Ask HN: How do you make best out of HN?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15364280

by aryamaan • 9 years ago

10 9 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

txutxu• 9 years ago

Maybe it just works for me, but, as you ask... this is my "how":

1) Visit just 3 times a day.

Maybe I loose some links, but my time is limited.

2) Read the link before read the comments

And try to make your own conclusion before read the comments.

Sometimes I confess I read a couple of comments before open the link, and sometimes I skip the notice and just read the comments, but I can't give a writen rule for this, I use my subconscious.

3) Keep in mind that people maybe influenced (startup sphere, self-promote, etc), when reading and judging comments.

Do not take other people thoughts as a religion.

And skip threads as soon as you detect they are not useful for _your_ case.

4) Use some system to keep useful information in your backlog.

Pick your pioson: desktop wiki, bookmark system, TO-DO file, ... (?)

5) Test, try and then judge.

New products, features and programs.

6) Read the source code of the interesting stuff.

This in my case gives me more than reading thoughts.

7) Comment

Sometimes you will get useful conversations and sometimes downvotes.

8) Enjoy

If you feel pain, change activity. Nobody is forced to use this.

codegeek• 9 years ago

I read comments. 80% of my time on HN is spent on that. Rest is spent on commenting and reading shared articles.

Whenever I have a tech. idea or a topic I want to learn more about, I search on HN first even before google at times. It almost always gives me what I needed.

gallerdude• 9 years ago

Yeah, IMO comments are the golden goose of HN. You'll find these stunningly well thought out essays on a fascinating amount of topics. I even have a note document where I save some of my favorites.

PaulHoule2• 9 years ago

I've written my own client that filters what I see. (No "is the bump on the latest iPhone a Bezier curve or a NURBS?" or "react ruined my life", "I am looking for a technical co-founder", etc.) My codename for it is "Hacker News for Hackers".

mod• 9 years ago

is it public?

PaulHoule2• 9 years ago

Not yet, but I think I will post a feed soon. Getting the training tools to the point where somebody else can use them is a whole different matter!

ivan_ah• 9 years ago

This is a pretty good reader: http://hckrnews.com/

Set to 25% if busy day at work, 50% for normal, and all if you want to waste lots of time. In either case, it takes away the need to check all the time because you might miss something...

tedmiston• 9 years ago

I keep a list of all of the HN clients in public Pinboard bookmarks if you're looking for alternatives to the standard interface.

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

anotheryou• 9 years ago

I use a "mark all read" extention.

Firefox: https://github.com/andreicristianpetcu/HNMarkAllRead/release... (temporary release patched for FF57)

Chrome: https://github.com/danmaz74/HNMarkAllRead

Ask HN: How do you make best out of HN?

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