A list of Hacker News's undocumented features and behaviors (github.com)

Article summary

The article lists undocumented features and behaviors of Hacker News, a link aggregator platform. These features include downvoting comments, flagging submissions, and implicit downranking of certain topics. The list is not affiliated with Hacker News or Y Combinator, and users are encouraged to contribute to it by filing issues or pull requests on GitHub. The article also mentions bonus features, such as Hacker News Classic and Hacker News Wayback, which allow users to access older versions of the site.

Main themes

• Hacker News features
• moderation practices
• user behavior
• site design and functionality
• algorithmic downranking

What commenters say

• Some users have noticed shadowbanned behavior when submitting links from banned domains, which can result in the link not being visible to others. The threshold for downvoting comments is 501 karma, and some users have questioned the accuracy of this threshold. The site's algorithm downranks submissions with high volumes of low-quality content, which can lead to some sites being penalized. Some users have reported issues with their comments being downweighted without explanation, and have suggested emailing the site admin for clarification. The site's moderation practices are not always transparent, which can lead to confusion and frustration among users. Some users have noted that the site's design and functionality can be quirky and outdated, but this has also contributed to its charm and success. The site's canonicalization of links can sometimes cause issues with URL truncation or stripping of parameters.
• themes": [