catchy so there’s probably better than this but, just as an example— “engage/ignore” could better signal to the user a neutral “do I want to bother with this person?”

favorite / potato Although there are some commenters I would want to follow because they are potato. There is something so magical about some of the more delulu Take Havers around here.

Post by croisillon » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

elcapitan wrote: post #22

Finally someone brings this place the explicit toxicity it had been missing all those years. /s

Post by n4bz0r » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 10:25 PM UTC

goodpoint wrote: post #25

what about privacy?

Post by groby_b » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 10:31 PM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #4

I’d encourage a change of labels away from “friend/foe”. It may seem minor but the subtle loaded nature of those paired terms encourages an adversarial stance rather than one of productive discourse. It’s not catchy so there’s probably better than this but, just as an example— “engage/ignore” could better signal to the user a neutral “do I want to bother with this person?”