Personally wouldn't help me. I consume via RSS and just read every title anyway. Not sure how many users are in the same boat as me though.
Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
11–20 of 27 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#12HN is a community. One community. Mostly centered around discussing topics arising on the front page. Add tags/filtering and you scatter the community in sub communities and that’s precisely what HN wants to avoid.
I don’t think it would scatter the community — I almost never read some topics here because I am uninterested in them, or because the community on average is not too well versed in the specific topic so it is mostly just guesses/opinions.
The most valuable thing about HN is the thoroughly educated comments, where under a related post the very creator of that program/language, etc might chime in to the discussion.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#13We do have the three important tags already. look at the header.
more than ask, show, jobs would split the community
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#14Personally wouldn't help me. I consume via RSS and just read every title anyway. Not sure how many users are in the same boat as me though.
I do the same thing and it is definitely better than checking the order-changing front-page multiple times a day not to miss something interesting, but I could do away with less posts to scroll through.
Though I would be very interested in your RSS setup if you could share a bit about it. I use Reeder and add interesting sounding posts to read later where I might actually get to reading it, but over time I no longer manage to clear it.. I have plenty of old posts I’ve taken a look at and wanted to check it out later as well more in-depth or something, and they just stay there indefinitely..
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#15Personally wouldn't help me. I consume via RSS and just read every title anyway. Not sure how many users are in the same boat as me though.
This is the way.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#16The availability or non-availability of tagging on any platform has nothing to do with the quality or usefulness of the content. IMO, tagging is mostly useless because there needs to be a canonical dictionary of tags to choose from. That dictionary would have to be maintained by the HN mod and updated base on inputs. Otherwise every member may have a different spelling, wording, underscores or hyphens, etc.
I don’t think @dang has enough time to handle more requests and chores that add little or no value to the discussions.
I’d rather have larger fonts, an accessible interface, dark mode based on the user’s system/browser’s hints, etc. Those would make a much bigger impact for the audience.
Lastly, I’m being pedantic here: “Ask HN” cannot answer questions on HN’s implementation. Neither I nor anyone else commenting here has any clue as to why HN does not have tags or is considering adding tags in the future. Only the HN mod/admin can answer that, which can be asked by emailing them. A “Tell HN” would’ve been better to make a suggestion and get inputs.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#17You ask for usenet, with scoring etc like Emacs/Gnus for client :-)
Perhaps a day people will realize that we have had all we need and demolished that...
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#18> Every post should have a set of tags: describing the subject. In the information overload age filtering is becoming essential. You state that as a fact, but it is an opinion. I think using a filter would prevent users from seeing posts and comments that they would find interesting. In a sense, it would create a bubble for each user. Also, HN isn’t that large that a quick visual scan of the home page doesn’t work. >…
Tags are hardly rocket science -- simple rules/standards could be setup.
Why do you want to take the choice away from people to use tagging?
Someone like me reads a lot (on other sites) and I skip 95% of the content here.
Why should I have to scroll through posts about: C++ compilers, etc when I know I'm not going to read it?
The tagging approach wouldn't effect you -- you could simply not use it.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#19The availability or non-availability of tagging on any platform has nothing to do with the quality or usefulness of the content. IMO, tagging is mostly useless because there needs to be a canonical dictionary of tags to choose from. That dictionary would have to be maintained by the HN mod and updated base on inputs. Otherwise every member may have a different spelling, wording, underscores or hyphens, etc. I don’t t…
>The availability or non-availability of tagging on any platform has nothing to do with the quality or usefulness of the content.
It does if there is an ocean of info and you miss posts.
>tagging is mostly useless because there needs to be a canonical dictionary of tags to choose from
Wrong. Tagging is simply solved on many existing platforms and is extremely useful.
Re: Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?
#20I prefer the simplicity of the current system and exposure to a range of topics. It doesn't take long to scan a couple of pages for interesting posts. I enjoy the breadth of HN articles. Bigger communities such as Reddit and Stackoverflow use ideas similar to tags to create more focussed communities.
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