Why aren't HN comments collapsible?

5 pointsby coryfkleinvor 13 Jahren10 comments

I find it difficult to read comments on HN, and I think this mostly comes from the inability to collapse comments.

1) The top comment on a post gets hugely inflated with discussion.

2) Since scores aren't shown, I'm not sure what comments have value, so I tend to not read anything besides the first few comments.

Given that most other sites I have visited have this ability, I wonder if it was a conscious design decision, and why?

5 comments

alariccolevor 13 Jahren

I'm attempting to solve this, at least for iOS devices. My technique is to collapse everything first. If you want to continue in that discussion, you tap to expand. I think it helps mitigate the need to comment on the top thread, and should make for more diverse discussion.

I think every platform needs its own interface for this, and I suppose the thought behind the web interface is that you can always just scroll down. It's suboptimal on long threads, though. I found my technique worked best on mobile, since you can quickly tap the entire comment to expand it. With a little JS, this might also work on the web.

(If interested, the app is called Pivit, and is in review -- follow @alariccole if you want to know when it drops in the next few days.)

michaelwwwvor 13 Jahren

I don't understand what your issue is with a browser ext. The one I use just works -- so well that I forget and had to stop and think about your headline that comments aren't collapsible.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-collap...

coryfkleinvor 13 Jahren

I don't have any issue with a browser extension. The problem is that the actual CONTENT of the discussion is changed because comments aren't collapsible by default. In many of the comment threads I look at, 80% of the discussion is on the top comment, even though it may be only mildly more interesting than the second highest rated comment.

pdenyavor 13 Jahren

Are you saying that his points about how non-collapsible comments shape the discussion topography are not valid?

michaelwwwvor 13 Jahren

I said no such thing. I said I didn't understand. I take he is saying top comments tend to get more up votes? I dismissed that because it's obvious and wondered if he had another issue. I assume everyone is using a browser ext to collapse expand.

reddit has hot/new/rising/controversial/top but I've haven't found a great need for that personally.

coryfkleinvor 13 Jahren

Actually I'm saying that top comments don't get more upvotes. Once the single top comment has enough discussion underneath it, the comment votes become skewed and inaccurate. At that point, the "top" comment (which may or may not be the "top" comment anymore) gets an unproportional amount of votes with respect to it's vertical location on the page.

The second, third, and fourth comments may be great or even better than the comment at the top of the page, but they don't get any discussion because they are too far down the page.

Sure, using a browser extension fixes that issue for me, but it doesn't change the fact that 80% of the discussion and exposure is only going to happen on the first thread.

I expect there is a good reason why HN has chosen not to implement comment collapse. I posted this question in hopes of getting an answer as to what that reason is. Maybe if I understand the system better then I will be able to use it more efficiently.

[deleted]vor 13 Jahren

coryfkleinvor 13 Jahren

Also, I know that there exist browser extensions to allow comment collapsing, but the problem extends beyond a mere functionality problem - since comments can't be collapsed, the actual comment structure changes, and that is something no browser extension can fix.

kaixivor 13 Jahren

I wrote an userscript to solve this: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/138037

burgerzvor 13 Jahren

> Since scores aren't shown, I'm not sure what comments have value, so I tend to not read anything besides the first few comments.

Maybe you should browse Reddit instead if you're used to reading the top comment (usually one liner) and collapse to the next without engaging in any real discussion.

coryfkleinvor 13 Jahren

What if the top comment is a line of discussion I'm not interested in? Too bad, because that is the only line of discussion anybody will engage in, because you never see the second comment.

I know I could scroll down 7 pages and find the second comment and discuss there if that line of discussion interests me, but who else would talk with me? Nobody, because noone wants to scroll down 7 pages.