HN Explorer

157 comments

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glotchimo
Something like this might actually be useful for the all-too-common productive procrastination breaks. Stuck on a hard problem? Better clean my desk. Waiting for a build? Better clean my files. Lacking momentum? Better check LinkedIn (it’s professional so it’s okay). I wonder which type of “break” kills more productivity, “fun” distraction or “productive” distraction. Anyone else?
lofatdairy
There's probably an argument to be made that at least those tasks might help push you out of a rut if you've spent hours banging your head against a wall. God knows cleaning my desk is probably a better use of my time right now than commenting yet again on HN.
glotchimo
Yeah I’ve certainly heard that doing something small can help get the engine going, but anecdotally, it totally goes both ways. I’ve had afternoons where I clean something or what have you and get right back to it and others where I clean something and end up changing the capitalization of symbols for no reason.
p1necone
When I'm working on a hard problem and I identify that I actually do need to stop and just think about it more indirectly I find going for a walk to be pretty useful.
Sebb767
Probably "productive" distractions, since you can do them a lot more before feeling bad and going back to work. Especially if you can silently get into the "fun" territory.

I've actually had this with HN in the last days; I've ditched Reddit for HN because it contained a lot more worthwile content and valuable discussions [0], but with the Twitter shitshow I've come to enjoy a lot of snarky, unproductive discussions again. Maybe it's time to enable noprocast.

[0] Actually, it was mostly ideological reasons, but having HN as a "drop-in" replacement/upgrade helped a lot.

LAC-Tech
Yeah, HN is such a double edged sword. Great technical discussions as well as time sucking passive aggressive discussions about "divisive social issues", which I cannot help but click.

Wrote this script today, that just stops me seeing submissions from sites I know won't have good technical discussions. Might be useful for others.

    const boringDomains = ["twitter.com", "newyorker.com", "nytimes.com"]

    Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(".titleline > a"))
        .filter(elem => boringDomains.some(domain => elem.href.includes(domain)))
        .map(elem => elem.parentElement.parentElement.parentElement)
        .flatMap(elem => [
            elem,
            elem.nextElementSibling,
            elem.nextElementSibling.nextElementSibling]
        )
        .forEach(elem => elem.remove())
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kettleballroll
> I've ditched Reddit for HN because it contained a lot more worthwile content

I found that at least for myself, this was just a lie I kept telling myself. HN contains almost zero actionable content, and I've not been an epsilon better off for reading it. I come to see it as infotainment.

rjh29
Some HNers believe the site is superior to Reddit, if you compare it to the smaller and high quality subs, there isn't any difference.
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asddubs
there's been a few times where I read something that I was really glad I found out about through here, and probably wouldn't have found out otherwise. But yeah, easily >99% of it is just passing time
VLM
HN is great for discovery but 90%+ of the comments have declined to ChatGPT levels.
Bedon292
For me the benefit is honestly just less content. There is only so much that makes it to the front page here and the lack of infinite scroll means I rarely see beyond it. It helps me waste a lot less time. But reddit was also a real problem for me. Way too many hours each day and I had to quit it.
antihero
I’ve discovered a bunch of neat libraries and projects through it.
electrondood
HN comments are less sarcastic, cynical, info-free than Reddit comments.
jasonladuke0311
They can be, but not always. For example, any subject even tangentially related to Twitter or Musk summons a spate of low-brow, boilerplate comments.
eastbound
HN was my MBA back in 2010-2013, that’s where I learnt how to create a working startup. There were blogs like Kalzumeus or Joel On Software, people were still debating technical or business issues about startups.

Now it’s more a news aggregator. It’s my fault too, I don’t blog about the company I’ve created, and people can learn how to create proper startups in many places.

tracker1
It varies... I'll often see mention of interesting/useful tools/sites/applications mentioned in more technical discussion. I don't always find these things immediately useful, but often even a year later if I can remember enough to search and find what I was looking for. Sometimes just knowing something exists in extremely useful.
mrcartmeneses
I made a resolution to just close my eyes instead of going on Reddit/HN. Went well for about 20 mins...
Cthulhu_
> Probably "productive" distractions, since you can do them a lot more before feeling bad and going back to work. Especially if you can silently get into the "fun" territory.

I feel like this is the case for a lot of productivity tools; every once in a while I find myself browsing the status-quo of the next generation of todo apps that have had far too much design work spent on their website for what it does. 9 times out of 10 it's a grift to sell a $15 / month subscription for syncing across devices and its added value is tiny compared to just using a text editor, lol.

philippejara
"oh I need to structurally modify these 20 lines, might as well craft a regex to do it"

30 minutes later... well got to keep my regex skills up to date else i'll lose them

tracker1
Have to admit, the change to Twitter in terms of personality the past few months has been as fun as Twitter around a decade ago... I mean, a lot more snark, memes and generally fun. Not perfect, but definitely more entertaining than when people were getting banned for parody accounts.
sharkweek
> Better check LinkedIn (it’s professional so it’s okay)

I don’t have social media on my work computer except LinkedIn. I can’t tell you how many times a day I quickly open a new tab and head to LinkedIn (where I’m not even that personally active, mind you) to just get a quick hit of a distraction.

gnicholas
Yeah I moved the LinkedIn app to the front page of my home screen when I went to a conference a couple months ago. I check it much more when it's right there. Thanks to your comment, I'm going to move it back to where it was before, buried in a folder on the fourth page.
mbappe123
LinkedIn and other medias are not at all distracting, if your job is on those platforms. Or you get your traffic through those platforms.
samstave
Reddit may be the all time king in productivity blockers...
p1necone
I'm similar, but replace the answer to all of those questions with "make a coffee".

I feel sorry for my kidneys.

noduerme
The kind where you start reading code you wrote more than 3 years ago and obsessively changing it...
barthelomew
Yes ofcourse, that side project I haven't touched for 3 years now obviously needs a full rewrite in the new language/framework I've been learning.
vidarh
Whenever I feel too tired to focus on something "productive" is when I clean the house, because most of my productive work involves thinking and most of the tidying/cleaning is a set of repetitive tasks that I can do on "autopilot" and so ironically I find it easier to carry them out when I'm too tired to get caught up thinking about software projects.

But the tricky part is remembering to nudge myself into starting tidying etc..

xupybd
I've been using Freedom for this for some time. I would recommend using these tools.

When you site down and want to get something done you just block out a few hours where you can't access the sites that distract you. It is really good for focus. I thought I could do this with will power alone but these sorts of tools really do help.

gautamdivgi
Does freedom allow you to block apps? I have it and it works nicely for safari and my Mac. I haven't been successful in trying to have it block apps. Maybe because I have an ancient iPhone.
occamschainsaw
It allows you to install a vpn on iOS that blocks traffic to domains on your blocklist, effectively blocking apps (unless you download things offline like YouTube videos or Podcasts).
rockbruno
Apple added official app blocking APIs in iOS 16, so you don't need to use someone's sketchy VPN anymore. Burnout Buddy is an app that uses this.

(disclaimer: self-promotion, I made it)

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fergie
I think you missed the point.
xupybd
I see that now, thanks!
Sebb767
I'm somewhat disappointed that there is no Firefox version. However, given that the author most likely uses his extension, I can see what might have happened.
jonas-w
I always thought firefox and chrome share a standard where you could build one extension and use them on both platforms?
pinusc
AFAIK WebExtensions APIs are mostly compatible but the developer still has to do some setup to make them work on both
coffee_cup
There's leechblock
culi
I use leechblock. It's pretty great. It's extremely feature rich. The UI is a little ugly but "ugly" in the style that a hackernewser would likely appreciate.

My only complaint is the way it does this thing when you're out of time and it redirects you (either to their block page or a custom page you set up). Not sure how it does it but the original url you tried to reach doesn't get saved in your history. If I try to manually disable the extension it'll also automatically close the page with the leechblock message so it's gone forever. Kind of annoying if it's a link I'd like to revisit after work

Other than it's pretty neat

rnmp
Love the sentiment here. Whoever is reading this should try disabling all notifications ever.

There really isn’t a need to know when someone messages you or you get news.

Doing this helps you focus more both for work but also for chill time.

Brajeshwar
Totally agree with this. I have been advocating this since 2014 and points to my article whenever someone asks me. It needs an update but the general idea is still valid. I do have notifications for some key specific events such as Health, timed events in the calendar, and selected people who can call, etc but otherwise it is pretty quite almost all the time.

https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activi...

neontomo
I enjoy the humour in this. Well done.
tomxor
I love that Slack is the first icon on the list :D it's kind of true though, It's probably the worst offender.
Kiro
Worst offender as in making you the most productive? I'm pretty sure that's not the case. I'm not even sure it qualifies to be on the list. If anything it's a distraction making you less productive.
tomxor
I agree. I somehow inverted the purpose of this plugin in my head. Feels weird to be upvoted because people disagree with you.
guzik
I thought it has something in common with the Spotify.
dopidopHN
Looks like a “fun” one but in all seriousness: self-control2 do the same thing except you have to feed it the list of blocked website.

Then technically it’s harder to circonvent. ( it’s at the /host file level I think. I don’t really wanna know so i cannot work around it.

vdwijngaert
Wanted to share this with the team, but I noticed the social cards aren't loading (at least not on slack). It's probably due to the fact that your social images are not on HTTPS:

```html <meta property="og:site_name" content="Productivity Blocker"/> (...) <meta property="og:image" content="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/61e76afa9e2d33114d3da2... (...) <meta itemprop="thumbnailUrl" content="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/61e76afa9e2d33114d3da2... <link rel="image_src" href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/61e76afa9e2d33114d3da2..." /> <meta itemprop="image" content="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/61e76afa9e2d33114d3da2... (...) <meta name="twitter:image" content="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/61e76afa9e2d33114d3da2... ```

Love it though! :)

djmips
"first Chrome extension for blocking any website that makes you productive. "
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spaceman_2020
Whoever wrote the copy for this is brilliant
samwillis
Links at the bottom of the page, the creators are accomplished advising creatives and copywriters.
rising-sky
Will it block Hacker News?, cause god knows this is a huge productivity block... like right now
Kiro
If HN is a productivity block it should be promoted when using this, not blocked. The point of this extension is to block everything making you productive, so that you can procrastinate and slack off more.
braingenious
Love the idea of TEDx somehow being productive in a professional sense.
dncosta
Reddit still takes the crown - cross browser and no extensions needed.
eyelidlessness
It took a full ten seconds for my eyes to see normal color again. They can use that as a testimonial if they like.
r-spaghetti
Who needs a productivity blocker if you have Microsoft Windows?
retSava
Good news! Your computer is ready for Windows 11! And how about a nice game of Solitude Candy Smackers (TM)? Have you tried the new Microsoft Edge web browser? It's not a browser, it's a WOWser!
throwaway019254
Honestly, I'm not even sure if this is a parody or not.
brailsafe
I got mid 90s (80s?) Steve Ballmer vibes
Cthulhu_
> It's not a browser, it's a WOWser!

I just died a little inside; well done :D

retSava
Actually, it's real. I started getting spam emails from some new browser vendor, a contact of mine apparently had shared their contacts with them. They used that line, "it's a WOWser".

edit: Rock Melt, anno pre-2012, perhaps 2010.

zidad
...And then let me bother you with the lated MSNBS celebrity nonsense in your start menu when you're trying to find an application
Terretta 

    Narrator: It's still Chrome.
codeproject
There seems to be an error in the first paragraph. Introducing productivity blocker, The first Chrome extension for blocking any website that make you productive. should the word "productive" be unproductive?
daquisu
That's the joke. You can scroll down below to see the reviews talking about how unproductive they are while using the extension.

But good you at least opened the link and raised the question, there a lot of people here supposing it is a blocker to be more productive.

codeproject
thanks, i never got to the bottom part of page.
nottorp
Neither did I. I stopped at the fake star ratings. Looks to me that they kinda failed.

Edit: Oh wait. It looks like i read the whole page. But didn't pay attention because I skimmed through the text and I never even looked at the icons. Not that I can recognize most of them.

I'm really not the target audience for this kind of product page...

6510
before you can be productive you need to be unproductive first.
auggierose
I've found just using ScreenTime on macOS during the time where I need to get stuff done is very useful. It is a bit hidden, because you have to enable "Limit Adult Websites", but then you can configure sites you want to block. My list is:

ycombinator.com

guardian.co.uk

theguardian.com

nytimes.com

spiegel.de

Works wonders! It really helps for these little breaks where you automatically go to a site subconsciously. And none of these sites are useful for what I do, except HN sometimes to look up information and pointers about technical topics.

mattmanser
Looks like you didn't actually look at the link :)
auggierose
I actually did. Clicked on it once, looked at it for about 3 seconds, decided it would be a waste of my time to check it out more.
nunodonato
Which means you didn't actually understand what it was about, which was the point of the comment ;)
auggierose
I don't disagree. Understanding things takes time, and most things are not worth understanding them.
gnrl
And then you feel it's not a waste of time to write a comment on an article you took 3sec to understand and skip?
auggierose
No, as I just wanted to share my anti-procrastination tool. I also like chatting with HNers (some more than others)!
KomoD
Spent more time writing these pointless comments
auggierose
> The greatest trick that javascript ever pulled was to convince the latest generation of programmers that it was fast...

By the way, JavaScript IS quite fast. I ported some code from Swift to Typescript recently, and its runtime went down from 15 seconds to 2 seconds. It wasn't a 1-1 port because I improved things, so it is not a fair comparison, but I was very positively surprised.

mattmanser
> It wasn't a 1-1 port because I improved things

Hmm, I think we found the reason....

auggierose
I don't think you did! Doing the same improvements in Swift I wouldn't expect an over seven time speedup. I suspect that the time difference has to do with data structures like hashmaps, which in Swift are defacto immutable, and in JavaScript are not.
INTPenis
We used to do this in the firewall at my first job. Every weekend the founder of the company would get drunk and login to servers and mess things up. So every weekend it was my job as the junior to go into our FreeBSD firewall and uncomment or update an ipfw line that blocked his IP-address.
samwillis
I assume you are really talking about your current job at Twitter...
raspberry1337
I don't think so, considering how Twitter is somehow running better with 80 percent of personnel removed
rjh29
You could be right, but it's not like a large software project instantly falls apart if people leave. It'll keep running for a while but cracks will start to develop and nobody will be around to patch them up.
raspberry1337
Aha. And what if someone is there, from the remaining 20%, to patch them up?
rjh29
Those people are going to have to work a lot of overtime I guess? We'll see :)
distcs
> I don't think so, considering how Twitter is somehow running better with 80 percent of personnel removed reply

I believe you are getting downvoted (and now flagged and removed from the thread) for not substantiating your comment. HN does not seem to like single-line comments that do not provide info.

But I have to ask. Do you have any info or stats that shows that Twitter is really running better? By what metrics is it running better? Honest question.

alwayseasy
A drop of 75%-80% in revenue doesn't seem like its anyone's definition of "running better".
mrzool
Bold of you to assume Elon Musk would be able to use ssh.
kramerger
I know you are joking but Tesla had an entire team devoted to making sure Elon does not fuck up important things.

I believe it is well documented that critical personnel were hidden when he was visiting the factories to avoid getting them rage-fired

brezelgoring
I want to believe this but I can't find a source, can you share where you've read this?
moduspol
> I want to believe this but I can't find a source

"Claims about Elon Musk since the Twitter takeover" in a nutshell.

[dead] raspberry1337
benstrumental
I want to believe this but I can't find a source, can you share where you've read this?
adwn
I suspect it's sarcasm:

> PayPal had an automatic github-algorithm [...] before they managed to coup him as CEO

Musk stepped down as CEO of PayPal in 2000, predating not just Github, but git itself by 5 years.

r3to
Musk has never been CEO of PayPal
davemp
It’s a shitpost, which really doesn’t belong on HN.
fernandotakai
a bit meta, but it feels like since musk bought twitter, there have been too many shitposts/unfounded rumors about him that do not belong here.
ddevault
Fun is occasionally permitted on HN. This thread is about a joke add-on in the first place, you know.
culanuchachamim
I love how it looks that who wrote this got inspired more and more while writing this.

He starts with things that you say: Wow, amazing, but totally logical.

The he continues with things that you say: Wow, no waaay, Musk is really that crazy?

And by the end (the slave/master) you realize it's sarcasm.

But hilarious!

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teknico
And now we cannot read it anymore. Because we must be protected, I guess? :-P
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retSava
Sure it wasn't a weird grazing ritual? A cron script would've replaced you doing that, more efficiently and reliably.

When I did military service abroad, the new chefs rotating down was put on "sandwich alert" in which anyone on camp signal centers could call in the middle of the night, requesting a nice sandwich delivered. It was all fun and games, they were shortly let in on the thing and we all laughed at it afterwards. No-one abused it.

deelly
> No-one abused it.

Honest question: how can you be 100% sure?

retSava
Well I can't really, just hearsay. We were just a battalion and most were out on diverse smaller camps or manning checkpoints and the like, so we weren't that many that even could abuse it. And, it's a kind of abuse in essence really, so we can probably reverse my statement.
INTPenis
Naw, I used to party with the founder. It got wild.

The problem back then in 2004-2005 was that his DSL could give him a new IP lease anytime so it couldn't really be automated away without having a dyndns script running on his computer, which would never work.

flimflamm
I want an unproductivity blocker