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Ask HN: Does anybody use the HN hide button?

29 points by codingbuddy 4y ago

I often click it by accident and was curious to know if anybody uses the HN hide button to hide posts. If so, why?

poly_morphis 4y ago
The only time I use it is by accident. I've just learned that you can un-hide a post by going to your profile and clicking on 'hidden', then selecting un-hide on the post.
diordiderot 4y ago
I use it all the time, especially in longer threads. Mostly on mobile. Edit: confused this with thread collapsing... Never used the hide button
rolph 4y ago
if you have read posts, or find they are not topical to your interest in a thread, hide them and it will help avoid confusion, or posting misfires. it also speeds up ocular search results.
porcoda 4y ago
I often see posts that I know are going to be full of comments that will just irritate me, so hiding the post is the easiest way to not accidentally wander into a sea of comments that I’d rather not see.
verdverm 4y ago
I hide the yc jobverts
khaledh 4y ago
I use it all the time. I hide stories that don't interest me, which makes it easier to scan through the list later to see what I missed.
- gulabjamuns 4y ago
  Same here. Please keep the button.
- worldsavior 4y ago
  But you're anyway passing through the list, only afterwards you hide those that don't interest you.
CosmicShadow 4y ago
When you keep refreshing the home page and are sick of half the articles that you don't care about, hide it!
SaberTail 4y ago
Only by accident. I figure if I'm seeing a story so much that I'm sick of it, I'm using HN too much.
climb_stealth 4y ago
Yes, every now and then to hide topics that I find depressing. Usually the ones that deal with loss of habitat and other human-inflicted issues affecting animals. Or around mistreatment of children.
toomuchtodo 4y ago
Yes, I use it on links I’ve read, or to hide topics I’m not interested in. Makes skimming the front page faster. Please don’t take it away dang!
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
metadat 4y ago
I wish there was a profile setting to hide the hide button. I never use it and on mobile hit it on accident at least once or more every few weeks. It is confusing and annoying when a story inexplicably disappears. This discussion has been informative, I hadn't known some of the use-cases for the feature.
- mdrzn 4y ago
  Same, also with the "favorite" button. I only click it by mistake.
dang 4y ago
I regret adding it, because I don't think it pays for the complexity it adds. But I haven't had have the nerve to cut it. If people are clicking it mostly by accident, that could be the excuse I need. Also I told pg one time that I wanted to get rid of it and he said "oh don't do that!" I think he used it exactly once.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago
  I use it because on the HN mobile site, it’s fairly easy to fat finger it. I’ve never used it legitimately. So chalk up at least one person who clicks it by accident. I will note that is almost always why I downvote anything as well - the mobile UX encourages accidental clicks like that.
  - messe 4y ago
    Make that two. I’ve never hit it deliberately, but constantly fat finger it. I’ve a greasemonkey user script to hide it on desktop, but on mobile safari I’m all out of luck.
    - llui85 4y ago
      You might want to take a look at this Safari Extension for userscripts on iOS. https://github.com/quoid/userscripts https://github.com/quoid/userscripts
- rg111 4y ago
  Then please remove it. I have hit the hide button twice, and by mistake. When I tried to use this for cleaning up my feed, same links appeared towards the end as different entried. Happened thrice or so. I don't use it since then. IMO, you also need to get rid of the flag button on the homepage. I have also fat-fingered it ~3 times. One of them, I was able to unflag it from my browser history. Flag should only be availavle on the story page, IMO, and not the home page.
- mFixman 4y ago
  The hide button is useful for me. I read the HN front page several times a day, and hide posts that are obvious ragebait, low quality submissions, or things that negatively affect my mood due to personal reasons. By hiding posts I can make sure that the next page load is a bit better than the default one.
milesvp 4y ago
I use it when I find a thread in a much larger thread veers to a tangent I won’t find much signal in. I find I use it a lot more on mobile too, though it’s a hard button to hit. I appreciate removing complexity, but it’d make using the site much more noisy for me if dang were to remove it.
- messe 4y ago
  > though it’s a hard button to hit. I have the opposite problem. I hit it accidentally all the time.
aorth 4y ago
I use it all the time. For me, it's the only way I can signal that I don't think this post belongs on HN. For example, a submission about reintroducing bison on tallgrass prairies. HN is what we want it to be. We all make it. Personally I want to see stories about technology, software, startups, etc.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- walterbell 4y ago
  > signal that I don't think this post belongs on HN Is that signal aggregated somewhere?
  - pvg 4y ago
    It shouldn't be (and I'm pretty sure it isn't) since it's not what the feature is for. There's flagging and complaining to the mods (via email) for the 'signal'.
- IIsi50MHz 4y ago
  I got a tiny-tiny mood boost fromethe title of that bison-double-biodiversity-of-tallgrass-prairies entry, but didn't read the post. Merely filed the thought away as "possibly-true, positive trivia, but too lazy too check".
pantojax45 4y ago
I accidentally hit hide or flag all the time on mobile. I wish there was an easy way to view all your flagged posts (just like hidden ones), because for both I invariably try to undo it so I can see the post again.
sleepytimetea 4y ago
Yes I use it all the time ! Since the feed is not really customizable, it is my only way to hide things I don't care about. I know it is not a downvote but mentally it makes me feel better to hide all Twitter and NYT links - I hit the hide button almost instinctively now.
ahartmetz 4y ago
I sometimes use it to hide infuriating but hard to resist stuff like the latest "safe space" rules at $university. Not often enough, at least I usually manage to avoid commenting.
corobo 4y ago
Often! Only really for stories I'm not really interested in that seem to be sticking to the homepage for a while, but yeah I hide an article or three every week or so I wouldn't riot or anything if it was removed, but it's a little handy sometimes
RGamma 4y ago
Yes, recently for the crypto, SBF and Musk stories because, oh god, there are so many of them. Otherwise pretty much not.
RonaldOlzheim 4y ago
Where is that button?
Mountain_Skies 4y ago
The information density is high enough with the HN design that having content I'm not interested in displaying isn't much of a burden. On a site like slashdot where each story takes up a large chunk of screen space and hangs around, a hide feature is of more value.
m_ke 4y ago
I coded up a snippet to make the hide button not load a new link after one is hidden. This way I can hide everything that I don’t care and only see 2-3 threads when I come back to HN, saving me a ton of time not having to scan the whole page for new stuff.

29 points by codingbuddy 4y ago

I often click it by accident and was curious to know if anybody uses the HN hide button to hide posts. If so, why?

The only time I use it is by accident. I've just learned that you can un-hide a post by going to your profile and clicking on 'hidden', then selecting un-hide on the post.

diordiderot 4y ago

I use it all the time, especially in longer threads. Mostly on mobile. Edit: confused this with thread collapsing... Never used the hide button

rolph 4y ago

if you have read posts, or find they are not topical to your interest in a thread, hide them and it will help avoid confusion, or posting misfires. it also speeds up ocular search results.

porcoda 4y ago

I often see posts that I know are going to be full of comments that will just irritate me, so hiding the post is the easiest way to not accidentally wander into a sea of comments that I’d rather not see.

verdverm 4y ago

I hide the yc jobverts

khaledh 4y ago

I use it all the time. I hide stories that don't interest me, which makes it easier to scan through the list later to see what I missed.

gulabjamuns 4y ago
Same here. Please keep the button.
worldsavior 4y ago
But you're anyway passing through the list, only afterwards you hide those that don't interest you.

CosmicShadow 4y ago

When you keep refreshing the home page and are sick of half the articles that you don't care about, hide it!

SaberTail 4y ago

Only by accident. I figure if I'm seeing a story so much that I'm sick of it, I'm using HN too much.

climb_stealth 4y ago

Yes, every now and then to hide topics that I find depressing. Usually the ones that deal with loss of habitat and other human-inflicted issues affecting animals. Or around mistreatment of children.

toomuchtodo 4y ago

Yes, I use it on links I’ve read, or to hide topics I’m not interested in. Makes skimming the front page faster. Please don’t take it away dang!

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

metadat 4y ago

I wish there was a profile setting to hide the hide button. I never use it and on mobile hit it on accident at least once or more every few weeks. It is confusing and annoying when a story inexplicably disappears. This discussion has been informative, I hadn't known some of the use-cases for the feature.

mdrzn 4y ago
Same, also with the "favorite" button. I only click it by mistake.

dang 4y ago

I regret adding it, because I don't think it pays for the complexity it adds. But I haven't had have the nerve to cut it. If people are clicking it mostly by accident, that could be the excuse I need. Also I told pg one time that I wanted to get rid of it and he said "oh don't do that!" I think he used it exactly once.

SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago
I use it because on the HN mobile site, it’s fairly easy to fat finger it. I’ve never used it legitimately. So chalk up at least one person who clicks it by accident. I will note that is almost always why I downvote anything as well - the mobile UX encourages accidental clicks like that.
- messe 4y ago
  Make that two. I’ve never hit it deliberately, but constantly fat finger it. I’ve a greasemonkey user script to hide it on desktop, but on mobile safari I’m all out of luck.
  - llui85 4y ago
    You might want to take a look at this Safari Extension for userscripts on iOS. https://github.com/quoid/userscripts https://github.com/quoid/userscripts
rg111 4y ago
Then please remove it. I have hit the hide button twice, and by mistake. When I tried to use this for cleaning up my feed, same links appeared towards the end as different entried. Happened thrice or so. I don't use it since then. IMO, you also need to get rid of the flag button on the homepage. I have also fat-fingered it ~3 times. One of them, I was able to unflag it from my browser history. Flag should only be availavle on the story page, IMO, and not the home page.
mFixman 4y ago
The hide button is useful for me. I read the HN front page several times a day, and hide posts that are obvious ragebait, low quality submissions, or things that negatively affect my mood due to personal reasons. By hiding posts I can make sure that the next page load is a bit better than the default one.

milesvp 4y ago

I use it when I find a thread in a much larger thread veers to a tangent I won’t find much signal in. I find I use it a lot more on mobile too, though it’s a hard button to hit. I appreciate removing complexity, but it’d make using the site much more noisy for me if dang were to remove it.

messe 4y ago
> though it’s a hard button to hit. I have the opposite problem. I hit it accidentally all the time.

aorth 4y ago

I use it all the time. For me, it's the only way I can signal that I don't think this post belongs on HN. For example, a submission about reintroducing bison on tallgrass prairies. HN is what we want it to be. We all make it. Personally I want to see stories about technology, software, startups, etc.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
walterbell 4y ago
> signal that I don't think this post belongs on HN Is that signal aggregated somewhere?
- pvg 4y ago
  It shouldn't be (and I'm pretty sure it isn't) since it's not what the feature is for. There's flagging and complaining to the mods (via email) for the 'signal'.
IIsi50MHz 4y ago
I got a tiny-tiny mood boost fromethe title of that bison-double-biodiversity-of-tallgrass-prairies entry, but didn't read the post. Merely filed the thought away as "possibly-true, positive trivia, but too lazy too check".

pantojax45 4y ago

I accidentally hit hide or flag all the time on mobile. I wish there was an easy way to view all your flagged posts (just like hidden ones), because for both I invariably try to undo it so I can see the post again.

sleepytimetea 4y ago

Yes I use it all the time ! Since the feed is not really customizable, it is my only way to hide things I don't care about. I know it is not a downvote but mentally it makes me feel better to hide all Twitter and NYT links - I hit the hide button almost instinctively now.

ahartmetz 4y ago

I sometimes use it to hide infuriating but hard to resist stuff like the latest "safe space" rules at $university. Not often enough, at least I usually manage to avoid commenting.

corobo 4y ago

Often! Only really for stories I'm not really interested in that seem to be sticking to the homepage for a while, but yeah I hide an article or three every week or so I wouldn't riot or anything if it was removed, but it's a little handy sometimes

RGamma 4y ago

Yes, recently for the crypto, SBF and Musk stories because, oh god, there are so many of them. Otherwise pretty much not.

RonaldOlzheim 4y ago

Where is that button?

Mountain_Skies 4y ago

The information density is high enough with the HN design that having content I'm not interested in displaying isn't much of a burden. On a site like slashdot where each story takes up a large chunk of screen space and hangs around, a hide feature is of more value.

m_ke 4y ago

I coded up a snippet to make the hide button not load a new link after one is hidden. This way I can hide everything that I don’t care and only see 2-3 threads when I come back to HN, saving me a ton of time not having to scan the whole page for new stuff.