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Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

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Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#51

Post by flanbiscuit »

IMO, Reddit is still usable but only via https://old.reddit.com. I still use Reddit daily, but I can't stand the horrific new design. I also highly curate my subscribed subreddits and use multireddits to combine subject matters.

On Android I use Reddit Sync[1] (which has an ad-free pro version I paid a one-time $5 fee for).

I worry about the day they discontinue old.reddit.com, or decide to cripple third-party apps in order to steer people toward their official apps. I wouldn't put it past them to do something like this. All it takes is a new CEO, or their investors, wanting to see more profit. They'll probably lose users but I bet the amount of people who use Reddit like I do is decreasing over time (speculation, maybe I'm wrong) so it might not be a significant amount.

1. https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Red+Apps+LTD...

Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#53

Post by CoolGuySteve »

I feel like there's a systemic issue in modern software that HN is immune to. After an initial success, companies will hire tons of project managers and engineers to build new features and continue their growth. The result is a corporate paperclip optimizer.

The problem is that these features won't get used and nobody gets promoted if they're not pushed to the front of UI so you end up with cluttered interfaces loaded with popups and other misfeatures.

Reddit's new interface is a good example of this, but gmail has the same problem. Shit, even QuickTime/Real Player used to fight over Windows file extensions and taskbar icons in the 90s and it was horrible.

Because Y Combinator's business model is different, HN more or less stays the same. It's kind of like open source Unix utilities in that way, nobody's pushing modal ads into the ls command.

Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#54

Post by mostlysimilar »

Hot take: I think the lack of mobile support is a feature, not a bug. Mobile interfaces are responsible for much of the noise of mainstream social media, they encourage short form content creation because the interface is too simplistic and typing on a tiny touchscreen keyboard is unpleasant and error-prone. By making the only viable interface a desktop interface you put up an additional barrier to that type of noise.

Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#55

Post by thefifthsetpin »

Jerrrry wrote: post #36

My only (primary, continuous, and ignored) complaint is that OP's text post's contrast matches the contrast of less-useful comments, making every Self-HN post seem subconsciously and automatically downvoted. It was "tradition,"? No, it's archaic and ironic for a site with so many A11y/accessibility advocates.

I am just now realizing that greyed out text posts weren't downvoted.

Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#56

Post by rchaud »

asim wrote: post #12

Bring back text only services! Everything should be accessible in some simple text UI that's simple and clean. I don't think that's possible by stripping back websites, maybe layers on RSS feeds, APIs with a new UX, etc, etc.

lite.cnn.io has been a revelation

Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#57

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

mostlysimilar wrote: post #54

Hot take: I think the lack of mobile support is a feature, not a bug. Mobile interfaces are responsible for much of the noise of mainstream social media, they encourage short form content creation because the interface is too simplistic and typing on a tiny touchscreen keyboard is unpleasant and error-prone. By making the only viable interface a desktop interface you put up an additional barrier to that type of noise…

I’m reading this on a phone, right now, and it’s perfectly usable.

Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#58

Post by kzrdude »

amelius wrote: post #52
kzrdude wrote: post #47

Thank you HN for showing (essentially) the same list of stories on the front page for everyone. A shared display of common topics is a good foundation for a good forum.

How do you know this is true?

I'm guessing from what I see in incognito mode and logged-in. One reason I have a caveat in there, is that there is a button called hide, so you don't have to see particular stories.

Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#59

Post by Semaphor »

flanbiscuit wrote: post #51

IMO, Reddit is still usable but only via https://old.reddit.com . I still use Reddit daily, but I can't stand the horrific new design. I also highly curate my subscribed subreddits and use multireddits to combine subject matters. On Android I use Reddit Sync[1] (which has an ad-free pro version I paid a one-time $5 fee for). I worry about the day they discontinue old.reddit.com, or decide to cripple third-party apps…

All I can say is that when I post copies of code or recipes, but with the markdown fixed for old, I usually get quite a lot of upvotes. So depending on the sub it might be significant (of course, I’m also not in any huge subs).

Re: Tell HN: Thank you for being fast, almost ad-free and text-only

#60

Post by dredmorbius »

amelius wrote: post #27
kibwen wrote: post #15

As others will be quick to point out, HN does have ads in the form of job postings for YCombinator startups that are delivered inline with the links on the front page. That said, it's relatively unobtrusive. And of course, the existence of HN is a large part of the marketing for YCombinator itself. Personally, I'll commend dang for doing a high-effort job at moderation, and tolerating all the dunking on Paul Graham t…

But ... these job postings are difficult to discern from other posts. At least Google puts "Ad" in front of ads ...

There are several userscripts to block those.

https://github.com/brownie-in-motion/hn-adblock>, discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31597486>

Another: https://gist.github.com/pxeger/4aed4baaa87028a2ecc6441a84a1f...>

(I've used neither.)

I've briefly looked into managing these through CSS alone. Not obviously that I can tell, though the text of job listings should match the pattern:

   (YC  ) Is Hiring
I think CSS can act based on content, but need to look at selectors for that.

SO suggests not: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1520429/is-there-a-css-s...>

HN doesn't assign a distinctive class to these posts, though the "votelinks" class is missing, which can be used to highlight the listings. E.g.:

  /* HN startup job ads */

  .athing td:nth-of-type(2):not(.votelinks) {
      background: #fcc;
  }

  .athing td:nth-of-type(2):not(.votelinks):before {
      content: "Ad";
      position: relative;
      left: 0.4em;
      color: #000;
  }
(Other properties might be set.)

I'd need to futz with this some more to see if the entire entry could be dropped, though I'd prefer to simply have them stand out, I think...

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