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Tell HN: An Observation

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Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#81

Post by michael_dorfman »

seancron wrote: post #66

One example that I have seen of this was this submission of Grace Hopper on David Letterman's show from 1984 ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1719458 ). Now I realize that many people don't vote up videos. However, this is Grace Hopper, who was one of the first programmers for the very first computer ever. She is credited with coming up with the term "debugging" after finding a moth in one of her computers, and…

Thanks for the upvote. I was the one who submitted it, and I really thought it was something HNers would like to see-- a real piece of Hacker history.

I was quite surprised when it didn't make the front page.

Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#82

Post by michael_dorfman »

metachris wrote: post #76

Here's an idea: Only users with a certain amount of karma can submit stories. The first few karma points have to be gained by commenting, and then for example with every 10 karma points a user can make 1 submissions. Or have different 'levels' with certain thresholds, etc. You get the idea, and I think that could help reduce the amount and increase the quality of submissions.

The obvious problem with this is that it eliminates the possibility of old-timers using throwaway accounts to submit anonymously. That's a pretty major drawback, if you ask me-- there's a lot of good discussions that begin with an anonymous "Ask HN" or "Tell HN"...

Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#83

Post by hga »

iterationx wrote: post #25

The title "My Master Plan to Destroy the Internet as we know it (whattofix.com)" doesn't have any terms that interest me. In your first paragraph you use the phrase "web interface" if that or some other technical term had been in the title, I might have clicked. fyi

Bingo.

I actually use only the new page since enough of my interests are sufficiently esoteric that submissions about them never get many votes (often only mine).

But your title was a distinct turn-off, strongly enough so that I actually remember it as such. Unfortunately I just about never look at who submits items, otherwise I might have given it a chance.

At least for me, you'd be much better off with a title that gives me at least the slightest concrete idea of what the submission is about.

Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#84

Post by fragmede »

J3L2404 wrote: post #78
fragmede wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's another technical solution. Instead of having a link directly to the article, have the link go to the discussion page instead, but with an added header. That extra header would check for a cookie. If that cookie is set, no action. If the cookie is not set, set the cookie, then forwards the user to the actual article. Then, when you finish reading and decide it's worth an up vote, when you go 'back', y…

I must say, that's a mighty fine idea you have there. Although it may surprise some folks at first. If HN had ads it would seem to be click fraud. Might work as a bookmarklet or browser extension.

I was thinking it would be opt-in on the preferences page.

Another option would be an extra link at the end of the headline (like how scribd appears for pdf), but that just ends up looking cluttered.

Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#85

Post by jpadvo »

todayiamme wrote: post #55

I think that the real problem in operation over here is information deluge. People aren't reading stuff on that page because it overflows on a minute by minute basis. So let's say, if I click to read a long article and I come back to upvote it. This would mean that I am putting a flag for others to read it, but in this time frame it has moved beyond the first new page. Hence, the stories that tend to get upvoted are…

It does seem like things fly by too fast. Here's an idea: what if every person saw only a random subset of the new stories?

Kind of like how Facebook has "Top News" and "Most Recent," but instead of intelligent filtering there would a simple random selection. The selection would be persistent, so that you'd see the same articles when you went back to the page.

Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#86

Post by mthoms »

fragmede wrote: post #69
todayiamme wrote: post #55

I think that the real problem in operation over here is information deluge. People aren't reading stuff on that page because it overflows on a minute by minute basis. So let's say, if I click to read a long article and I come back to upvote it. This would mean that I am putting a flag for others to read it, but in this time frame it has moved beyond the first new page. Hence, the stories that tend to get upvoted are…

I think there's another technical solution. Instead of having a link directly to the article, have the link go to the discussion page instead, but with an added header. That extra header would check for a cookie. If that cookie is set, no action. If the cookie is not set, set the cookie, then forwards the user to the actual article. Then, when you finish reading and decide it's worth an up vote, when you go 'back', y…

I understand your intent, but under no circumstances (that I can think of) is it okay to change the expected behaviour of the back button.

The back button should always do just that ~ take the user back to the previously viewed page.

Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#87

Post by tdavis »

...all this industry gossip, fanboy-bait, and the lack of user-generated content drives down the quality for me in a big way

The more mainstream adoption HN receives, the more the stories will degrade to the lowest common denominator—that of gossip, fan-bait, and chop shop content. I returned to my feed reader for the majority of my interesting articles a long time ago.

The "new" page is basically a feed aggregator of tons of individuals' posts, most of whom don't have the notoriety or baiting title necessary to stick on the page long enough for the few people who read "new" to see them.

Like any other public link sharing site—no matter how niche or well-seeded to start—it will increasingly pander to the 90% who come rather than the 10% who started it. And it'll keep doing that until it becomes reddit (no insult meant; reddit is a great public link share). But at this stage I'm pretty confident it'll always have better discussion.

Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#89

Post by sluckxz »

How about tweaking karma to add value to certain users votes, users with tons of great submissions and comments to have more effect. You can grant power karma to people you feel have the same philosophy or that you feel drive HN in the direction you want. This isn't necessarily democratic or "fair" and i do not care because i love the great submissions with intelligent commentary. i have seen a lot of submissions concerned with submission quality and am happy to see HN publicly addressing the issue and apparently making an effort to ensure the quality and heritage of the site. (long time lurker brand new acct.)

Re: Tell HN: An Observation

#90

Post by adoyle »

fragmede wrote: post #69
todayiamme wrote: post #55

I think that the real problem in operation over here is information deluge. People aren't reading stuff on that page because it overflows on a minute by minute basis. So let's say, if I click to read a long article and I come back to upvote it. This would mean that I am putting a flag for others to read it, but in this time frame it has moved beyond the first new page. Hence, the stories that tend to get upvoted are…

I think there's another technical solution. Instead of having a link directly to the article, have the link go to the discussion page instead, but with an added header. That extra header would check for a cookie. If that cookie is set, no action. If the cookie is not set, set the cookie, then forwards the user to the actual article. Then, when you finish reading and decide it's worth an up vote, when you go 'back', y…

I often go to the comments page for a submission first, then click the article link. Particularly if it looks like it's going to be one that drifts off. That way the back button puts me in the right place, even if I come back to it hours later.
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