
Ask HN: What's your favorite HN post? - notoriousarun
Been asked several times but interested to see references to more recent posts.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=12496558" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=12496558</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=2158116" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=2158116</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=3996652" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=3996652</a><p>Have any Hacker News threads ever truly changed your perspective on life, or technology? Post them please.
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stevewodil
I like this one:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23890036](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23890036)

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acheron
Stack overflow exception

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reikonomusha
If only you eliminated tail calls, then you would be in looping bliss.

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schroffl
Well, you don't have to open the link in a new tab.

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Jack5500
Easily
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863)
and its comments

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danbmil99
I was an early beta user of dropbox (%50). I thought it was rubbish.

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robin_reala
A bit meta perhaps, but dang’s long-form moderation style is always great, and
this is a prime example:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15374190](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15374190)

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smichel17
And, since OP asked for recent comments, I'll add this one:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098)

It expresses one of the main reasons I stay on this site, combined with our
relative willingness to admit error.

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yesenadam
Thanks for that, it helped me appreciate HN more for what it is. I think
everyone on HN should read it. Half of it deserves to be on the guidelines
page.

I'm also a huge fan of dang's writing. The majority of the super-impressive
comments I've read on HN have been his, I think! They're exemplars of
thoughtfulness, emotional intelligence, fairness, patience, and plain good
writing.

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mberning
Did you win the Putnam?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079)

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skinkestek
I'm kind of impressed that the person who asked that question got over it and
is still contributing!

He(?) even joked about it a few laters when it was brought up,calling it is
twice-a-year moment of shame or something.

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jraph
Do you have a link?

I found this: "I'm never going to escape that thread, am I?" "Neither am I!"

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3997625](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3997625)

~~~
skinkestek
Finally found it:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12501344](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12501344)

I'm actually impressed by sanj! What if we could all learn from our mistakes
instead of either blaming the other or giving up.

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klenwell
Some recent ones I've bookmarked:

logfromblammo on code quality and professionalism:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23430173](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23430173)

hanoz on the best thing about buying a domain name:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23241917](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23241917)

megameter on the case for crime if you have bright mind:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23217434](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23217434)

This thread on outsourcing is probably my most cited HN post (I'm frequently
citing it to remind upper management why hiring an outside firm -- usually a
friend or business acquaintance's outside firm -- isn't magically going to
solve all our problems):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15831784](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15831784)

I recently cited this comment elsewhere as probably my favorite HN comment
ever:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10807897](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10807897)

Huh. logfromblammo again. Maybe I should subscribe to his newsletter.

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atum47
This one -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21961560](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21961560)

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apeescape
Could you people please add the post title next to the link? I'm on mobile and
it would be much nicer to go through the comments if I don't have to open a
bunch of anonymous links just to see what they're about. Great idea for a
thread though!

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filoeleven
Alan Kay asks, “ What if "data" is a really bad idea?” Rich Hickey responds.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11945722](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11945722)

(Thread is from 2016; I first saw it much later.)

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kgwxd
I really wish that had gone a bit further. Alan Kay's ideas are always
intriguing but, to me, it feels like he presents them too vaguely and people
just end up arguing weather the thing they did based on his idea is inline
with his real point. If he replies to those questions at all, it's with some
more thought-provoking, but still vague, stuff. Maybe that's the point, keep
people thinking and questioning without giving a definitive, authoritative
answer?

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filoeleven
Agreed. They approach things so differently, and I could watch them debate it
all day. I never got a clear idea of how message passing isn’t just data, and
I thought that “just data” via message passing is what separates Kay’s OO
vision from what we call OO today. This discussion left me more confused, in a
pleasant way.

My current opinion of Alan Kay’s commenting style is mostly that he’s been
thinking about this stuff for decades and still does not have many solid
answers, just that he thinks “mimicking biological systems” is a necessary
part. That’s a gross oversimplification and not intended as a slight: robust
interplanetary-scale communication is a hard problem!

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Exmoor
Larry Tesler has Died:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22361282](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22361282)

I had no idea who Larry was before I clicked on these comments, but the many
stories from people who knew and worked with him. Obviously Larry was a
brilliant guy who did great things, but the stories were pretty universally
about what a fantastic person he was to work with. I think about that all the
time with regards to how I interact with my coworkers.

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parasthinker
I really like this one
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16411662](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16411662)

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jamesnyc
Interesting
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22280939](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22280939)

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Zoo3y
How to find new music. The blog linked has good resources, and the HN comments
have even more.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22194107](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22194107)

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fsflover
Just look at favorite posts in my profile:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=fsflover](https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=fsflover)

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pmoriarty
HN allows users to favorite posts, and to see the posts that any user has
favored.

For the latter, just open a user's profile and click on "favorites".

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amelius
Yeah, but it's too black/white, i.e. there's no rating, you can't sort by
rating, etc.

I have the same problem with Spotify songs which you can either like or not
like.

