Like Button for Hacker News
Web and SaaS
social sharing button
SHOW HN2011
How HN took it
5 positive, 18 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 21 critical, out of 46 comments about the project. Thread score -0.41.
Idea: 1 for, 11 againstDesign: 3 for, 6 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 againstExecution: 1 for, 0 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Nice work for a weekend project
From 1 comment
I like the idea but if I ever use it, the reason would be backwards: to show how many hackers already upvoted the entry. Most articles hit the front page on HN and in a good case…
pestaa on HN
Useful for reducing duplicate submissions
From 1 comment
Hacker News is like Digg but without so much sucking. If Digg were 100% programmers, it would be Hacker News. I personally think this is a good idea if only to reduce duplicates…
PLejeck on HN
Objections
Will lower HN content quality and bring random users
From 3 comments
It's worth thinking about the question of whether this will make HN better or worse. I'm inclined to think worse. It will bring more random people to the site, and (to the extent…
pg on HNIf you have a good story, you will go to hackernews and post it. I think this "innovation" is going to lead to a lower post quality.
Andi on HNI would suggest not doing it, although it seems like a nice idea. I honestly do think that content will suffer on HN as a result.
dartma on HN
Turns HN into a popularity contest like Digg or Reddit
From 3 comments
A "like" button instigates nothing more than a childish popularity competition.
thelovelyfish on HNThis is the exact moment when HN jumps the shark and becomes digg/reddit/slashdot/et al.
jamesrom on HNDo we really want submitting a story to HN to be as easy as getting fed inside of a Skinner box?
artursapek on HN
Heavy server load without caching
From 1 comment
As someone who has experience in this area, let me just say that it probably won't drive all that much traffic. Most people ignore those little buttons. It will however put an…
jedberg on HN
Button artwork and alignment look poor
From 2 comments
It's impressive how lossy-compressed that PNG image is. The button artwork really needs some love...
lubutu on HNAlso, the text beside the button could well be center aligned vertically.
ayanb on HN
Requests
Skip submission step when article already submitted
From 1 comment
Nice work! A big improvement would be to not go through the submission step if the article has already been submitted (and has votes). Would be more like the reddit button.…
dshah on HN
Show HN points and comment count without a like action
From 2 comments
I like the idea but if I ever use it, the reason would be backwards: to show how many hackers already upvoted the entry. Most articles hit the front page on HN and in a good case…
pestaa on HNDid you read my blog post on the topic? I was wondering if I didn't do a good job explaining my pain point well. Just like you have mentioned, I also wanted to let my readers…
sbashyal on HN
Make the button look like standard social buttons
From 2 comments
Nice work! A big improvement would be to not go through the submission step if the article has already been submitted (and has votes). Would be more like the reddit button.…
dshah on HNSpeaking of which, making this look more like the standard social media buttons would be good too. Why!
artursapek on HN
Questions
Will the button make HN better or worse?
From 1 comment
It's worth thinking about the question of whether this will make HN better or worse. I'm inclined to think worse. It will bring more random people to the site, and (to the extent…
pg on HN
Does the like count only for logged-in users?
From 1 comment
Is there a way to make it display only to people logged into HN?
rodh257 on HN
Alternatives named
Existing HN bookmarklet and Chrome extension
From 1 comment
I agree that this will lead to HN point inflation which in itself is not bad. The community has to decide whether the features out-weigh potential content quality degradation. I…
sbashyal on HN
Reddit button
From 1 comment
Nice work! A big improvement would be to not go through the submission step if the article has already been submitted (and has votes). Would be more like the reddit button.…
dshah on HN