Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#41

Post by asmosoinio » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 11:24 AM UTC

bd wrote: post #8

On the related note: how do you keep track of which comments are new since your last visit of the thread? HN/reddit system with comments jumping around based on votes makes it hard just to quickly skim for differences. Could there be a way to highlight not seen items? I found this a big help for information overload on the sites that do it (e.g. Google Reader, Bloglines). However, I couldn't figure out how to do it e…

YC Tracker does this for single pages:

http://www.selfdebugging.com/2007/10/09/yc-news-tracker-a-be...

However you have to remember to run the script first time you see the page to be able to compare later. This kills it for me most of the time.

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#42

Post by guruz » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 12:11 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #18

Shamiq wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes.

Let me rephrase that. Does anyone have any suggestions for features of this type?

You might also consider:

Let the server remember when a user has last opened a thread. If it is re-opened by the user, show only (or emphasize) postings with a newer timestamp.

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#43

Post by nebula » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 2:04 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #15

Should I add some kind of feature for this?

Off topic but still relevant: can we have thread folding for comments?

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#44

Post by yters » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 2:42 PM UTC

rfunduk wrote: post #31

My technique is super low-tech. In my bookmarks bar, positioned conveniently below the site's favicon, I have a folder which is called "For Later". Into this folder I drop stuff I'll want to come back to at some point. Then (and here's the super part of my super low-tech claim), when I'm done with it I move it to another folder called "x" which I periodically delete and re-create. This works everywhere with no extens…

Let's hear it for low tech. I like it when people are able to chain existing, simple tools; instead of engineering a new kludge.

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#45

Post by danw » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 3:57 PM UTC

Bookmark to instapaper. Come back and read later

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#46

Post by emmett » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 5:13 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #15

Should I add some kind of feature for this?

I track conversations I'm involved in through the Threads link at the top (which is quite useful). I'd like to be able to have a one click add-this-conversation-I'm-not-involved-in-to-my-Threads-list button.

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#47

Post by Eliezer » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 5:26 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #18

Shamiq wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes.

Let me rephrase that. Does anyone have any suggestions for features of this type?

Let me see a page showing the most recent comments on every thread that I upvoted, commented on, or voted on the comments of.

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#48

Post by thomasmallen » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 6:37 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #15

Should I add some kind of feature for this?

I have a little request, if possible.

For code blocks, instead of "two-spacing", could you implement a delimiter, e.g. [code][/code]? For something more elegant than BBCode, maybe ##...## could delimit code.

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#49

Post by rksprst » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 9:25 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #18

Shamiq wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes.

Let me rephrase that. Does anyone have any suggestions for features of this type?

Just enable notifications by email. So an email notification when someone replies to my comment or to a thread.

Re: Ask YC: How do you follow YC threads you enjoy?

#50

Post by Zev » Sun, Dec 14, 2008, 4:46 AM UTC

pg wrote: post #18

Shamiq wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes.

Let me rephrase that. Does anyone have any suggestions for features of this type?

My random thoughts on a way to keep track of this:

1. RSS feeds where the link goes to the hn thread instead of the linked page? Though not everyone uses an RSS program integrated with their browser and opening an external program to keep track of HN threads isn't exactly good UX.

2. Keep track of how many comments were made when someone first views the thread and if there's any new comments, change the link color back to black instead of the grey that would show that it was already viewed.

3. The star icon previously mentioned. Have items automatically decay from the list after a certain amount of time (or time without a comment) to keep it clean. Upvotes can/should double as favorites since hn keeps track what someone voted for already.