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Ask HN: How do you keep track of all the content you encounter?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of all the content you encounter?

#21

Post by pratikch1253 »

CharlesW wrote: post #8

I use Tabs Outliner (Chrome extension) as my short(er)-term memory, and Raindrop.io as my long-term memory. Occasionally, I'll create "awesome list" notes (using Apple Notes) on a theme. > Like sometimes I'll see something and it will remind me of a post or project I saw months ago, but it's almost up to chance if I'm able to find it again or link the two concepts together. I have this problem as well. It'd be neat i…

Issue with Raindrop is that it doesn’t have keyboard support for basic things like search which is really strange

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of all the content you encounter?

#23

Post by marginalia_nu »

alunchbox wrote: post #18
pnf wrote: post #14

Save it to a "read it later" app. Forget all about it. Move on with life. When you need something, search for it. By that time, there will be a hundred other hits saying or doing the same thing. If you really want to remember something, write it down in a giant text file with a date stamp. You'll still forget it, but you'll more likely remember it exists later if you need it. Next step is to stop spending "a lot of t…

That's the catch though, stay out of media and then you're ignorant of things happening, as tiring as it is. Stay with social news apps like reddit and yeah they're a huge time waster but quick aggregation of news and can get you a good understanding of what's happening.

That's mostly just FOMO. Most of "what's happening" isn't really happening. Instead, the absolute majority of news is gossip and speculation. When something of consequence happens, it will reach you.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of all the content you encounter?

#24

Post by rcarr »

DevonThink. Literally the perfect application for this if you’re in the Apple ecosystem. I went into detail here about my workflow:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33757241

It has now evolved so that I group articles in folders by year and month e.g 2022 -> 12 -> article. I think for the coming year I may even group them by week and then at the end of each week do a review where I identify my favourite articles which I could then use for part of a newsletter. And then having a “favourite articles of the year” come next December.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of all the content you encounter?

#25

Post by pnf »

alunchbox wrote: post #18
pnf wrote: post #14

Save it to a "read it later" app. Forget all about it. Move on with life. When you need something, search for it. By that time, there will be a hundred other hits saying or doing the same thing. If you really want to remember something, write it down in a giant text file with a date stamp. You'll still forget it, but you'll more likely remember it exists later if you need it. Next step is to stop spending "a lot of t…

That's the catch though, stay out of media and then you're ignorant of things happening, as tiring as it is. Stay with social news apps like reddit and yeah they're a huge time waster but quick aggregation of news and can get you a good understanding of what's happening.

Most of the "news" is propaganda or advertorial marketing campaigns. If you want to make sure you don't get caught with your pants down if something affecting you happens then let someone else live on that content treadmill. Find a few newsletter digests by people you trust and read those daily or weekly. The only people who need to keep up with the news cycle are the ones creating it and using it to psyop their enemies and marks. Everything else is better when it's had time to mellow. Skip the hot takes. Wait for the cream to rise. Focus your life on things within your control. You'll be happier.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of all the content you encounter?

#26

Post by grnrnm »

alunchbox wrote: post #18
pnf wrote: post #14

Save it to a "read it later" app. Forget all about it. Move on with life. When you need something, search for it. By that time, there will be a hundred other hits saying or doing the same thing. If you really want to remember something, write it down in a giant text file with a date stamp. You'll still forget it, but you'll more likely remember it exists later if you need it. Next step is to stop spending "a lot of t…

That's the catch though, stay out of media and then you're ignorant of things happening, as tiring as it is. Stay with social news apps like reddit and yeah they're a huge time waster but quick aggregation of news and can get you a good understanding of what's happening.

I just look at the Wikipedia Current Events page [0]. It's possibly the most straight-to-the-point and least biased way I've found to just know what's going on. If you have any specific interests, there are similar sites. I've found Blue's News [1] to be great for a quick catch up on gaming.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events

[1]: https://www.bluesnews.com

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of all the content you encounter?

#27

Post by humanistbot »

Zotero (https://zotero.org) -- an open source reference manager built by academics, but it works for all kinds of web-based content. Register an account and get the browser extension, then all you have to do is click a button and it'll do its best to scrape the metadata and archive a copy of the page. They also have a desktop app where you can add notes.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of all the content you encounter?

#29

Post by rcarr »

CharlesW wrote: post #8

I use Tabs Outliner (Chrome extension) as my short(er)-term memory, and Raindrop.io as my long-term memory. Occasionally, I'll create "awesome list" notes (using Apple Notes) on a theme. > Like sometimes I'll see something and it will remind me of a post or project I saw months ago, but it's almost up to chance if I'm able to find it again or link the two concepts together. I have this problem as well. It'd be neat i…

Former raindrop user here, I’d take a look at DevonThink if you want the automagic surfacing of similar things you’ve saved.
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