Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why doesn't HN have tags/filters?

15 pointsuuee24 comments

Every post should have a set of tags: describing the subject. In the information overload age filtering is becoming essential.

Tagging is available on any serious platform with lots of data. It can be used to search for or filter out posts to save time/energy.

Personally I skip about 95% of posts here -- a lot of that is based on the post's category.

Some e.g's of HN relevant tags (multiple could be used per post): Code, Software, AI, Crypto, Linux, Politics, History, Space, Math, Biology, Health, Robotics, Microsoft, Apple, Startup, Social Media, Study, Games, Entertainment, News

If readers don't want to use tags/filters they don't have to.

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> Every post should have a set of tags: describing the subject. In the information overload age filtering is becoming essential.

You state that as a fact, but it is an opinion. I think using a filter would prevent users from seeing posts and comments that they would find interesting. In a sense, it would create a bubble for each user.

Also, HN isn’t that large that a quick visual scan of the home page doesn’t work.

> If readers don't want to use tags/filters they don't have to.

And if writers don’t want to use tags, or can’t even remotely agree on which ones should exist?

For example, in your example list, Code and Software would have significant overlap, AI about always would be software, Politics should be very rare according to the HN guidelines, people would disagree about the definition of Startup.

Tags are hardly rocket science -- simple rules/standards could be setup. Why do you want to take the choice away from people to use tagging? Someone like me reads a lot (on other sites) and I skip 95% of the content here. Why should I have to scroll through posts about: C++ compilers, etc when I know I'm not going to read it?

The tagging approach wouldn't effect you -- you could simply not use it.

Who talks about taking choice away? HN doesn’t offer it, just as it doesn’t offer all but the simplest layout, most emoji, gifs, embedded movies, etc.

Simplicity has its virtues, too.

Simplicity would be having tags to categories the posts. Just like a library has the Dewey Decimal Classification system -- if it were not for that it would be just a chaotic heap of books.

What if someone missed 3 months worth of posts and they want to catch up quickly... is that still a "small set of posts easy to scroll through"?

>Who talks about taking choice away? You are saying it shouldn't be implemented are you not?

HN is a community. One community. Mostly centered around discussing topics arising on the front page.

Add tags/filtering and you scatter the community in sub communities and that’s precisely what HN wants to avoid.

I don’t think it would scatter the community — I almost never read some topics here because I am uninterested in them, or because the community on average is not too well versed in the specific topic so it is mostly just guesses/opinions.

The most valuable thing about HN is the thoroughly educated comments, where under a related post the very creator of that program/language, etc might chime in to the discussion.

I prefer the simplicity of the current system and exposure to a range of topics. It doesn't take long to scan a couple of pages for interesting posts.

I enjoy the breadth of HN articles.

Bigger communities such as Reddit and Stackoverflow use ideas similar to tags to create more focussed communities.

The availability or non-availability of tagging on any platform has nothing to do with the quality or usefulness of the content. IMO, tagging is mostly useless because there needs to be a canonical dictionary of tags to choose from. That dictionary would have to be maintained by the HN mod and updated base on inputs. Otherwise every member may have a different spelling, wording, underscores or hyphens, etc.

I don’t think @dang has enough time to handle more requests and chores that add little or no value to the discussions.

I’d rather have larger fonts, an accessible interface, dark mode based on the user’s system/browser’s hints, etc. Those would make a much bigger impact for the audience.

Lastly, I’m being pedantic here: “Ask HN” cannot answer questions on HN’s implementation. Neither I nor anyone else commenting here has any clue as to why HN does not have tags or is considering adding tags in the future. Only the HN mod/admin can answer that, which can be asked by emailing them. A “Tell HN” would’ve been better to make a suggestion and get inputs.

>The availability or non-availability of tagging on any platform has nothing to do with the quality or usefulness of the content.

It does if there is an ocean of info and you miss posts.

>tagging is mostly useless because there needs to be a canonical dictionary of tags to choose from

Wrong. Tagging is simply solved on many existing platforms and is extremely useful.

> If readers don't want to use tags/filters they don't have to

Then would be useless.

Maybe a tag system with a limit of 3 tags could be useful but people could use the wrong tags and manage it will request a lot of work from the mods.

The algolia search works well now, tags could help if well used by the users, but also create confusion.

I used to think this, and I still wonder if it would be helpful, but on the other hand:

Just because you can do a thing doesn't mean you should. Just because people ask for it doesn't mean it should be done. See: Social media.

The spirit of HN is a public forum to discuss all sorts of topics, and to be exposed to a broad set of headlines/subjects - even if one isn't educated on it.

We do have the three important tags already. look at the header.

more than ask, show, jobs would split the community

This sounds like a great suggestion. It sure would make It more easier to find the content.

To anyone looking for a HN-like community with tags, Lobste.rs seems like a pretty good one. It has a few other interesting features, such as an invite tree (so you're more or less responsible for the people you invite) and "hats" ("a formal, verified, way of posting a comment while speaking for a project, organization, or company").

Personally wouldn't help me. I consume via RSS and just read every title anyway. Not sure how many users are in the same boat as me though.

I do the same thing and it is definitely better than checking the order-changing front-page multiple times a day not to miss something interesting, but I could do away with less posts to scroll through.

Though I would be very interested in your RSS setup if you could share a bit about it. I use Reeder and add interesting sounding posts to read later where I might actually get to reading it, but over time I no longer manage to clear it.. I have plenty of old posts I’ve taken a look at and wanted to check it out later as well more in-depth or something, and they just stay there indefinitely..

This is the way.

You ask for usenet, with scoring etc like Emacs/Gnus for client :-)

Perhaps a day people will realize that we have had all we need and demolished that...

> Some e.g's of HN relevant tags : .... Politics, History,

A bad tagging system can have a fatal side effect - because readers start using it like any other social networking site.

see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

"On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity."

"Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic."

> Personally I skip about 95% of posts here

You can use the https://hckrnews.com/ "top 10" / "top 20" / "top 50"

> . It can be used to search for or filter out posts to save time/energy.

I am using the "Search Hacker News" site https://hn.algolia.com/

Because HN is not Reddit? It's meant to be a cross section of interesting ephemera.

Why do you believe tags as a feature is at odd with the purpose being a "cross section of interesting ephemera?" That seems like an odd dichotomy to make. Or do you just have a general aversion to features that exist on Reddit?

Lobste.rs is basically Hacker News with tags and it seems to do alright.

He is one of those "the rule is the rule; repeat mantra" type of people. If libraries didn't have the Dewey tagging system he would be saying the same thing about them. Thanks for the lobster link.

Not he.

Also, because tags are functionally the same as subreddits. I come to HN because I want to be surprised and because I know we're all experiencing the same content.

If we let people subdivide into clades, HN changes its character, and becomes a place where posters show up only for a particular class of content and don't engage with other classes.

HN works, imo, because we're all sharing the space together.

>I come to HN because I want to be surprised and because I know we're all experiencing the same content.

That's great for you... many people don't share your view though. Why do you want to force them to share your views. Why not let people interact with HN how they want to? If you're not interested in debugging C compilers why should you be forced to read those posts?

>HN works, imo, because we're all sharing the space together.

This is an illusion. At least 80% of people here skip 80% of the posts.

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