It would also be interesting, if this actually makes it to the front page to see the reasons why people don't go to the new page. Is it because they are only looking for the "best", or a quick flash of trends, or because they are bored and flick between hn and facebook?
EDIT: And would a better system be to interlace new posts with top posts on a single news page?
Depending on the time of day (and the degree of my idleness that day) I find that the main page sometimes gets a bit stale, in these cases I click on new.
Another reason to go to the new page would be to try to get the first commenter's advantage on a story.
I post fairly regularly, and it's become pretty clear that not enough people do. The same content will not get a single vote when posted once, then on it's second posting be on the frontpage for eighteen hours. As it stands, the best content is not winning out.
How do I keep up? How does someone who only reads the front page keep up? Think of all the stuff on new that they never even see. They're behind by definition! :)
I don't treat HN as only programming or only startups, I treat it as the most interesting and eclectic news source on earth. And I'm pretty good at ignoring whatever doesn't interest me.
During the week I read front, then the first page of new, sometimes the second, rarely past that. If I'm between tasks during the day I might check new, and if I see something on the first or second page of new I'll tab it up. I don't try to keep up, so most things probably disappear.
On a Saturday or Sunday morning it's my Sunday paper with coffee.
A cool idea could be to randomly infuse the front page with "new" links to make sure that they get read and voted on, and that everyone is curating the top links and not just readers of /newest.
The problem is then the signal-to-noise ratio decreases and therefore making the front page less attractive to new (maybe even to more experienced) users.
Even allowing between 1, 2 and 3 new links seems like it could work. There are enough people that links would get a nice boost in being upvoted or downvoted.
Its a tradeoff, but you can decide how far along the scale to go. Maybe 1 random story isn't really going to ruin everything, and maybe the value of a good algorithm that tested new submissions this way would be worth it overall. Maybe we are letting alot of good stories slip through the cracks because new doesn't get enough visits- so you might want to add more than 1 on the front page. You can hide point counts too- why do we even need to see the number?
Only if I am unhappy with the frontpage and think I need to influence the article order. But I am looking quite often in the "ask" section, even so one visit a weeks is probably enough to stay updated in that section.
On Reddit, and I think on 4Chan too, they consider(ed) looking at "new" every now and then part of your duty.
The only time I remember to do it is when I or someone I know is submitting something and I want to see how it's doing on "New", but in that instance I try to look at everything else in the top 30 of "New" at least.
Well, I don't. I think it would be sooo much better for HN if the FP had 2 columns: 1 column for top news, 1 for 'newest'. Then everyone gets to read it (for a very short amount of time).
"new" is such a horrible name. I used to think it mean "create a new post". Please change it to "latest". Even the actually link is called "newest". Don't ever save 3 extra characters.
And add "hottest" instead of having people to click on "Hacker News".
I have never made this mistake - probably because I clicked through there a long time ago...
Upon reading what you have said I can clearly see why someone would come to that conclusion...
Human are curious animals. But we forget things too. I have probably clicked through all the buttons. But if the name doesn't make sense to me, and I have only used it maybe once (out of boredom or random habit), I probably won't remember it. Hence I probably won't recall using that button. And when I click on my profile and see "submission,comments" I make a habit of going there to find my comments and submissions. Because that route is semantically correct. Under your profile, that got to be my stuff.
I always associated 'ask' with where you submit questions - not where you see them. [edit] perhaps 'questions' wold be more appropriate?
edit: Whilst we're at it how about some slight changes for mobile? The amount of times i accidentially tap a users name instead of a link has to be at least half the time.
Usually when I'm procrastinating really hard, i.e. I already read everything interesting on the main page twice and still fill the need to avoid work for a bit longer.
How do top links get up-voted in the first place if not on the "new" page? So isn't the question "Who reads the 'new' page?" more relevant? (Whouldn't "Who" also refers to those who up-vote the posts that make it to the top of the list?)
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 120 ms ] threadEDIT: And would a better system be to interlace new posts with top posts on a single news page?
(HN's RSS URL can be found at the bottom of the front page.)
1) There seems to be quite a lot of low-quality content (blogspam, etc.)
2) I primarily read HN for the comments, and the new page stories usually don't have any comments
Another reason to go to the new page would be to try to get the first commenter's advantage on a story.
At that time, I tend to look at and vote up stories that seem interesting.
Occasionally?
I don't treat HN as only programming or only startups, I treat it as the most interesting and eclectic news source on earth. And I'm pretty good at ignoring whatever doesn't interest me.
During the week I read front, then the first page of new, sometimes the second, rarely past that. If I'm between tasks during the day I might check new, and if I see something on the first or second page of new I'll tab it up. I don't try to keep up, so most things probably disappear.
On a Saturday or Sunday morning it's my Sunday paper with coffee.
The main reason you want something like this is to keep meritorious articles from languishing without any votes.
The only time I remember to do it is when I or someone I know is submitting something and I want to see how it's doing on "New", but in that instance I try to look at everything else in the top 30 of "New" at least.
And add "hottest" instead of having people to click on "Hacker News".
EDIT
More suggestions from me.
"threads" show my comments. https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=yeukhon
I never actually used this button. I always click on my profile and then find my comments and my submission.
That name is so horrible. Make it "my comments"
whereas "comments" show newcomment, not mine.
ask, jobs, submit. can we just group them differently? and create a filter somethere?
Even 1990s websites could do their nav right. (home, contact, about me, etc)
This is a genuine criticism.
edit: Whilst we're at it how about some slight changes for mobile? The amount of times i accidentially tap a users name instead of a link has to be at least half the time.
Not everything good gets upvoted and not everything upvoted is good.