

A Simpler Solution to Give New HN Posts a Better Chance - keywonc

Proposed solution in a picture: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;BEMNXUq<p>TL;DR — Make “new” the default page for registered HN users, “front” for visitors who are not logged in. Improve “comments” page to emphasize discovery of rising submissions.<p>In prev discussion (id=7972941) many discussed mixing new and top posts and how they should be visually differentiated, etc. But there may be a simpler solution.<p>First, make “new” page default for registered HN users, “front” page for visitors not logged into HN:<p>1. Visitors get immediate gratification and more mileage for their small time investment.<p>2. HN users are routinely exposed to the new posts they can vote on. The expectation for all members to play an active curator role is clearly communicated. This can improve onboarding experience for newbies too.<p>3. New posts get more eyeballs.<p>Secondly, instead of default page submissions getting all the attention, give rising ones better chance by improving current “comments” page:<p>1. Make it submission-centric, not comment-centric.<p>2. Favor new submissions getting its first comments, over top submissions getting its 100th comment.<p>3. If possible, display it on the default page (be it “new” or “front”) in a sidebar etc. to encourage discovery.<p>Some mentioned that presence of comments is a better indicator of interesting submissions than upvotes. We need a way to tell which submissions are happening, even if they aren&#x27;t on the front page. This way, visitors can be attracted to the discussions as they happen as well.<p>HN does not need to become visually crowded. By simply switching the default page depending on login status and making minor changes to the current “comments” page I think you can get 80% of the improvement. Hope others jump in, criticize this, and come up with a good synthesis.
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reitanqild
I might have an even better idea, maybe easier to implement as well:

Make it socially acceptable to add an abstract (or a tldr) as the first
comment.

Something along the lines of:

"""Can data driven customer acquisition replace metrics for underfunded
crowdsourcing frobs? Article says yes.

Data heavy with some interesting observations nicely presented. """

Or:

"""Submitted mostly as an example of breaktrough frob design. Hoping for
comments from someone knowledgeable on frobs and frosb.""" (Hi, keep it honest
: ).

The rationale for not having an abstract or tldr is summarized in the faq :

"""How do I make a link in a question?

You can't. (This is to prevent people from using this method as a way of
submitting a link, but with their comments in a privileged position at the top
of the page. If you want to submit a link with comments, just submit it, then
add a regular comment.)"""

This suggestion should work nicely along with this intent: you are free to add
extra info but you don't get a privileged spot on top of the page.

(Edit: posting from mobile device, first version just to get it out)

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curtis
A related idea: Increase the maximum title length from 80 to 120 characters.
I've run into many cases where trying to squeeze a descriptive title into 80
characters wasn't really possible.

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rahimnathwani
_In prev discussion (id=7972941) many discussed mixing new and top posts and
how they should be visually differentiated, etc. But there may be a simpler
solution.

First, make “new” page default for registered HN users, “front” page for
visitors not logged into HN_

Yes, but having separate 'new' and 'home' pages would still incentivise me to
mainly look at the home page, and ignore all new posts. I like the idea of
mixing 'new' and 'top' posts on a single page, without any specific visual
cues to differentiate them (except age, # comments, # votes)

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keywonc
Mixing new and top posts in one view and make it more 'blind' has some
aesthetical merits, I agree.

A tradeoff here is that you can lose a fairly significant amount of
transparency and user control: Currently "new" and "front" are mapped to
specific user intent (front = consume, new = curate). When you take away the
ability to make explicit choices beyond some level, it could backfire.

Also, mixing them into one page is subject to controlling many variables
(ratio of new vs. top, details of look and feel, etc.). I think it's
worthwhile to look for a simpler approach first.

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keywonc
Proposed solution in a picture:
[http://imgur.com/BEMNXUq](http://imgur.com/BEMNXUq)

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howon92
Agree that the comments page on HN could be more useful.

