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Ask HN: Do you like to get notified when someone replies on Hacker News?

13 points by anandrmedia ↗ HN
I know push notifications can be intrusive. Emails too (especially if they are not batched together).

Don't you know think Hacker News needs some kind of indication to remind you that you have a new reply? Especially when we participate in lot of nested threads, we'll miss informative replies. Atleast in the form of a badge or something?

I've built something to solve this problem. Just wondering if others face the same issue here.

19 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 57.5 ms ] thread
satysin
No.

I don't like to be notified about anything non-critical. I take time in my day to check the 'threads' link at the top of Hacker News and spend the 10 seconds or so it takes me to see if anyone has replied to anything I posted over the past few days and if I feel it warrants a response.

If it does I pop a note in my to-do list along with a link to the comment in question and get around to it later.

The last thing I want is yet another ping to tell me someone replied to me on a social news site. One of the reasons I comment on Hacker News is that it doesn't poke me in the eye for every reply I may get.

Honestly if Hacker News were to add this feature I would disable it instantly or maybe just not bother interacting with the community if they did it in an invasive way that I cannot disable, although that is quite unlikely.

Quick edit: I didn't mean for the above to sound hostile to what you have made. Apologies if it comes across that way. I just feel very strongly about over-notifications in todays world. For those that want it hopefully they find your extension helpful!

anandrmedia
Nice to hear your perspective. Just asking, You wouldn't use it even if it's just a badge (or an indication), and nothing intrusive like a push, or a popup?
satysin
Nope. Sorry.

You know on reddit it has that little orangered envelope to notify you of when you have a reply? I use uBlock Origin to nuke even that tiny little envelope (I also remove a lot of other stuff from reddit to be fair).

A few years ago I totally removed all forms of notifications outside of actual critical things such as my sons school calling.

On my phone I have no notification badges on the icons and all app notifications disabled. I don't care to know about anything without it being my choice.

Do I waste a few seconds now and then? Sure but it's time I can control. If I don't want to waste those few seconds I just don't check for any updates. With a notification I have no choice, that second or two is sucked away from me no matter what.

Perhaps it seems extreme but using a phone, tablet or computer is so much better when it doesn't keep poking you in the eye with "look at me!!" badges or notification shades popping or sliding in the corner or edge of the screen.

anandrmedia
That's nice :) In my case, notification (or an indicator atleast) help me save a lot of time. This is especially when I'm serious about knowing the latest updates on something. If it's something less critical, I'd simply snooze them!
josephcsible
I don't want push notifications. What I would want to make sure I don't miss replies, though, is something like the "threads" page but sorted by latest activity instead of by the time of each of your "root" posts.
anandrmedia
That is nice. I believe there should be some way to quickly find replies that I'm interested in responding.
EA-3167
I feel like one of the joys of HN is that we aren't really encouraged to get into long back-and-forth exchanges. The result is that often a thread that goes on for a while is composed of many different participants, and that comes with several benefits. First it isn't just an argument between two people. Second there's less emotional energy and less 'fighting', it's more like a group discussion. Finally I think the slightly slower pace on an individual level helps to drive civility and a better perspective, one less obsessed with 'winning points' that defines so much of social media.

I don't think the lack of notifications is some lynchpin in this system, but I think it's part of it, and a good part. Any time I imagine some way HN could be improved I always ask myself to what extent it would disturb the HN ecosystem. I think any change that leans into habitual social media behavior is a net negative, even if it is a minor convenience.

codegeek
There are couple of existing tools already:

https://hnnotify.xyz/

https://hnreplies.com/

Is your tool doing anything different ?

anandrmedia
An email for every reply can be annoying. The extension I developed embeds an In-App Inbox inside HackerNews (If you've used Reddit, you know). So, everything stays inside HackerNews itself. No push notifications or emails.
helij
No, I'm perfectly fine checking manually.

I have zero notifications enabled everywhere no matter the device.

klyrs
No. I love that HN is strictly PULL.

Any time a conversation lasts more than a day, it's petty crap. Any time I'm posting enough that yesterday's comments are on page 2 of my threads, it's a sign that I need to stop commenting.

SushiHippie
No, but a diff to the last time i visited my "comments" page would be neat.
pawelduda
Yes I'd love notification abt reply and that person I replied to just posted something elsewhere and a banner in my face to download an app
KomoD
No, I feel it ruins the feel of HN, just like how I don't want a more modern UI, I prefer this one
moomoo11
No. Most of the time I don’t care if someone replies to me, I just wanted to type out what came to my mind.

If I do care I just hit threads link.

vGPU
This is actually one thing I’ve grown to greatly enjoy about HN. I already get a barrage of notifications from different sources all day as it is, and HN is a breath of fresh air.