Ask YC: How the heck does this site work?

[stealthstartup]

There was discussion about a FAQ the other day, but it didn't seem to discuss how this site actually works. It would be great if there was a "FAQ" link somewhere that explained the basics:

How does the ranking system work?

What does it mean that I have x "karma" and y "saved" and how does that apply to posts etc?

How do you gain or lose karma?

What do the other things in the profile mean? (showdead, noprocrast, maxvisit, minaway)

How do you access older posts? There is a lot of great information here, which just seems to get lost in the ether.

Any other confusion over this site? I hope it isn't just me, as I like to think I'm not the dullest knife in the drawer.

Thank you kindly.

[brk]

I think that for the most part the FAQ here is "pay lots of attention, contribute where/how you can, and figure it out as you go".

The ranking system has been discussed in the past, and I believe that the source code for the site is "out there" somewhere, it might be easier to find on the Arc news/discussion site.

Play with your profile settings and see what happens.

Submit stories and post comments, and you'll learn about karma in real time.

I don't mean to sound rude, but most of the audience here gathers to share and learn knowledge. The particulars of how the site works are somewhat secondary to the primary knowledge transfer function. I know that as a hacker of sorts, you probably want to know what all the knobs and sliders do. But then again, as a hacker of sorts, you should equally revel in solving the puzzle on your own.

Enjoy!

[stealthstartup]

Are you saying the source code is in the public domain?

Anyone know where it resides?

[stealthstartup]

I found that this site was programmed in http://arclanguage.org/ and that the source code was included in one of the builds at some point.

[graywh]

It's technically not "public domain", but it is open-source.

[ambition]

I say all of the following at risk of being wrong. Mentally prefix each sentence with "I'm not sure but".

The ranking system puts together the number of points a story receives and the recency.

Your karma is the total score of your submissions and comments. You get points when other users vote up your stuff, and lose them when they vote you down.

'Saved links' is the collection of stories you've voted up and you've submitted.

noprocrast enables maxvisit and minaway. These three parameters are anti-addiction self-protection: maxvisit limits the length of time you can use the site, minaway specifies how long you have to go away before resuming using it.

Gabriel Weinberg put together an awesome "best-of" FAQ: http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/startupswiki/Ask_YC_Archive

Hope this helps.

[imp]

This page can answer a couple of your questions: http://ycombinator.com/newsnews.html

[josefresco]

The best way to 'learn' a site is simply to lurk ... and lurk .. and lurk some more. Once you understand the community you can speak up and start to contribute.

[jemmons]

That is certainly a way to learn. It may even be the only way supported by this site and its largely a-social community. But I doubt very much it's the best way.

[xlnt]

this site is for reddit refugees who already know how social news works.

anyway, see the little arrows? click on those at random until you find a pattern.

then google for the feature request thread and ask PG to make it possible to change your votes.