You don't need an archive link to view HN at a given time. https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2007-02-20
See also WaybackHN, which will let you browse by year and month, too. (I made it heh)
HN on second day from launch
21–30 of 53 posts
Re: HN on second day from launch
#22I use to run a project that looked back in time on HN, but it was pretty depressing to see so many dead links each week. Thankfully the Internet Archive solves a lot of this, but it makes you think how fragile the web is.
Re: HN on second day from launch
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Design that stands the test of time :)
It's still as bad as it always was, if that's what you mean. :P http://hckrnews.com/ is much better.
https://hackerweb.app is also nice if you'd like to skim through the story list and the top level comment threads using a better interface (YMMV). You can also expand specific comment threads.
Re: HN on second day from launch
#24Much prefer it in its current form. Way more interesting content across so many subject areas. We still have plenty of interesting stuff for startup fans, too. If anything, it's strange and kind of amazing that it got here starting from a narrowly-focused beginning. I came in too late to see how that transition happened. Would've been interesting to watch.
Re: HN on second day from launch
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Hacker news has declined in quality. Alright, y'all are getting virtual hugs. I agree completely as well. I also agree that the changing trends are a biproduct of the increasing levels of access to software development as a profession. However, I do not think that computer forums should filter out "stupid people". I had the pleasure of hearing Code.org President Alice Steinglass talk about how her professor in unde…
> More decentralized sites (like the one you proposed with hand curated content) will crop up. I'm personally investigating the Linus Tech Tips forum as an HN alternative since it seems to have the maker and hacker vibes that I used to see here (and on Reddit and JCXP before I found HN). What if gasp mailing lists made a come back? The longer I exist, the longer I realize I don't want the next iteration of Facebook,…
I would rather be able to visit some central resource rather than mix email and discussion forums. Mixing those things together just feels wrong. Mailing lists tend to be extremely visually jarring. But there’s no difference between a mailing list and any other form of community. The packaging doesn’t matter. So I’m confused why you seem to think the packaging will help in some way. What matters is the moderation, the incentive scheme for users and other stuff like that. Also, traditional mailing lists lack a mechanism for maintaining solvency. The ultimate failure of all that has come before is the fact that it completely depends on altruism. Forums Create amazing value in the lives of people who use them and they will be good when they begin to sustain themselves based on that value.
Re: HN on second day from launch
#26Clickbait titles, useful advice "how to track user's mouse movement" (!!) , and Europe's osteoporosis. Good times though; for me Hacker news has lost a lot of its appeal in the past 4-5 years, as for some reason it has become overly political and "suits-oriented". I used to read a lot of technical commentary, which i now find on reddit instead.
Agreed, although curious which technical subreddits you are following? I’ve been disappointed with the attitude/irrelevance of HN these years and am looking for new sources to read.
Re: HN on second day from launch
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Hacker news has declined in quality. Alright, y'all are getting virtual hugs. I agree completely as well. I also agree that the changing trends are a biproduct of the increasing levels of access to software development as a profession. However, I do not think that computer forums should filter out "stupid people". I had the pleasure of hearing Code.org President Alice Steinglass talk about how her professor in unde…
> More decentralized sites (like the one you proposed with hand curated content) will crop up. I'm personally investigating the Linus Tech Tips forum as an HN alternative since it seems to have the maker and hacker vibes that I used to see here (and on Reddit and JCXP before I found HN). What if gasp mailing lists made a come back? The longer I exist, the longer I realize I don't want the next iteration of Facebook,…
I would love a truly hacker mentality oriented mailing list focusing on doing stuff rather than what's cool/not cool. I don't want to complain about HN, it is what it is and a lot of people like it the way it is. But I'd really like a place where the vast majority of links point to blogs of people doing things in tech, or giving me ideas about what I can do in tech, rather than links to news agencies or news papers or long format writing on non-tech related topics. If it was a mailing list it would be incredible. I'd love to go back to being able to plonk people into kill files and filter/sort topics however I want.
Of course, ironically my most upvoted comments are all about news or long format writing on non-tech related topics. But I really don't have time for that and I keep getting lured in ;-)
Re: HN on second day from launch
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
> More decentralized sites (like the one you proposed with hand curated content) will crop up. I'm personally investigating the Linus Tech Tips forum as an HN alternative since it seems to have the maker and hacker vibes that I used to see here (and on Reddit and JCXP before I found HN). What if gasp mailing lists made a come back? The longer I exist, the longer I realize I don't want the next iteration of Facebook,…
I would rather be able to visit some central resource rather than mix email and discussion forums. Mixing those things together just feels wrong. Mailing lists tend to be extremely visually jarring. But there’s no difference between a mailing list and any other form of community. The packaging doesn’t matter. So I’m confused why you seem to think the packaging will help in some way. What matters is the moderation, th…
People often say that about mailing lists, but I often wonder if they have used any really good mailing list software. I mean, it's been years, but back in the day we used to write software for dealing with mailing lists and usenet posts and the degree of control you had was so much better than forum software. With forums, you get what your host wants you to see. With mailing lists/usenet you get a feed of data that you can do with as you want. Most modern email clients do a really bad job of dealing with mailing lists. I remember using NN and Gnus for reading mailing lists and maybe my memory has gone foggy, but it was a much better experience than any forum I've ever been on. You've got the ability to search, filter and sort by a variety of criteria. You've got the ability to elect not to read posts by certain people (nor replies to those people). You've got better navigation between threads. You've got the ability to read everything offline. You've got the ability to write code yourself based on the data rather than having to deal with APIs for forums (if you are even lucky enough to be dealing with a forum where your host thinks its OK for you to have APIs at all). You don't have to worry about ads showing up. You don't have to worry about corporate interests deciding what's important for you to see. So many advantages and only a few disadvantages.
Re: HN on second day from launch
#29> I dropped out of grad school today
Second post is the co-founder of Octopart. Not surprising, since they were funded by YC, but I'm glad things turned out well for Andres.
> ... I'm a shell of the personality I used to be. Basically, I had been languishing in school and had gotten comfortable with mediocrity.
I know this feeling.
Re: HN on second day from launch
#30Much prefer it in its current form. Way more interesting content across so many subject areas. We still have plenty of interesting stuff for startup fans, too. If anything, it's strange and kind of amazing that it got here starting from a narrowly-focused beginning. I came in too late to see how that transition happened. Would've been interesting to watch.
Slow and mostly in hindsight.
I’m not a big fan that many front page links are to big news outlets nowadays. It’s not hard to find NYT, WSJ, Economist, etc news and I’m not generally seeking out that type of content here. But I see a lot of it on HN now. And geez so many paywall links.
I liked it much more when it was more independent content. More focused on learning and building. It felt like the whole start up thing was new and everyone was helping each other learn.
Regardless of time, the comments keep me coming back. It feels more like the “old” internet when it had a net positive vibe.