Ask HN: How do you use HN?

I have a guy who looks for OPENSTEP references and sends me a link on WhatsApp to those. Then I swoop in and feast.

obsessively, I just check it dozens of times a day probably

edit: oh, and always always set the topcolor to the same as the background color :)

     #f6f6ef

Good questions, I'd be interested to see how others answer. I've changed how I use HN use a lot from way back when. I really don't use the front page as much as I used to. Date search based on various keywords and New are more interesting to me.

My perspective on HN changed as well. At first I was guilty about it. My use correlated with procrastination times :-). But I have come to see HN as a source/expression of a variety of psychological relief mechanisms.

When I use the counterparts of those mechanisms too much in my daily grind (a set of subjective perceptions), HN is a good source of the opposite, e.g. others' objective judgments (not objective as in "reliable", but rather objective as in "not mine") and specific types of new-to-me perceptions. The general topic being so impersonal is also helpful and helps take the focus off of "my life stuff" which by itself can be draining.

I'm looking at chaining the use of HN with other activities these days, taking advantage of the awareness of its pros for use as leverage. Can't share much ATM though except that it's based on similar effort/relief mechanisms lined up intentionally.

As always thanks to everyone involved in participating and keeping the site running.

I mostly use the default web interface and /news link. I’ll also check my threads link a few times a day when I’m actively in a thread.

For researching a specific tech topic, I use algolia’s HN interface.

I'm a very heavy believer in multiple desktops, so I incorporate HN into it quite heavily. My first desktop is always a dashboard, and typically contains my email client and the HN frontpage, alongside any monitoring tools I need for work. HN is a nice aggregation of all the news in my periphery without being overwhelming. The only script I use is one to modify the CSS such that it has the Nord theme[0] instead of the eye-searing default. I normally refresh the frontpage a few times a day, and if I'm particularly bored I'll sometimes venture into the /new posts.

[0] https://www.nordtheme.com/

I am using RSS feed (Innoreader). https://hnrss.org/frontpage

I am also using Refined Hacker News extension where I have custom Dark Mode css.

Primarily read front page on desktop but I also have a TTS thing [0] that runs in the morning made it a while ago. I have it running on a Pi Zero non-wireless with GPIO audio pin mod.

Eventually I will parse the popular threads to gain insight, I upvote the ones I want to look into later.

Word freq counter and intent

[0] https://github.com/jdc-cunningham/python_aws_polly_hacker_ne...

I use a custom CSS skin to make the text legible and accessible

I typically create new accounts for comments because there are no privacy controls (edit/delete) after a comment is old enough

>Do you use browser plugins or user scripts?

https://github.com/insin/hn-comments-owl

I've also been writing a Godot app for HN off an on for a while now. It isn't ready for prime time but here's what it looks like[0].

>Also, what are your habits around HN?

I tend to lurk the new comments page. I check this site constantly, and use it as a distraction from more worthwhile projects. It's pathetic, this place is basically intellectual junk food.

[0]https://imgur.com/a/ciLRZO1

I do use Dark Reader so I get an interesting dark mode for HN

200% browser zoom. otherwise i just use the site as normal.

It sits in the bookmarks bar on my "play" chrome profile, not my "work" profile, so i visit when i'm switched away from my work browser for a bit of downtime.

I use it for my news. Over the past couple years I’ve become so fed up with main stream media, but I find I can keep abreast of most issues by following HN, and the comments. The population is diverse enough that I get lots of different views.

Just the website. Using it like an RSS reader.

Unfortunately the search bar is not as usable, but I can search using Google by prefixing with "hacker news".

I scan the first 2 pages for any topics I think are interesting, and open them in new tabs. Then I come back to them at least a couple days later (after most people have commented) to read through the comments. This means I usually don't comment myself because it would be days late. I pretty much only comment if I think I have something clever or insightful to say on the topic.

I'll usually go through my HN tabs once they start to hit a critical mass and I have some time to kill, beginning with the oldest tab.

I read only the top threads from yesterday in my morning email digest from Mailbrew.

Open the first page, scroll down and open all interesting articles in a new tab. Work my way through them. Exit.

Sometimes I'll scan the second page if I didn't find enough on the 1st.

Just the vanilla web UI, mostly on mobile Safari. I pin it to my desktop and check it a few times a day when I’m bored. Every once in a while I remember the “new” section is a thing.

If I see an interesting article, I'll generally open the comments in a new tab and then immediately open the article, so when I'm done with the article I can hit back and go directly to the comments.

The way my dad used to drink when he was alive. Straight up, no chasers, dozens of times a day.

Check the Threads I've commented on, then go through the first page of Ask, then start at the front, and read through 10 pages deep (to #300) All via the web interface in Chrome on Windows.

Then off to Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, NetFlix, Prime Video, Gmail, repeat... long Covid, nothing but time and worry on my hands.

I just refresh /newcomments

Just use the browser, first page only most of the time, if I feel bored then second page, very few times third page. More than 3/4 of the time I just read the first comment directly. I rarely read the original source unless it's really interesting or relevant.

I always wonder how the new submissions got promoted to the home page, as I seldom read the "News" category myself.

I use an RSS feed. No idea how posts are filtered or sorted because sometimes I see flagged posts (which I like to see). I have an account and usually only comment with replies, and rarely participate in conversations past a single reply (sorry) because I find otherwise I get too invested in them.

I spend more time reading the comments than the articles, half because I can learn more from the comments and half because I have a morbid love/hate fascination with the typical “facts over feelings” HN poster.