[dzdt]

I think many of the things you identify as flaws are actually strengths of this site.

The minimalist text-only gui IS very usable for discussion, and forces that the focus is on the discussion.

I think for instance adding images to posts or comments would make the site worse, as images serve to attract and focus attention away from discussion. But the discussion here is the point!

The minimal profile sections are also a feature. This account is not your digital homepage. It is a place people go for discussion. A bigger focus on your profile would be a step towards use of the site as brand-building which favors attention-whoring over quality discussion.

Again, the focus is on reducing frictions to people to contribute to quality discussion, and avoiding dynamics that might supplant this.

[mewpmewp2]

Some features would still be nice, like to know when someone has responded to you.

[codingdave]

Most of the poor discussions I see on here are when one user tries to steamroll a thread, replying to most every single comment, doubling down on their own points of the discussion. It turns into a personal argument, not a discussion by the community.

So I think a lack of notifications is a great feature. It lets us say our piece and move on, and let the community discussion fall where it will.

[seanw444]

Totally agree with this. I thought it was weird when I first joined, but over the years, I've grown to appreciate the lack of it.

Keeping track of your points is a decent indicator that activity has happened though. I just remember roughly where it was when I left, and then I know whether I should check /threads or not.

[danjc]

I think the intent is to discourage back and forth chatter which is a significant way that a flame war develops.

There are third party services though http://www.hnreplies.com/

[mr_mitm]

Or just moving the collapse button next to the vote buttons, so collapsing multiple comment branches becomes easier. Would not change anything the GP mentioned and would probably be super easy to implement.

[TeMPOraL]

Easy enough to do it yourself via userstyle (for Stylus) or userscript (for TamperMonkey)? :).

I'm currently using both - userstyle for DIY dark mode, userscript on mobile for font size adjustment (no Stylus available on Firefox for Android yet). Plus uBlock Origin configured to nuke the karma counter.

[dredmorbius]

True.

And though I don't have a relocated collapse control, there are modified light/dark mode HN styles linked in my HN profile, for those interested in either using those directly or as a starting point for your own restyle.

[mr_mitm]

I could and probably will, but solving this on the server-side would be a huge time-saver for millions of users.

Is there a RES-style browser addon for HN with some of these little quality of life improvements?

[TeMPOraL]

Then again, it's hacker news. If the audience of this site won't individually hack the UX to match their preferences, who will?

[mr_mitm]

With that logic, why not just provide an API. Everybody just hack together their own client. Being a hacker doesn't mean you never get to benefit from prior work, or never work together on something, or never share your work.

I get the appeal of providing a minimal service like HN, but unless I'm missing something, my proposed change is an absolute no-brainer considering it's effort-reward ratio.

[dredmorbius]

Or search:

<https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=alternative+hacker+news+fro...>

"Alternative hacker news front ends".

[monkeywork]

No No … hell no

This is one of the features of HN that I appreciate most. The lack of notification means that you don't (typically) get a ton of back and forth sniping arguments like you do on sites like reddit.

I find this makes people put more effort into their first comment and keeps the arguments lower.

[hutzlibu]

You can actually implement that yourself, or use what someone else did:

http://www.hnreplies.com/