

HN needs categories - babyturtle

for each story in the titles so we can filter out what we do&#x2F;dont care about...
eg<p>Euclids compass [MATH]<p>New version of python [PYTHON]<p>Java is slow [JAVA]<p>Bitcoin will fail [BITCOIN]
======
pedalpete
How often can you not tell the content of the article based on the title? And
how often would you miss reading something interesting because it didn't fit
in one of your 'buckets'.

To me, one of the great things about HN is that I get exposed to articles I
wouldn't normally find. I wouldn't have learned about Dart if I only looked at
articles about Rails, I wouldn't have found an article that pointed to a
solution to an algorithm problem I've been struggling with, if I didn't look
at [PYTHON] articles (or one article in particular).

Lots of people have been commenting regularly about the quality of HN
slipping, and I don't mean to pick on you, but it starts with changing every
person, just a little bit. I would have preferred you to post this as "Ask HN:
Does HN needs categories", and therefore, it becomes a discussion about the
merits and challenges in creating categories. You've made a blanket statement
assuming something is broken and that you have the solution, but not everybody
agrees that the system is broken.

You're also a new user, which is great, it's great to have new users and great
to see a new user become active right away. Great to have 'beginners eyes' and
get feedback on how new users feel on their first few experiences. However, it
isn't great as a beginner in any field to assume you know better than those
who are more familiar with the product/community/whatever.

I think if we all had a bit more humility (and that isn't just new users, but
all users), HN comments (and posts sometimes) would be of greater benefit to
the entire community.

~~~
babyturtle
I did write a more "polite" version "asking" for opinion on this and everyone
ignored the thread!

Also this modification would change nothing .... everyone would still get all
the feeds, only change is those who want to filter stuff out can! There is a
huge volume of articles.. and I have other feeds and things to do... who are
you to tell me I should NOT be able to filter things out?

My proposed change wouldnt effect you... what you are saying is effecting me.

------
timpattinson
I think a tagging system would work better when an article covers more than
one area (like StackExchange) e.g. New Python version released (python)
Bitcoin will fail (bitcoin)(economics)(cryptocurrencies) Neat trick in Java
(java) (programming) Yahoo acquires Aviate (yahoo) (android) NSA doing
something (Snowden) (Google) (NSA) (Civil liberites)

------
pilooch
try this
[https://apps.xplr.com/xplr/news/?filter=dc_source_hash:41f60...](https://apps.xplr.com/xplr/news/?filter=dc_source_hash:41f60039a3f2dd5b9d30d25fca9d4c34:Hacker%20News&)
This is a demo of a professional system used by several industries to sort
articles across the web.

------
krrishd
There's a Chrome extension that can at least filter out unwanted content -
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rather/dkigkllnlko...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rather/dkigkllnlkoblfbgfnfngfcnhmndonjm?hl=en)

------
colept
If only there was a site where you could follow channels of selective
information. You could call it "Read It" pronounced like red.

------
argonaut
If you've been here a while, you know this is never going to happen.

------
roopeshv
you need categories.

