
Ask HN: Whose Hacker News Comments Do You Follow? - tokenadult
I've seen some discussion recently on Hacker News about what's good about the community here, especially about what we can learn here that is hard to learn elsewhere online. And one subthread I saw recently branching off from a main thread about one of the core topics here mentioned the issue of which Hacker News participants post particularly good comments, comments worth looking for. To emphasize the positive in metadiscussion, I thought I would ask about that here. Which Hacker News users are users whose comments you find particularly thoughtful and helpful? Who shares information from good sources? Who encourages other users here with positive comments? Whose comments are worth following, even if you aren't reading the other comments in the same thread?<p>I'll post a separate reply with links to a SUBSET of users whose comments I like to follow. I'd love to hear your suggestions. I don't think anyone reads Hacker News exhaustively; I don't think anyone could. But please let us know if you think the comments of some user here are generally helpful and kind.
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shanelja
I tend to follow tptacek, Joel Franusic (jf) and yourself :) I was quite
pleased when I saw this topic to be honest.

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tokenadult
Here is a PARTIAL list of Hacker News users whose comments I actively look
for, by seeking their recent comments from the comment link on each of their
user profiles. I should make clear that this list is far from exhaustive, and
many other good comments are posted regularly by many other users. Not being
on this list does not at all mean that I don't like your comments. And the
other obligatory disclaimer is that listing here does not imply that I agree
with all the opinions expressed by these HN users, and even less does it imply
that they agree with me. Some of these fellow users of HN have disagreed quite
openly with me, but because they do so in a thoughtful manner, with sources, I
learn from them, and I acknowledge their contribution to the community. I'd
love to hear other suggestions of users like that.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=tptacek>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=patio11>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=raganwald>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=ColinWright>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=grellas>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=jgrahamc>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=mechanical_fish>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=cperciva>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=jerf>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=_delirium>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=bootload>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=scott_s>

On past occasions the site founder, pg, has written about what makes a good
comment

<http://ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html>

"The most important principle on HN, though, is to make thoughtful comments.
Thoughtful in both senses: both civil and substantial.

"The test for substance is a lot like it is for links. Does your comment teach
us anything? There are two ways to do that: by pointing out some consideration
that hadn't previously been mentioned, and by giving more information about
the topic, perhaps from personal experience."

He has also written about what makes a good comment by negative implication,
when he has described bad comments.

<http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696>

The bestcomments view of recent comments on Hacker News

<http://news.ycombinator.com/bestcomments>

provides a glimpse at an automated summary of user comment karma voting, which
may or may not reflect the guidelines announced by the site founder.

