Ask HN: How do you get the most out of HN?

33 pointsby illustrioussuit9 tahun yang lalu21 comments

21 comments

askafriend9 tahun yang lalu

I put every article into my backlog and never end up reading it.

That way, I can get all the satisfaction and dopamine rush of indicating my interest in reading something intellectual without actually doing any of the work to read.

It’s fantastic.

minhaz239 tahun yang lalu

Ive come to understand this is inherently bad, right? Anything that raises your dopamine level and constantly seeking that rush by doing that behavior, when really its just a time kill?

So what can we do to combat this? How can we better avoid this? Whats a better alternative? To stay away from the computer? To just read a few articles in depth and miss out on the rest? How do you combat the FOMO of information you might be able to capitalize on?

Hope my question makes sense and someone has some answers!

great_psy9 tahun yang lalu

For a while I had a journal, and I would force myself to read the article, and write a summery of how it’s relevant to my life, how can I benefit from it, and how I might be able to apply the information.

I kept this up for about a week.

It cut down my HN usage to about 5 articles a day, and it made me more selective on which articles I would open.

It became a chore and I didn’t stick with it, but it could transform the passive reading experience into a more contemplative activity. Ymmv.

Vaskivo9 tahun yang lalu

The problem with that is that the real gems are, many times, in the comments. But parsing through that is way harder and more time consuming.

tedmiston9 tahun yang lalu

I do something similar but with Instapaper annotating and commenting on bits of the article I agree / disagree with, etc.

twobyfour9 tahun yang lalu

Depends, I guess, on what you're trying to get out of it.

I use it as a way to burn time while waiting for the bus or the build without feeling as guilty (or gross) as Facebook would. For getting perspectives I might not have thought of that help me synthesize new information. And for scratching the "someone is wrong on the internet!" itch.

I probably read 50% of the Ask section and 2-3 items per page of results on front page or newest. You could drink from the firehose if you really wanted to spend every moment of your life on this site, but I prefer to be highly selective about what to read and even more so about what to engage with.

i_dont_know_9 tahun yang lalu

I found this interface a while ago: https://hckrnews.com/

It has something like infinite scroll and tells you what's new since you last visited. I find it much easier to skim than the top page, or even sorting by 'new'. I usually scroll through it 2 or 3 times a day, look for big numbers on points or comments, and read those :)

tedmiston9 tahun yang lalu

I keep a list of a few more HN clients with alternate interfaces here as well.

https://pinboard.in/u:tedmiston/t:hacker-news/

antoineMoPa9 tahun yang lalu

I learn about new and old things that people share.

I generally dislike when I see the same things for months/years (self-driving stuff, cryptocurrencies, AI). But in general, I feel like I learn a lot of stuff from HN. Sometimes, the comments direct me to Wikipedia and I end up learning even more about some old thing that solves everyday coding problems.

CM309 tahun yang lalu

Usually as something I read while either on public transport (where wifi is pretty spotty and Hacker News uses a hell of a lot less data than many sites) or as something to keep occupied while in downtime at work/waiting in a shop or what not.

Usually wait until I have access to a decent computer before actually commenting though.

flaviuspopan9 tahun yang lalu

Resist the urge to try every single new framework/technology just because it's popular. I wasted far too much time trying to always use the latest and greatest when MySQL and Python cover 99% of all the use cases I'd ever need.

aetherspawn9 tahun yang lalu

You have to try harder with web because it’s rubbish to begin with.

matt_the_bass9 tahun yang lalu

I read HN while waiting for things (filling the kids bath, boiling tea water, etc) when I don’t have the time to really dig into something. It makes me feel like I’m being productive.

ioddly9 tahun yang lalu

I get work through the whoishiring freelancer thread. I might even be breaking even once you account for all the time I waste reading the articles ;)

acrooks9 tahun yang lalu

I use Instapaper for reading online articles and the Safari extension adds a handy link below each submission to add the article to Instapaper.

I've really been trying lately - especially the busier I've been - to use that link exclusively and save all of my reading for later. And then I only engage with the topics I'm actually interested in.

But of course here I am in a comment thread :)

vivan9 tahun yang lalu

I am subscribed to the HN RSS feed, so I go through that daily. I click through on the stuff that looks interesting, but never see the same un-interesting stuff again. Occasionally I'll actually visit the website if I'm really bored.

PaulHoule9 tahun yang lalu

I read it through a filter

http://ontology2.com/essays/ClassifyingHackerNewsArticles/

j_s9 tahun yang lalu

Hacker News Extension Suite https://github.com/etcet/HNES

mabynogy9 tahun yang lalu

When you're logged in there an "hide" link.

I use that a lot.

orliesaurus9 tahun yang lalu

I scan through the new section and then check replies to my comments, usually senseless comments and downvotes for having an opinion.

collyw9 tahun yang lalu

Close it and do some work instead.