[minimaxir]

If you're interested in playing with Hacker News data and don't want to download the entire dataset (or don't have the CPU/memory to perform large JOINs on stories/comments), you can use the Google BigQuery HN dataset, which is now up-to-date: https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/public-data/hacker-news (specifically, the .full table, which combines both stories and comments; the dedicated tables are not up-to-date)

[venning]

I see this link mentioned all the time, but every time I try it I can't get it to work.

Specifically, the "GO TO THE HACKER NEWS DATASET" big blue button on that page. It kicks me over to a Google Cloud console link, which spins for a few seconds, and then brings up a "Welcome to BigQuery!" modal. The only thing I can do then is click "Create a Project", which then kicks me over to the generic console with a listing of all APIs.

Am I missing something?

[minimaxir]

You'll need to create a GCE project before you can use BigQuery (you don't need to provide a credit card if you remain in the free tier)