Ask HN: How do you make best out of HN? - aryamaan
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codegeek
I read comments. 80% of my time on HN is spent on that. Rest is spent on
commenting and reading shared articles.

Whenever I have a tech. idea or a topic I want to learn more about, I search
on HN first even before google at times. It almost always gives me what I
needed.

~~~
gallerdude
Yeah, IMO comments are the golden goose of HN. You'll find these stunningly
well thought out essays on a fascinating amount of topics. I even have a note
document where I save some of my favorites.

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txutxu
Maybe it just works for me, but, as you ask... this is my "how":

1) Visit just 3 times a day.

Maybe I loose some links, but my time is limited.

2) Read the link before read the comments

And try to make your own conclusion before read the comments.

Sometimes I confess I read a couple of comments before open the link, and
sometimes I skip the notice and just read the comments, but I can't give a
writen rule for this, I use my subconscious.

3) Keep in mind that people maybe influenced (startup sphere, self-promote,
etc), when reading and judging comments.

Do not take other people thoughts as a religion.

And skip threads as soon as you detect they are not useful for _your_ case.

4) Use some system to keep useful information in your backlog.

Pick your pioson: desktop wiki, bookmark system, TO-DO file, ... (?)

5) Test, try and then judge.

New products, features and programs.

6) Read the source code of the interesting stuff.

This in my case gives me more than reading thoughts.

7) Comment

Sometimes you will get useful conversations and sometimes downvotes.

8) Enjoy

If you feel pain, change activity. Nobody is forced to use this.

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ivan_ah
This is a pretty good reader: [http://hckrnews.com/](http://hckrnews.com/)

Set to 25% if busy day at work, 50% for normal, and all if you want to waste
lots of time. In either case, it takes away the need to check all the time
because you might miss something...

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PaulHoule
I've written my own client that filters what I see. (No "is the bump on the
latest iPhone a Bezier curve or a NURBS?" or "react ruined my life", "I am
looking for a technical co-founder", etc.) My codename for it is "Hacker News
for Hackers".

~~~
mod
is it public?

~~~
PaulHoule
Not yet, but I think I will post a feed soon. Getting the training tools to
the point where somebody else can use them is a whole different matter!

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anotheryou
I use a "mark all read" extention.

Firefox:
[https://github.com/andreicristianpetcu/HNMarkAllRead/release...](https://github.com/andreicristianpetcu/HNMarkAllRead/releases)
(temporary release patched for FF57)

Chrome:
[https://github.com/danmaz74/HNMarkAllRead](https://github.com/danmaz74/HNMarkAllRead)

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tedmiston
I keep a list of all of the HN clients in public Pinboard bookmarks if you're
looking for alternatives to the standard interface.

[https://pinboard.in/u:tedmiston/t:hacker-
news](https://pinboard.in/u:tedmiston/t:hacker-news)

