Hacker News Reader

Sadly, in 2026, you should never assume anyone will click a link.

If that's what you think, why you keep posting comments linking to your blog?

If you know that to be true and still add your links everywhere ("helping"), isn't this a spammer's confession?

Those are for the people who still respect links.

Why "sadly"? The person writing a link should provide enough detail for readers to figure out whether they should follow the link. I rolled my eyes the first time I saw this entry on HN because it just said "Neki" and the (generic) target domain name. A two-word description got added, and that makes it interesting instead.

It's sad because I think links are the best thing about the web, and it's increasingly clear to me that many internet users either misunderstand or actively avoid them.

Why do people post screenshots of an article on social media instead of linking to it?

Sometimes ignorance, but often because the web is such a hostile experience these days - paywalls and subscribe banners and cookie warnings and slow pages.

That's sad.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com