Hacker News Reader

Me, too. This is the crux of the problem. Allowing such huge posts and so many media types makes the stream impossible to scan. All the reactions the post is getting from G+ worshippers skip over this point, so I guess some people like being assaulted.

I don't mind previews longer than 140 or even bigger thumbnails. These is at least good display of valid information (a huge advantage over twitter), while +counters and strangers' opinions are pointless noise.

If they want to expose the number of +s why not line it up next to the [+1] button? Why take a full line just for one number? Likewise, the number of shares can be next to the share button.

That'd be really easy to do with a Chrome extension.