Ask HN: How do you get the most out of HN?

For a while I had a journal, and I would force myself to read the article, and write a summery of how it’s relevant to my life, how can I benefit from it, and how I might be able to apply the information.

I kept this up for about a week.

It cut down my HN usage to about 5 articles a day, and it made me more selective on which articles I would open.

It became a chore and I didn’t stick with it, but it could transform the passive reading experience into a more contemplative activity. Ymmv.

I put every article into my backlog and never end up reading it.

That way, I can get all the satisfaction and dopamine rush of indicating my interest in reading something intellectual without actually doing any of the work to read.

It’s fantastic.

I found this interface a while ago: https://hckrnews.com/

It has something like infinite scroll and tells you what's new since you last visited. I find it much easier to skim than the top page, or even sorting by 'new'. I usually scroll through it 2 or 3 times a day, look for big numbers on points or comments, and read those :)

Resist the urge to try every single new framework/technology just because it's popular. I wasted far too much time trying to always use the latest and greatest when MySQL and Python cover 99% of all the use cases I'd ever need.

Depends, I guess, on what you're trying to get out of it.

I use it as a way to burn time while waiting for the bus or the build without feeling as guilty (or gross) as Facebook would. For getting perspectives I might not have thought of that help me synthesize new information. And for scratching the "someone is wrong on the internet!" itch.

I probably read 50% of the Ask section and 2-3 items per page of results on front page or newest. You could drink from the firehose if you really wanted to spend every moment of your life on this site, but I prefer to be highly selective about what to read and even more so about what to engage with.

I learn about new and old things that people share.

I generally dislike when I see the same things for months/years (self-driving stuff, cryptocurrencies, AI). But in general, I feel like I learn a lot of stuff from HN. Sometimes, the comments direct me to Wikipedia and I end up learning even more about some old thing that solves everyday coding problems.

Usually as something I read while either on public transport (where wifi is pretty spotty and Hacker News uses a hell of a lot less data than many sites) or as something to keep occupied while in downtime at work/waiting in a shop or what not.

Usually wait until I have access to a decent computer before actually commenting though.

I read HN while waiting for things (filling the kids bath, boiling tea water, etc) when I don’t have the time to really dig into something. It makes me feel like I’m being productive.

I get work through the whoishiring freelancer thread. I might even be breaking even once you account for all the time I waste reading the articles ;)

I use Instapaper for reading online articles and the Safari extension adds a handy link below each submission to add the article to Instapaper.

I've really been trying lately - especially the busier I've been - to use that link exclusively and save all of my reading for later. And then I only engage with the topics I'm actually interested in.

But of course here I am in a comment thread :)

I am subscribed to the HN RSS feed, so I go through that daily. I click through on the stuff that looks interesting, but never see the same un-interesting stuff again. Occasionally I'll actually visit the website if I'm really bored.

I read it through a filter

http://ontology2.com/essays/ClassifyingHackerNewsArticles/

Hacker News Extension Suite https://github.com/etcet/HNES

When you're logged in there an "hide" link.

I use that a lot.

I scan through the new section and then check replies to my comments, usually senseless comments and downvotes for having an opinion.

Close it and do some work instead.