Why HN is broken | Hacker News Reader

Why HN is broken

7 pointsasimjalis11 comments

HN is broken for the same reason Google is. When something is more popular it does not mean it is more interesting. In fact, the opposite. The most popular links are bland and uninteresting. Upvotes are a great way to filter out spam, but not a good way to select for interestingness.

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Flagging content is broken too - or at least people's behaviour in flagging. Take for example, there was a very interesting link to Teacups and Storms re: gender politics. I had wanted to continue reading what other HNers thought about the article, not 40 minutes after the link was posted. But I couldn't find it anymore.

Then I revisited my history to find that the story is now marked [dead]. Seriously?

I thought this was one of the more refreshing articles relating to gender issues to appear on HN, of late. Perhaps others felt it was just rehashing the same, tired issues. Who knows.

Complaining about something without giving (or better yet, creating!) a solution isn't very productive.

Paul Graham has written essays about this, so I feel like you're muttering to the choir here.

That said, brilliant demonstration of a known failure mode for HN: using copywriting tactic head lines.

    Why I ...
    How I ...
    What You ...

That's interesting. I suggest we get rid of downvotes altogether, and replace upvotes with a tally of click-throughs. If you really find a topic of interest, surely reading it is the one true upvote. To then come back and downvote it can register your disapproval, but not your lack of interest! No interest=no click-through=no upvote.

Isn't that just a vote on the effectiveness of the headline?

An interesting headline might do it I suppose. I choose more on the subject. Either way "interest" is noted, not just votes recording whether you agree or not with the views presented.

If we truly value discussion above all else, then the optimum metric for link quality should be the ratio of comments to click-throughs. When people are going to the article and then coming back to discuss it, the article must be a quality cause for discussion.

> The most popular links are bland and uninteresting

Not to the people who upvoted them. Come to terms with the fact that what HN likes changes as HN's users change. Look at all the accounts from years ago that were rich with karma but are gravesites now.

I read the frontpage and go immediately to new. Simple solution. If you read "new" you can upvote an interesting link to the frontpage. It's the same on reddit.

Why do you use a question on the headline if you don't answer it on the post? I read:

Why HN is broken? Because I think it is.

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