

Ask HN: Does it make any sense to sort HN comments by time - nsns

While sorting posts by time and votes makes a lot of sense, sorting comments in that same manner seems wrong, perhaps even counter-intuitive (e.g., a new, perhaps inconsenqeuncial, comment becomes prominent just by merrit of being new). Shouldn't comments be sorted simply by votes?
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001sky
The two considerations seem to be: path dependency and natural conversation.

1-2-3-4 several points being made (natural)

1.1.1.1.1 several responses to the first point (never get to point 2)

4-2-1-3 Points no longer relate to each other in context (must be longer,
self-contained)

Ultimately, you replace one type of "getting sidetracked" with another: "path
dependency". Either way, the contextual information content is what you are
_trying to preserve_. Without "exposure", for example, new comments in long
conversations won't accrete upvotes to rise to the top, regardless of quality.

