I do not have showdead on, but I visit newest most times I visit HN. I'm more likely to browse the headlines/comments on the front page but click on links on newest.
saratogacx 13 minutes ago [-]
I use /active more then /newest because I often am looking for a discussion already happening so I can learn from others.
I feel that new is wasted on me because I'm not confident that my own thoughts on what's interesting and worth front page promotion is well... interesting to the community.
ryandrake 4 minutes ago [-]
Yea, /active is HN's secret, killer app. HN's default ranking algorithm often penalizes stories that "get too much activity" which means that if you aren't one of those guys who refreshes the main page every 5 minutes, you're going to miss a lot of newsworthy articles that happen to get many comments. I'd recommend all HN readers visit /active once at the end of the day to see what The Algorithm hid from the front page.
happytoexplain 28 minutes ago [-]
I consume the RSS firehose exclusively, so I guess the answer is "constantly". I have no idea which submissions are highly voted.
saltcured 32 minutes ago [-]
Ironically, I use "new" on other sites to bypass their algorithms and see the raw stream. But I've never even had the urge here, nor really remembered it exists.
It's probably because I have always looked at HN as a sort of amusement or curiosity. The curated listing is part of the entertainment. Not because it usually resonates for me, but because it gives me this glimpse into Otherness. The comments can be more resonant, once in a while.
It's a bit like wandering through the bar district and finding your old haunts missing and replaced with weird facades and fashions. But here and there, you notice some patrons are interjecting with stories eerily similar to the one on the tip of your tongue...
sph 30 minutes ago [-]
Only when I post, because I’m superstitious that if I don’t upvote new posts no one is gonna upvote mine.
It doesn’t work.
Shank 6 minutes ago [-]
I feel like newest is almost always spam, or low quality things. I have showdead on, so I'm kind of biased though.
PowerElectronix 1 hours ago [-]
I wonder about the bias in this survey as it goes from newest to the main page.
From one that only ever opens the main page.
perryizgr8 2 minutes ago [-]
Offtopic: I posted a Show HN and it was instantly flagged. I don't know what I did wrong :(
chistev 47 minutes ago [-]
If by newest you mean new, then I check it several times a day. It's a nice way of finding interesting content and submissions that will never make it to the Frontpage either because of bad timing or whatever reason.
1over137 59 minutes ago [-]
Where/what is newest? I see a “new” on the top page, is that what is meant?
it’s referring to the page available at /newest - the “new” link leads to it
peesem 48 minutes ago [-]
yes, the "new" anchor links to /newest
cortesoft 32 minutes ago [-]
I go to newest when I want to check if there is an outage with GitHub or AWS or something
s_dev 1 hours ago [-]
Usually when I've submitted something myself.
binaryturtle 25 minutes ago [-]
I only have "new" here, and not "newest". Am I missing something?
happytoexplain 18 minutes ago [-]
The URL is /newest.
I'm a little confused by there being multiple people in the comments who are confused by this. They're basically the same word, and even if they weren't, you only have to look at the URL bar to see "newest". I know it's an unimportant phenomenon for me to be commenting on, but it strikes me as unusual.
zamadatix 17 minutes ago [-]
HN is infamous for having extra hidden functionality you're just supposed to know exists if you want to use/unlock it.
happytoexplain 15 minutes ago [-]
Oh? Like what? I am actually ignorant here.
zamadatix 7 minutes ago [-]
Downvoting/flagging kind of just "appear" for most before they get a chance to read about it being a thing.
Even when someone unlocks flagging they often don't know you can flag comments instead of just downvote them because you have to load the direct link (most easily, the timestamp link) to see it.
I actually don't remember how you're supposed to know about https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc. I'm pretty sure it's not linked on the main page and the input box doesn't make mention of it.
There are some lists out there (probably easiest to just ask AI or check the lists page) of special URLs like /bestcomments or /classic. There are also some query paramters available for certain URLs
Many never poke around their settings enough to understand showdead or noprocrast exist/how they work.
I bet a good number learned that polls were a thing from this post :D.
That's what comes to mind but it can be hard to remember some of the things because you get ao used to them being there personally (I'm continually surprised users often reach the karma threshold for downvoting before understanding they can flag/vouch comments). I'm sure others can fill in some good ones :).
Jtsummers 2 minutes ago [-]
> I actually don't remember how you're supposed to know about https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc. I'm pretty sure it's not linked on the main page and the input box doesn't make mention of it.
It's in the FAQ, linked at the bottom of (almost) every page along with the guidelines.
If I get past page 3 without seeing anything interesting I will generally try new.
theandrewbailey 3 hours ago [-]
Every time I come to HN, I go to newest first before really looking at the main page.
AndrewKemendo 4 minutes ago [-]
I’ve almost entirely moved to /newest because there’s almost no point in discussion anymore
I still comment on main threads out of habit but im probably 10% as active as a decade ago once a top comment gets locked into a thread nothing else matters and there’s no discussion around the edges
All the “AI” debates are played out and boring with basically anyone still excited about anything related to AI treated poorly by people who have basically no expertise in it but mad capitalist automation came for their job
econ 58 minutes ago [-]
Change the link text from new to newest. Use the big word.
GaryBluto 52 minutes ago [-]
Very rarely, showdead on
hluska 31 minutes ago [-]
I don’t know if this is the data point you’d like, but I forget that it exists. I forget to such a point that I’m going to check out newest now because it seems like a page I should include every visit here.
So my answer is ‘never’ but I’m working on it. I keep showdead turned on.
Edit - I have been making a big mistake here for a long time. Newest is a heck of a good page and I need to make visiting it into a habit. Thanks for posting this poll; I wouldn’t have remembered that I forgot about a feature without this.
keybored 31 minutes ago [-]
Sometimes I want to see what kinds of submissions are dead and one minute old.
Imustaskforhelp 36 minutes ago [-]
Whenever I interact with the main posts of Hackernews and I am interested for more, which happens almost multiple times per day or atleast once a day.
mhitza 1 hours ago [-]
Couple of times a year.
abcd_f 1 hours ago [-]
Twice a year
SanjayMehta 1 hours ago [-]
I don't even know how to check newest except by accident.
I feel that new is wasted on me because I'm not confident that my own thoughts on what's interesting and worth front page promotion is well... interesting to the community.
It's probably because I have always looked at HN as a sort of amusement or curiosity. The curated listing is part of the entertainment. Not because it usually resonates for me, but because it gives me this glimpse into Otherness. The comments can be more resonant, once in a while.
It's a bit like wandering through the bar district and finding your old haunts missing and replaced with weird facades and fashions. But here and there, you notice some patrons are interjecting with stories eerily similar to the one on the tip of your tongue...
It doesn’t work.
From one that only ever opens the main page.
I'm a little confused by there being multiple people in the comments who are confused by this. They're basically the same word, and even if they weren't, you only have to look at the URL bar to see "newest". I know it's an unimportant phenomenon for me to be commenting on, but it strikes me as unusual.
Even when someone unlocks flagging they often don't know you can flag comments instead of just downvote them because you have to load the direct link (most easily, the timestamp link) to see it.
I actually don't remember how you're supposed to know about https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc. I'm pretty sure it's not linked on the main page and the input box doesn't make mention of it.
There are some lists out there (probably easiest to just ask AI or check the lists page) of special URLs like /bestcomments or /classic. There are also some query paramters available for certain URLs
Many never poke around their settings enough to understand showdead or noprocrast exist/how they work.
I bet a good number learned that polls were a thing from this post :D.
That's what comes to mind but it can be hard to remember some of the things because you get ao used to them being there personally (I'm continually surprised users often reach the karma threshold for downvoting before understanding they can flag/vouch comments). I'm sure others can fill in some good ones :).
It's in the FAQ, linked at the bottom of (almost) every page along with the guidelines.
I still comment on main threads out of habit but im probably 10% as active as a decade ago once a top comment gets locked into a thread nothing else matters and there’s no discussion around the edges
All the “AI” debates are played out and boring with basically anyone still excited about anything related to AI treated poorly by people who have basically no expertise in it but mad capitalist automation came for their job
So my answer is ‘never’ but I’m working on it. I keep showdead turned on.
Edit - I have been making a big mistake here for a long time. Newest is a heck of a good page and I need to make visiting it into a habit. Thanks for posting this poll; I wouldn’t have remembered that I forgot about a feature without this.