
HN: Please add Reddit style collapsible comments - AndyKelley
It could be much, <i>much</i> easier to browse HN if we could hide subtrees of comments the same as works on reddit.<p>It&#x27;s a huge usability problem.<p>It&#x27;s dead simple to program.<p>Please?
======
MaxfordAndSons
Yea it is rather frustrating when the top comment spawns an enormous
tangential discussion and you have to scroll through it; it doesn't help that
there are no indent guides to at least make it easier to tell when you've
finally scrolled to the next top level comment. And all this is doubly
annoying on mobile.

~~~
Normal_gaussian
I do not want collapsible comments - I feel that this encourages "skipping"
over discussion (which helps polarise and lower the quality of the entire
thread)

Indent guides? Yes please. I often find myself wanting to find and read all
the replies to a particular comment (it is often posing a question or
defending an opinion I find questionable).

~~~
nazka
Agree with that. I wanted this feature for a while but after thinking about
it, I think that it would be bad. It would change the focus on the first,
second, and slightly third comment where all the other comments in the trees
will be disregarded. But right now each comment is valued and has its place.
There are less focus on the last leaves but it's still great.

If it's done, the first comments will have all the attention plus it will
engage to a race to have the best first comment. We want to seek to engage
people with real thoughts and deep discussions, regardless their position
here. I have read so many long and great conversations between highly skilled
persons, it's so valuable. We have to keep it like that.

~~~
nazka
So I am downvoted after taking the time to write a constructive reply and the
person doesn't even reply? That's great...

~~~
tripzilch
Isn't it really great how we can now have this totally tangent discussion on
how you got downvoted, _right in the middle_ of the gigantic singular top-
comment dumping ground that always appears on HN discussion threads?

Please, do go on :)

------
ghayes
To all the top level comments about browser extensions, I want to use HN on
mobile without an app. It's not possible due only to collapsibility. Comments
sections are effectively top-comment-only.

~~~
threeseven37
If you don't mind me asking, why don't you want to use an app?

~~~
prplhaz4
Because I already have an app for that - the web browser, and it works great
with countless other services I use on a daily basis.

------
mratzloff
While we're wishing, I wish:

\- Arrows indicated which way I voted instead of disappearing completely.

\- I could change my up or down vote on a comment after making it. When
viewing on a phone it's easy to fat finger the wrong arrow. If there's a
concern about changing votes long after a discussion, gate it by time.

~~~
yoha
Agreed for the ability to change vote. This is most likely due to the way the
buttons work (see
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11307758](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11307758)),
so as to keep the code as tight as possible.

------
chollida1
I'd also like to see a "hide" button on each story so I can filter out stories
that just aren't interesting to me.

I get that "Left-pad as a service" is interesting to many people here(182
comments at the moment), but I've never really done any web development at all
in my life and I am never really going to be interested in any javascript or
node.js link.

Similarly I'm guessing most people won't care about my favorite topics
quantitative finance or algorithmic trading.

It might cut down on the weekly posts where someone complains that HN is going
to shit because a story made the front page and they just can't believe
someone would find it interesting.

~~~
dsr_
Oh. Are you interested in security? Deployment? Or "idiotic practices that are
apparently widespread but only coming to light in the wake of a disaster"?

Because that's what that story is actually about.

~~~
jonahx
While you're correct about npm story, I think the grandparent has a valid
point. Not everyone is interested in every story, and the ability to hide
would be a nice enhancement.

~~~
Normal_gaussian
Ironically the posts I am least interested in are the ycombinator posts.

However I assume hacker news is rendered on the server incrementally (anyone
have any links on this?) so hiding links will simply reduce the number you
see.

------
thoughtpalette
Beautiful HN Chrome plugin UI, supports:

\- Improved readability design

\- Retina screen support

\- User following

\- Super fast inline replies

\- Quick profiles with social network info when hovering over usernames

\- Filtering of stories based on terms and phrases / domain or user

\- Endless scrolling

\- Collapsible comment threads

\- Direct link to Google Cache version

\- Social sharing for Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Buffer

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hackernew/lgoghlnd...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hackernew/lgoghlndihpmbbgmbpjohilcphbfhddd)

(not affiliated in any way with this, just love it)

~~~
shostack
I always wonder what level of security and data transparency exists behind
things like this. Are there any real risks to using something like that?

~~~
jeremyw
This one happens to be open source
([https://github.com/tommoor/HackerNew](https://github.com/tommoor/HackerNew)),
but you can always unpack plugins, take a look at their Javascript, and if you
don't like what you see, repack with your own modifications.

~~~
ryanisnan
I absolutely understand the notion that being open source makes it
significantly more difficult to hide devious code, but let's be realistic. If
you had to scrutinize every piece of OSS for something malicious, you would
never get anything done.

------
55555
It's not a straightforwardly positive UX decision. Allowing people to hide
conversation trees they are not interested in has other effects. It would
reduce discussion. the current setup promotes constructive disagreements.

We already hide things if our collective mind thinks it's a bad idea, but I'm
not sure it's beneficial to let this occur on an individual basis.

If everyone thinks what I am saying is wrong, then this comment will get
whited out and sent to the bottom, but if only you think it's dumb, maybe you
should still have to read it.

I kinda like the current way.

~~~
bargl
I actually find I get into more discussions by using a plugin that allows me
to collapse so that I can comment on lower threads because I can actually get
there when I'm interested. It really should be built in though.

~~~
Normal_gaussian
I disagree. Often the most insightful comments lie a few posts into a comment
I disagree with. When browsing on reddit I would have already collapsed the
thread.

When I am genuinely not interested I don't have any problem scrolling down.

------
DougWebb
I can see why collapsible sub-trees aren't _quite_ dead-simple. The comment
list is a single table, and each comment is a separate row. There's no
container around a comment's children. (Also, the indenting is implemented by
putting a 1x1 image in the first column and setting its width based on the
indent depth required.)

Internally, there's obviously tracking of parent/child relationships, but
adding container elements so that the children can be hidden would require
getting rid of the table-based layout and replacing it with a nested div-based
layout. The markup and styling changes would be fairly simple, but none of us
know what the impact is on the backend, or on anything that depends on the
markup structure that may or may not be in HN's control. My guess is that
these non-technical impacts are the driving force behind keeping the markup as
it is, which prevents the kind of features you want.

~~~
pas
Find the row clicked on.

Find the indent.

For every row that has larger indent (until one with the same indent), set
display: none.

For this row, mark it collapsed (even by putting a div around the current
content, un-displaying it and putting a "show thread" button/link there).

So indent is width of the "invisible pixel", easy to query, isn't it?

What am I missing?

------
andrewflnr
You can actually beat Reddit's UI on this: save collapsing state across page
loads. It's quite annoying on mobile to open a link on reddit, come back and
be forced to reload the page, and then be presented with the same wall of
irrelevance I closed up a minute ago.

~~~
Namrog84
With res. Or at least for me. It's saved. Sometimes i go to comments thinking
I haven't even and find my already collapsed comments and realize I just
forgot I already read comments for this post

------
tkel
I recently made a firefox addon to do just this, called HN Collapse.

Here it is: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hn-
collapse](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hn-collapse)

Also on github: [https://github.com/tomkel/hn-
collapse](https://github.com/tomkel/hn-collapse)

~~~
alecco
Good man. I was going to suggest a RES-style extension.

------
simonswords82
While we're suggesting improvements...

Why is it that the discuss option isn't available on posts that are job
adverts?

I think it would be useful/interesting to allow casual conversation about job
postings.

------
yoha
It _really_ needs some polishing, but I am using a handcrafted UserScript [1]
that lets me navigate comments with the keyboard (j/k as well as p/g/J/K),
fold/unfold (m) and vote (a/z). Also some styling to ease reading (larger
font, indentation marker). However, the "reply" (r) feature is not complete
(i.e. broken), "last" (G) shortcut fails for some reason and flagged comments
break the navigation.

If you look in the relevant folder, you may notice it was initially designed
for Word Press (WP.user.js), more precisely SlateStarCodex, and seems to work
for most such blogs. SSC.user.js is just meant to improve the styling of
SlateStarCodex.

[1]
[http://sinon.org/userscripts/HN.user.js](http://sinon.org/userscripts/HN.user.js)

~~~
tedmiston
I'm late to party, but Premii's HN client has collapsible comments and
keyboard navigation.

[http://hn.premii.com/](http://hn.premii.com/)

------
znpy
I think users should be able to flag a certain subtree of the comments tree as
"off-topic" or "tangential" so that after a certain flag threshold such
subtree is automatically shown as folded, and users would be able to see the
most related comments first.

------
nexxer
Firefox extension to collapse comment trees: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/hn-utility-su...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/hn-utility-suite/)

------
Grue3
I never used collapsible comments on reddit. By the time you're reading deep
into a branch and decide that it's better to skip it, you already too far from
the comment that started the branch. It's actually more difficult to scroll
back and click collapse than scroll forward until the next top-level comment.

~~~
justJanne
There are subreddits with a CSS that fixes that issue.

Take
[https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/4a46s0/china_h...](https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/4a46s0/china_hinted_that_the_country_will_plan_more/d0ykz8x?context=9)
– the indent markers at the left actually allow to collapse that comment

------
bryanlarsen
Here's another one, which works with the awesome hckrnews.com:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hckr-
news/mnlaodle...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hckr-
news/mnlaodleonmmfkdhfofamacceeikgecp)

------
logn
This is Hacker News. JavaScript should be added by users as a browser
extension. Only requests to make the website more user-serviceable such as
class names and element names/IDs should be considered.

------
mpwoz
I actually got frustrated enough with this a few weeks ago to write a quick
extension that lets me jump between comment trees:

[https://github.com/mpwoz/jumper](https://github.com/mpwoz/jumper)

It's very lightweight and doesn't clutter up your screen with an icon since
that's literally the only use case. I haven't gotten around to publishing it
on the web store yet unfortunately so you'll have to install manually.

------
bkyalpl
Until implemented on
[https://news.ycombinator.com/](https://news.ycombinator.com/), try
[https://hn.premii.com/](https://hn.premii.com/) which has collapsible
comments. The web and mobile apps are open source[1].

1 : [https://github.com/premii/hn](https://github.com/premii/hn)

~~~
bkyalpl
Another option is [http://hackerwebapp.com/](http://hackerwebapp.com/). By
default, top-level comments are displayed without replies expanded.

------
alpb
Check out "Hacker News Collapsible Comments"
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
collap...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
collapsible-c/hockhafcdegocajmjhafgjncjpodihkd) if you don't want too many
changes that come with the Enhancement Suite.

------
pdkl95
[https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/12493-hacker-news-
folding-...](https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/12493-hacker-news-folding-
subtrees)

I wrote this userscript a while ago.

edit:

In light of the left-pad brouhaha, maybe I should mention that my userscript
doesn't have any dependencies - not even an embedded jquery.

------
oolongCat
I use this [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
collap...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
collapsible-c/hockhafcdegocajmjhafgjncjpodihkd?utm_source=chrome-app-launcher-
info-dialog)

------
bottlerocket
If you're on Chrome: [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
collap...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
collapsible-c/hockhafcdegocajmjhafgjncjpodihkd)

------
moondev
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
enhanc...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
enhancement-s/bappiabcodbpphnojdiaddhnilfnjmpm)

------
joshuahutt
I like using this site to browse HN:

[http://insin.github.io/react-
hn/#/story/11355038?_k=sv2c3d](http://insin.github.io/react-
hn/#/story/11355038?_k=sv2c3d)

------
SuperKlaus
This is a great Chrome add-on that lets you collapse comments:

[http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/hn-
special/](http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/hn-special/)

------
harisamin
I built a Mac native desktop HN client. I don’t have collapsible comments yet
but its on the way :) [http://mackernews.com](http://mackernews.com)

------
fidraj
I use this
[https://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/](https://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/)

------
sidcool
Please. :( I will pay for it.

I don't trust plugins and extensions.

------
anoother
Dear HN: Please don't. Your design is perfect.

------
ytrix00
If you decide to implement collapsible comments, then please make them
expanded if Javascript is disabled.

------
bsmartt
Does this site get updated on any regular basis? It doesn't feel like it it's
ever changed.

------
atroyn
This is a particular pain on mobile, because a given thread tends to be much
deeper to scroll past.

------
f137
Yes, please do it

------
slantaclaus
PLEASE

------
notliketherest
Hacker News Enhancement Suite works wonders
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
enhanc...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
enhancement-s/bappiabcodbpphnojdiaddhnilfnjmpm?hl=en)

~~~
ihuman
I personally use "Hacker News Collapsible Comments"[1], but it breaks whenever
they add the black bar to the top of the site.

[1] [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
collap...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-
collapsible-c/hockhafcdegocajmjhafgjncjpodihkd)

~~~
elliotec
What is that bar at the top for anyway?

~~~
stevekemp
It is added when somebody "noteworthy" has died.

------
ebbv
This is well worthwhile, since it would help combat "top comment discussion is
the only discussion" disease.

------
Laaw
There's a philosophical reason for a cumbersome UI, and it revolves around the
idea that comment volume should overall remain somewhat low.

It _should_ be hard to manage tons of comments on a story, because it lowers
the overall comment count.

I'd love to see some A/B testing on this.

~~~
function_seven
I understand the philosophy, but the law of unintended consequences means that
the comment threads are only about whatever the top commenter brought up.

For example, let's say the article is "Scientists discover new material that
boosts solar panel efficiency by 16%". The top comment might be, "This does
nothing to alleviate the base-load problem. We still need better battery
technology".

Well now the comment section for me is all about battery chemistry, battery
manufacturing news, hydro-pumping as a means of storage, etc. All because the
top comment spawned its own mega-thread that pushes relevant (to the story)
comments off the bottom.

~~~
Laaw
Maybe that's okay, or at least an acceptable consequence.

------
beachstartup
no, i disagree strongly.

i despise reddit's collapsible / half-loading comments. on large threads it
loads the same 10% every single time and hides a lot of the good responses.

just give me all the comments in one shot. i'm a big boy, i can handle
reading.

~~~
thex10
it's _not_ given to you 'all in one shot' though. the 'top' comment is first,
along with all of its responses, then the second top comment, and so on.
you'll still miss many good responses because you won't scroll through
hundreds of comments (which can be very lengthy on a mobile screen).

also let's not conflate collapsible and half-loading. this thread is not
advocating partial loading. you dont need partial loading of comments in order
to enable collapsible functionality.

~~~
beachstartup
sometimes i start at the bottom and scroll up. i might be weird.

------
logicrook
Are you too lazy to roll your own Greasemonkey script if it's such a problem
for you? Are you just on HN to lose time, or too learn how to hack things?

------
btbuildem
Short answer is that the legacy codebase can't handle that. Most people use
various browser extensions to help with HN usability issues.

