[rahimnathwani]

In prev discussion (id=7972941) many discussed mixing new and top posts and how they should be visually differentiated, etc. But there may be a simpler solution.

First, make “new” page default for registered HN users, “front” page for visitors not logged into HN

Yes, but having separate 'new' and 'home' pages would still incentivise me to mainly look at the home page, and ignore all new posts. I like the idea of mixing 'new' and 'top' posts on a single page, without any specific visual cues to differentiate them (except age, # comments, # votes)

[keywonc]

Mixing new and top posts in one view and make it more 'blind' has some aesthetical merits, I agree.

A tradeoff here is that you can lose a fairly significant amount of transparency and user control: Currently "new" and "front" are mapped to specific user intent (front = consume, new = curate). When you take away the ability to make explicit choices beyond some level, it could backfire.

Also, mixing them into one page is subject to controlling many variables (ratio of new vs. top, details of look and feel, etc.). I think it's worthwhile to look for a simpler approach first.