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Comment by wartijn_ | Hacker News Reader

I think calling this “distasteful” is pretty dumb. it’s a website that has offered a free service for decades. If I wanted to glue some glass to metal, I wouldn’t want to which ratio of certain ingredients I’d need. That would just result in me having to check the description of dozens of packages in a shop, while I would forget the names of those ingredients as soon as I’d bought the glue and I have no idea what the effect of a different ratio will be. I’d be just a bunch of useless information, while knowing which product I need to buy is providing a service people actually use.

Too bad that it’s not super useful for people who don’t live in the US, but you can’t make everyone happy.

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> I wouldn’t want to which ratio of certain ingredients I’d need. That would just result in me having to check the description of dozens of packages in a shop,

Glues are not a long list of ingredients like a recipe or something. There's only a few ingredients that actually matter in making things stick.

> That would just result in me having to check the description of dozens of packages in a shop,

Checking ingredients is a good thing in a store. Not sure why people find this kind of thing a problem. Aren't you curious with what things are made?

Sometimes I'm curious, sometimes I just want to glue two things together to finish my project. Do you meet many people who mix their own glues?

So wait, originally you are upset that the creator of the site didn't do extra legwork for you. Then immediately after you are chiding someone for not being curious and wanting to know what's inside their glues... Seems like the obvious solution would be for you to take your own advice and look up the product name to find out what's inside. Curious people can and will do that.

We don't have a problem with people checking ingredients. We have a problem with you coming in and telling people that they should check ingredients but also that the author's work is _distasteful_ because they should have provided the ingredients so you don't have to check yourself.

> should have provided the ingredients so you don't have to check yourself.

I provided a rationale as to why it matters: the same glues are not available under the same brand name everywhere, and the brand name is irrelevant. If a brand disappears for some reason, it does not mean that this type of glue is gone.

Couldn't you get the recipe based on the brand name if not available in your region?

There are complete lists of ingredients on everything in my grocery store. But NOT in my hardware store.

A large majority of items don't tell you what's in them at all. Sometimes Googling will tell you the main ingredient in a product, but often it won't or you'll get conflicting answers from random forum posts.

> NOT on my hardware store

Not true - because the regulations of almost every country require to mention the ingredients that compose more than a few percents of the formulation. There is no long list on ingredients on certain glues because they can as simple as 100% ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate.

Well, those regulations sure don't apply in the US then.

Here's the first organic result for "glue" on Amazon, a well-known brand:

https://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Super-Glue-gram-Clear/dp/B082...

First two photos are the front and back of the package. Care to point out where it says what the ingredients are? Because I sure can't find it.

I could trivially find a hundred other examples. So I don't know where you get the idea that hardware ingredients must be listed on packaging.

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