Ask HN: Does anyone read posts below the first 10 on the homepage of HN?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10019935

by usaphp • 11 years ago

13 30 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I have noticed that I very rarely read posts that are below top 10 on a homepage, I wonder how many people like me are there.

greenyoda• 11 years ago

There are people (like me) who read articles on the "new" page, long before they ever get anywhere close to the front page (homepage). Otherwise, these articles would never get to the front page (since to get to the front page, they have to receive a significant number of upvotes).

omginternets• 11 years ago

I definitely read the front page more often, but when I'm procrastinating, I can easily make it to page 5.

ceequof• 11 years ago

If I run out of stuff on the front page, then I go to /newest

mindcrime• 11 years ago

Yep, I'll sometimes browse to page 3 or 4, maybe more if I'm really bored. And I routinely check the /newest page and upvote the submissions there.

philrea• 11 years ago

Yeah I do. Actually, I always do. Your question has brought the realization that, though not intentional, if I'm at HN its because that is the thing I have decided to do...

On that note, I have no choice but to tip my hat to HN. Way to go, you have successfully attracted a consumer to your service and then kept him there for way longer than they had consciously intended.

The Silicon Valley business model implemented successfully by the business that fuels it... damnit, now I feel like a sucker...

mod• 11 years ago

I tend to stick mostly to the front page, but I think it's because I'm here more for the comments than the articles, usually.

The lower-ranked stuff tends to have little or no discussion.

11thEarlOfMar• 11 years ago

I sometimes wonder if the front page contents arrive in phases. Perhaps readers who are interested in topics that are there 'now' will become engaged and not make it to the 'new' posts to up-vote to the front page.

Readers who are not interested in what is there 'now' are likely to head to 'new' and find posts that interest them, which are likely different topics than what is on the front page 'now'.

So the topics may phase through in that manner.

'nough navel gazing. Back to work...

joehilton• 11 years ago

I usually read through a couple pages worth, but I'm usually only reading the asks and shows. I'll scan the headlines of a few articles, but they're submitted from so many sources that it's hard to sort through for something I want to drill down on.

qu4z-2• 11 years ago

You're currently at #75 for me, and I'm replying, so...

kamphey• 11 years ago

Yes. It's a wonderful place to go deep deep into. I usually open a bunch of stuff to read in tabs and dig and dig and dig and then read and read and read.

piyushmakhija• 11 years ago

I use Hooks app(http://www.gethooksapp.com/) to get notified about popular posts. We can set a minimum number of upvotes(50/100/200/500) on the posts before being notified.

tzs• 11 years ago

I believe that I do. I don't know exactly what the relationship of what I read is to the home page because I use an RSS reader.

DrNuke• 11 years ago

As a newcomer with little time, I'm making use of the "search" option to stay focused and learn instead of freely surfing the flow.

hatchoo• 11 years ago

I do. I read HN almost everyday and I scroll all the way down until I get to the articles I read the previous day.

SamReidHughes• 11 years ago

I think you're going to get a bit of sampling bias with this one.

qrendel• 11 years ago

I frequently get to page 5, sometimes as far as 7 or 8.

Terretta• 11 years ago

I read the top few hundred. This one is 86 at the moment.

jordsmi• 11 years ago

Yes, but I don't usually read alot of posts total. I'll flip through a bunch of pages, opening interesting threads in a new tab. Then I look at the comments, and depending on how they look I'll read the article.

NnamdiJr• 11 years ago

Seems I might be the only one confused about your wording, do you mean the top 10 articles on the front page, or top 10 comments within an article?

In answer to both questions, I do both. I usually go through the articles from #1 to ~#120, reading articles I find interesting, and usually reading all the HN comments for that article too (you can learn a ton from reading more than just the top couple of comments).

Sounds like this approach would suck up a lot of time, but HN submission topics are often pretty narrow, and my interests are somewhat narrow too, so I usually only end up reading only 4-5 HN articles or less a day.

adventured• 11 years ago

I scan all the links on the front page, three or four times per day. I might click on 5 to 10 links per day from HN.

If I'm bored (perhaps there's nothing on the front page of interest), I check the New section. A few times per week I read through the Ask HN section. This has basically been my routine for years now.

de_dave• 11 years ago

Yes, but mostly because http://hckrnews.com/ catches them for me.

roshansingh• 11 years ago

I use http://hckrnews.com/ to track all front page posts.

marak830• 11 years ago

Same, i have been using it for about 4 months, i csn pretty much catch up on all posts too, which is nice.

PeterWhittaker• 11 years ago

Ditto, been using for months (over a year? I cannot remember how long, but a loooong time).

Urgo• 11 years ago

Been using hckrnews.com for many years. It's the only way I view hacker news other then comments for example and visiting the "new" section once a week or so. Sometimes I got several days without having time to catch up on things but I use hckrnews to go back and make sure I at least read the headline on every single story that makes it to the front page.

mobiuscog• 11 years ago

I often go through many pages.

It would be great if there was an option to limit the posts by age, such that it wouldn't show posts created more than 'x' days ago - so I could still see all the recent posts, but in front-page order.

mswen• 11 years ago

Not sure what most people do. I sometimes hit the new and the ask pages to see if there is some good content that I can upvote or comment on.

I recently began writing and have posted a few links to articles. I just recently found that an article that never made it to the front page of HN, accumulated only 3 points and no comments generated about 20 views of the article originating from HN.

Twenty page views from readers of HN is not "great" but it is 20 people with exposure to my thinking that I didn't have 3 days ago. I view this as a net positive.

1arity2• 11 years ago

This post is now at number 14 on the Ask Page. This comment will be at number 24 on this post. No one will ever know it is here.

smeyer• 11 years ago

This comment will be at number 24 on this post

I believe the HN ranking algorithm rewards recent comments, to the point where often the newest comments are at the top.

1arity2• 11 years ago

I believe

if you were correct then the joke would not be funny. if the joke were not funny it would not have been upvoted. if it had not been upvoted it would not now be at the top. because it is now at the top, it had to have been funny, and you must be incorrect.

Ask HN: Does anyone read posts below the first 10 on the homepage of HN?

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