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lrossi | 5 years ago

Sorry to say this, but HN is a problem as well.

I’m looking for that 1% of the posts that interest me, and when I find them it’s fantastic, since it’s info I would not be able to find anywhere else. But going through the other 99% is a waste of time.

These two combined have a harmful effect on me. I don’t know if there’s a name for it, but it’s the same as the one causing addiction in gambling/bets/games. Gathering energy/motivation to do something productive instead takes effort.

Just a few days ago I was thinking of adding a dns block for it. But that 1% of the links is sweet...

discuss

order

latexr|5 years ago

> Just a few days ago I was thinking of adding a dns block for it.

In your profile you’ll find noprocrast, maxvisit, and minaway, which you can use to limit your time on the site.

> But that 1% of the links is sweet

You can use RSS feeds to be notified of stories with over N points[1] (or another rule), lessening the desire to look at everything.

[1]: https://hnrss.github.io/#activity-parameters

alsetmusic|5 years ago

> You can use RSS feeds to be notified of stories with over N points[1] (or another rule), lessening the desire to look at everything.

Thank you for this tip! HN is one of the only websites I don’t consume via RSS. I had no idea I could customize parameters and do this.

Unfortunately, I’ll still be loading the site to find the rare links that are of high interest to but that get a low number of hits. But this will definitely help me optimize my interaction with the site. Again, thank you.

lrossi|5 years ago

I had no idea about this. Thanks, I will try it out.

aserafini|5 years ago

The name for this is ‘variable reward’, and yes it is the root of gambling addiction as well.

mc10|5 years ago

> I’m looking for that 1% of the posts that interest me, and when I find them it’s fantastic, since it’s info I would not be able to find anywhere else. But going through the other 99% is a waste of time.

Would this really help with HN addiction? I imagine it might exacerbate it since everything you see is so much more engaging (by definition), and probably count(posts that interest you) >>> count(posts that you've read).

benhurmarcel|5 years ago

This has helped me cut down on the time I read HN: https://hckrnews.com/

warmfuzzykitten|5 years ago

Good link, thanks. But I don't find the points/comments reliable indicators of things I want to read. For example, I only read one out of the Top 10 today.