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Coming Soon to Hacker News: Pending Comments

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Re: Coming Soon to Hacker News: Pending Comments

#601

Post by sigmaml »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #409
doorhammer wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what I don't like about the e-mail route is that it removes the conversation from HN Any time I learn about a new tech or shiny thing, I search for it on HN and read as much of the back and forth as I can. A number of times I've noticed those conversations didn't happen that long ago, even on old threads. Having it there is pretty invaluable to me to get perspective on stuff. I actually think that coming up w…

HN is not a good place for conversation. (I wrote about this once and it was sorta well-received and then, case in point, everyone forgot about it the next day.) HN is primarily a news feed. There is some discussion, but it's topical and very short-lived. I only mention this because the site seems a lot better once you give up on the notion of it being conversational.

I read HN as much for news links as for the ensuing intelligent discussion and pointers. Should you take them away, to me, the appeal of HN drops significantly.

Re: Coming Soon to Hacker News: Pending Comments

#602

Post by reeses »

dsrguru wrote: post #384
pg wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's see how much of a problem there is first. I wanted to start with the simplest possible thing. If it breaks in some cases I'll add stuff to fix those.

My immediate thoughts were very similar to cperciva's. In the status quo, there's already a disincentive (for those who care about average karma) to comment on any posts that require scrolling down, especially if posts above them are heavily nested or if they themselves are. I can think of a particular discussion I had with a well-known HN user who has professional/financial incentive to care about his karma statisti…

With the availability of browser plugins and user scripts, I anticipate an "off-HN" application popping. Interested people can shadow the "canonical" HN discussion and continue a discussion that has legs, possibly grafting it onto HN itself.

Of course, it may be simpler to bot up a subreddit and do the same thing via convention. That may be the best result, redirecting the reddit-like dross back to reddit, where it belongs. Throwaway accounts will be mechanically discouraged along with the me-too, ya rite, and other useless posts.

Re: Coming Soon to Hacker News: Pending Comments

#605

Post by [deleted] »

npizzolato wrote: post #563
smtddr wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hyperbole. That comment claims it will make HN _useless_ .

What makes hyperbole so terrible? You recognized it was hyperbole, so you must also recognize the point he was making. It's funny to me that the GP is basically saying this change is unfavorable and will greatly diminish the value of HN to a great number of users, and your first "use" of this system is to say you would stifle that comment because it wouldn't affect you negatively. It's almost too perfect.

[deleted]

Re: Coming Soon to Hacker News: Pending Comments

#607

Post by [deleted] »

beloch wrote: post #274

My may concern with this system: Sledgehammer meets tack. The comments on HN aren't perfect, but they're far from bad when compared to other sites of this nature. There has been a downwards trend most probably due to the increasing popularity of HN. A response is warranted. However, this system has the potential to silence a lot of high quality comments on any threads that aren't on the front-page for an extended per…

[deleted]

Re: Coming Soon to Hacker News: Pending Comments

#608

Post by atom-morgan »

pg wrote: post #517
atom-morgan wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be a stupid question but exactly where is the delete link? I see deleted comments, but I don't see a delete link or even a downvote button when comments are downvoted. Is there a karma threshold for these?

In the line of gray text beginning with your username at the top of your comment.

I didn't realize there was a duration set on 'delete'. It all makes sense now.

Re: Coming Soon to Hacker News: Pending Comments

#609

Post by briantakita »

vacri wrote: post #341
chimeracoder wrote: post #224

I fear that this is going to have the effect of drowning out minority or contrary opinions, even those that are legitimate (non-trolling) and expressed in a respectful manner. Currently, the downvote button is only supposed to be used for unproductive comments - drivel, and the like. Of course, people use it to show their disagreement (even though that's not how it's meant to be used). As a result, people that post c…

Currently, the downvote button is only supposed to be used for unproductive comments pg has previously stated that it's perfectly acceptable to use the downvote button as "I disagree".

Downvotes meaning "I disagree" contribute to groupthink, no?

Re: Coming Soon to Hacker News: Pending Comments

#610

Post by georgemcbay »

cperciva wrote: post #19

Someone who has a pending comment will have to wait till it goes live to post another. We're hoping that good comments will get endorsed so quickly that there won't be a noticeable delay. Is there some timeout? If not, commenting on a several-day-old thread will guarantee that you can never post another comment, since once threads drop off the front page it's not likely that many 1000+ karma users will even see those…

Even absent the problem with with older threads, there has to be a timeout, otherwise one iffy comment risks putting you into mute forever. That is, IMO, ridiculously punitive especially in light of the warning that you should not endorse if unsure, etc.

And keep in mind that an 'iffy' comment may not even be a bad one. It is pretty common on HN for more than one person to make the same basic point as someone else in a reply to a post (because they both started posting around the same time and didn't see the other replies before making their own) but due to either timing and/or karma boost pulling one person to the top, the rest are basically ignored for upvoting -- I can't imagine that situation would be any different for endorsing. Who wants to endorse a post that says the same thing as another post which is already endorsed (but just happened to be posted 30 seconds later, or by someone with less of a karma boost?).

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