Does anyone else have a long list of dense material like this that you have an intention of going through someday? Do you ever end up actually doing it?
I always save the HN thread when applicable rather than the link, because it gives me short hand notation and normalization for writing with a pen. Now in a paper notebook I have a few pages where each line is a theme, a word etc. Next to it write the HN ids (can as well save a comment thread; superbly useful) to reference under that theme. Done. If particularly useful I can write few words in small print over the id detailing more the subject of a link.
This is however done for a set purpose, as reference material for writing speculative and science fiction (HN is great for ideas and research) and also articles. When and whether I finally visit a link is staked on a piece and theme ever getting picked by me for writing; I find this is a great compromise and more realistic than simply hoarding.
Every once and a while I go through some[1] of it and ask myself "Will I ever actually look at this"? Sometimes there's a clear answer, but more often it stays in the list because it still looks interesting and I only consume maybe 5-10% of what I saved. There's got to be some term for this. Digital hording? It makes me anxious to have it and anxious to just delete it. There are plenty of times I do remember something I saw and wish I could find it again, but I lean too hard into "maybe I'll think about this again and want it".
[1]: It's so long I generally lose the will to even evaluate the items after a while.
I don't make my way to that list as often as I'd like, but I have found plane trips and other similar times are great for when I want to do something like that. Sitting down with a longer blog post and taking notes on a 5 hour flight is oddly relaxing. So yes, to answer your question, I do get around to it eventually when the post is worthwhile.
(This perhaps a bit of an ADHD-specific tactic)
If you want to try it for yourself id be happy to give you beta access. I'm still experimenting for the best UX.
Ps YMMV a lot based on figures code snippets and anything illustrated so not for all content including the featured article
This also is my answer to OP. I save these articles to VDR. And when I have time to read or listen to something, I open the app. It helps that VDR shows me the length of each document in terms of reading time. When you ask me how long a particular book was, I’ll say “It’s a 12 hour book”. Really helps to put things in perspective.