
Collapsible comments for Hacker News - niyazpk
http://niyaz.pk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/hn.html
======
hollerith
Once someone has added this to their bookmark toolbar and started to use it,
they are likely to forget where they got it from. And when they want to know
where they got it from, they are likely to look for clues in the source code
of the bookmarklet.

So, I humbly suggest that you add to the bookmarklet some "googleable" string
such as "Author: niyazpk". When I googled on "niyazpk" just now, your Github
was the fourth hit.

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akirk
If you like this, check also out mine:
[http://alexander.kirk.at/2011/12/06/new-feature-for-hn-
colla...](http://alexander.kirk.at/2011/12/06/new-feature-for-hn-collapsible-
threads/) It's been round for a while :)

My bookmarklet has also been included in this very nice browser extension:
<http://hckrnews.com/about.html>

~~~
beyti
When I try to install the chrome extension for newly added comments, chrome
says "it's only available through web store"?

~~~
shawndumas
In Chrome, you can follow these steps to add the extension:

1\. Download the extension file from the website and save it to your computer.

2\. Click the wrench icon on the browser toolbar. Select Tools > Extensions.

3\. Locate the extension file on your computer and drag the file onto the
Extensions page.

4\. Review the list of permissions in the dialog that appears. If you would
like to proceed, click Install.

\--[http://support.google.com/chrome_webstore/bin/answer.py?hl=e...](http://support.google.com/chrome_webstore/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2664769&p=crx_warning)

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shawndumas
I really like this. I also have the Hacker News Enhancement Suite [1] and
think it is almost as good as the Reddit one.

\----

[1]
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bappiabcodbpphnojd...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bappiabcodbpphnojdiaddhnilfnjmpm)

~~~
idm
It makes me happy to see the concepts from RES ported to HN. Thanks for
sharing the link; I think this will legitimately help me to speed through the
front page more quickly in the mornings.

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rane
I'm not going to click a bookmarklet every time I read comments, definitely
should be an extension or a user script.

Secondly the collapse button would be much better on the left side.

~~~
pk
What do you think about <http://news.ycommentator.com> ? It does some HN-
enhancement (shows top comments on the front page), but using a server to do
all the processing instead of a client script.

I built it a few months ago. If there was any interest, I could expand it to
include collapsible comments.

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adamzochowski
One suggestion, can you move the collapsible-minus to be left of username?
Like on reddit?

~~~
niyazpk
It is actually on the correct side. The screenshot a bit old. My bad.

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shortlived
One usability change: put the collapse link on the left side of article title
(ala reddit), this makes it quicker to find the widget since it will always be
in the same place.

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eliaskg
Very useful! Instead of "optically scanning" all the first level comments I
can collapse each comment after reading.

~~~
przemoc
If you're Chrome user by any chance, you can try also my simple extension:

NavigComments @ Hacker News

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aelihpmbbbpmljkdco...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aelihpmbbbpmljkdcoekppjacoaoglfc)

Supports hiding comments marked as read.

Works only with <http://>, I have to add <https://> one day, but I always
forget it... Also some other things should be improved, then I could update
NavigComments @ LWN too.

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arantius
Or always available as a user script:

[https://arantius.com/misc/greasemonkey/hacker-news-
comment-c...](https://arantius.com/misc/greasemonkey/hacker-news-comment-
collapse.user.js)

Also collapses by default threads below depth two.

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eli
I have been using this to provide collapsing comments for some time:
<https://github.com/andrewheins/HN-Comment-Hider>

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tripzilch
The last couple of extensions / bookmarklets that did this, did not work in
Opera (at the moment that I tried them, at least). But this one does, kudos
for that! I'm using it, thanks! :)

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kaixi
My userscript for Greasemonkey users:
<http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/138037>

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shanelja
Fabulous! just started using it now, great job.

I love approaches like this, as opposed to just moaning feature X doesn't
exist, implement it!

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ssn
Why isn't this implemented on HN natively?

~~~
akirk
Asked pg to integrate my script but he wouldn't do so, even though he would
have just had to copy the Javascript over (I had adapted the code for him).

So I guess, pg just doesn't think it's useful.

~~~
raimondious
I have always assumed this feature was consciously omitted from HN in order to
encourage more thoughtful conversation. Since I can't skip conversations, I
read them and sometimes hold my tongue rather than commenting with the first
thing that comes to mind.

~~~
tripzilch
Sounds like a good idea at first, but I feel that not having collapsible
comments is detrimental to the discussion, and in particular it counteracts
the advantages of tree threaded discussion versus linear discussion (as seen
on many messageboards and blog comments).

Why? Because the advantage of tree-based threads is that you can split off and
have a relatively off-topic conversation without jacking the whole discussion.
However, if such a discussion develops just below the top-voted comment, and
it gets larger, it will dominate the whole discussion because people
(naturally) won't always read the full page of the discussion.

This gets doubly problematic because of the tendency is that a "large,
slightly off-topic discussion near the top comment" is _very_ often about the
same chewed-to-death topics that are just two camps firing off their default
arguments at eachother (Apple vs general purpose computing, anything
libertarian, intellectual property vs piracy, etc etc, you have seen them
all). Which may be worthwhile discussions to have, nor would I want to prevent
anyone from having them, but very often I want to read the discussion about
the particular topic in _this_ particular article, or at least how it differs
from other articles triggering such responses, and not the general arguments
by the two camps, which I already know (and most people have made up their
minds about, anyway).

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felipebueno
This is pretty useful, man! Just started using it too.

I'm thinking of making a Chrome Extensions from this bookmarklet.

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beyti
Thanks a lot, it's amazing. Should be a chrome extension fast, btw.

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snowman41
This is great! Thank you!

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Kilimanjaro
Implement here ASAP!!!

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Havoc
Thanks.

