So, rather than tools for submission-based skimming/alerts, I'd like to see advanced tools based on comments: Some ideas:
* Number of comments divided by submission points is a rough measure of contentious topics in the HN community, esp. if this is > 1. Recent example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19970544. Sort front page by this score. Another obvious measure would be the number of grayed out and flagged comments.
* Identify comments leading to discussions and highlight them. Since comment scores are hidden this has to be done trough analysis of replies (maybe keywords "good reply" or number of replies).
* Identify comments that are informational, simple measure would be to count the number of links; harder to do would be to analyze the "factfullness".
Just some random thoughts.
P.S. I offer myself as a cautionary example of getting too much into HN: This is the first site I skim on my phone when I get up (to get awake, you know) and I easily spend more than an hour every day (who am I kidding, more like two hours). This is idiotic! Don't let your idea debt (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11027684) accumulate.