
Unknown or expired link. - djrconcepts
Why do I get &#x27;Unknown or expired link.&#x27; message whenver I click the more button at the bottom of the hacker news feed?
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mjn
Here's an explanation Paul Graham posted ~6 years ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17705](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17705)

The short of it is that HN uses closures stored server-side to maintain state
in various places throughout the site, and purges old closures regularly. As
usage has gone up, what counts as an "old" closure is now probably
unreasonably short. Restarting HN also invalidates all existing closures.

~~~
Randgalt
This doesn't excuse the awful user experience. Instead of a terse message
there should be a reasonable message with a link to refresh.

~~~
midnitewarrior
Agree! HN embodies the startup culture. Unfortunately, the user experience
here is of an abandoned startup web site.

There is little excuse for such a poor user experience here. At least give me
a link back to the home page and don't be so cryptic with the message...

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avifreedman
If you wait too long (1 min < wait time < 10 mins, I think), the link will
'expire'. Some other sites like hckrnews.com (for articles that made the front
page(s)) and hnflood and others perhaps (for /newest) address this if you are
sick and twisted and like to go back into history into the raw submission
feed.

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andrewhillman
The 'more' link is not what pisses me off. What really sucks is when you go to
submit a thoughtful reply and you get hit with a bullshit expired event upon
submission. Then you need to click 'back' open new window, and paste a fresh
submission. I assume those who post long responses do so by firing up a text
editor then pasting the response.

You would think this site would work flawlessly. Perhaps HN feels you
shouldn't be on here unless you know the pitfalls. HN doesn't seem to respect
the community. Would PG return to a site with such a shitty user experience?
Absolutely not. I guess YC subscribes to "do as we say, not as we do..." when
mentoring batches.

~~~
wikwocket
An alternative explanation is that perhaps HN is user-hostile _because_ it
respects the community. I sometimes get the vibe that HN is deliberately rough
around the edges so that anyone who stays here and participates is doing so
because they love the content and the community, not because the site is
pretty or because they like gaining karma points.

Personally I'm of the opposite camp, that it's nice to make your app/site as
easy on the eyes and sensibilities as possible, but then HN is not exactly
trying to grow or get a million members or sell anything. It's just here to
foster constructive discussion of hacker-related news.

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Randgalt
It's astonishing that the devs won't fix this.

