All Topics

This cluster centers on discussions comparing Windows and Linux as desktop operating systems, focusing on reasons for preferring one over the other such as software compatibility, hardware support, development workflows, and gaming.

Commenters share personal anecdotes about how they first discovered and started programming as young children, often using early home computers like the Commodore 64, BASIC books, and game modifications without internet access.

The cluster focuses on debates about Apple's high pricing, profit margins, and business decisions like maintaining premium prices, upsells, and value versus cost on products such as iPhones, batteries, and iPods.

Users report temporary failures or glitches in a web service, demo, or feature that resolve quickly after retries or developer fixes, with confirmations that it's now working.

Users are repeatedly calling out submissions, users, or comments as spam on Hacker News, expressing frustration with increasing spammy behavior and questioning its appropriateness.

Comments revolve around whether a company or entity can be sued for their actions, the feasibility of winning such lawsuits, and potential legal repercussions.

Users reference, share links to, and discuss songs that relate to or are about the subject of the Hacker News article, often alluding to a specific well-known song or parodies thereof.

Users heavily recommend and discuss Obsidian as a Markdown-based, local-first note-taking tool with plugins, linking, and customization, often comparing it to alternatives like Trilium, Dendron, and Logseq.

Users criticize GoDaddy for poor support, spam, and shady practices while strongly recommending Namecheap and other registrars like Porkbun, Gandi, and Cloudflare as superior alternatives for domain registration and DNS hosting.

Users report widespread problems with logging in, signing up, authentication failures, and getting unexpectedly logged out on a website.

This cluster discusses the reasons behind the high costs of healthcare in the US, including misaligned incentives for hospitals and insurers, lack of price transparency and regulation, monopolistic practices, and administrative overhead.

Comments debate why Europe has not produced major tech giants like Google or Meta, attributing it to factors such as limited VC funding, market fragmentation, heavy regulations, cultural risk aversion, and easier scaling in the US.

This cluster consists of comments where users express hope, optimism, or wishes for positive outcomes, scenarios, or future events in response to ongoing discussions. The remarks are uniformly supportive and aspirational, often using phrases like 'let's hope' or 'fingers crossed'.

Comments revolve around Python's Poetry dependency manager, with users frequently making puns, sharing poems, and referencing poetry due to the tool's name. The cluster captures humorous and tangential poetry discussions sparked by the post.

Comments that express doubt, challenge claims, or seek confirmation using rhetorical questions like 'Are you sure?' or 'Does it really?' in response to assertions in discussions.

Commenters praise the visual appeal and cool factor of tools, demos, or projects while criticizing their lack of usefulness, clarity, usability, or substance.

The cluster focuses on debates about using AI to generate code, highlighting concerns over its reliability, subtle bugs, and the critical need for human review rather than blind trust.

The cluster focuses on philosophical debates about the existence of free will, its compatibility with determinism, neuroscience, and predictability in human decision-making.

The cluster debates the advantages of using credit cards over debit cards, highlighting benefits like cashback rewards, consumer protections, chargeback ease, and no interest if paid off monthly, while addressing concerns about debt, fees, and safer spending limits with debit.

Comments expressing sympathy, cringe, or amusement in response to awkward mistakes, blunders, or unfortunate incidents shared on Hacker News.

The cluster focuses on complaints about low-value, scammy, or manipulative apps in app stores that use greedy terms, force users to install another app, or provide no real value, alongside debates on inconsistent app store enforcement and rejection policies.

This cluster captures comments where users express gratitude and appreciation for helpful advice, tips, suggestions, and insights shared by others in the discussion.

Commenters debate whether non-consensual deepfake pornography or similar digital acts constitute rape or sexual assault, disputing the use of terms like 'rape', comparisons to physical violence, and accusations of victim-blaming.

Users recommend existing iOS and Android apps that perform the functionality described in the post, frequently asking for platform-specific alternatives, links, and more featureful options.

Comments debate the true meaning of REST APIs, criticizing the common 'HTTP + JSON' interpretation and emphasizing hypermedia, HATEOAS, and Roy Fielding's original constraints from his dissertation.

Commenters repeatedly reference China to question whether the article's topic applies there, contrast situations, or highlight differences with Western contexts.

The cluster discusses user frustration with Google's frequent discontinuation, deprecation, or abandonment of products and services, often referred to as the 'Google graveyard.'

Comments criticize the dysfunctional, expensive US healthcare system, debating its political causes, vested interests, failed reforms, and comparisons to nationalized systems.

The cluster discusses the role of market makers in providing liquidity on financial exchanges, bid-ask spreads, dark pools, and implications for retail investors versus HFTs and brokers.

Discussions correct misconceptions that EU GDPR requires cookie consent banners for all cookies, clarifying they are only needed for non-essential tracking and analytics, with sites blamed for unnecessary or malicious implementations.

The cluster focuses on discussions about innovative nuclear reactor designs like Generation IV, small modular reactors (SMRs), microreactors, and floating or portable systems, including their safety features such as meltdown-proof capabilities, historical examples, and barriers to widespread adoption.

Comments where users express surprise and interest upon first encountering the post's topic, often thanking for the introduction. This cluster captures reactions of novelty and unfamiliarity across various subjects.

The cluster debates China's bans on US social media platforms like Facebook and Google versus US policies on Chinese apps, highlighting issues of censorship, reciprocity, national security, and hypocrisy.

Commenters debate the viability and advantages of buses as a public transportation alternative to trains, subways, and other options, often suggesting buses are sufficient or superior in efficiency and cost.

The cluster centers on debates about whether MacBooks are overpriced compared to equivalent PC laptops from brands like Dell or Lenovo, factoring in performance, battery life, build quality, resale value, and software integration.

Comments associating the article or idea with cryptocurrency, blockchain, Web3, and related technologies like DAOs and tokens.

Discussions revolve around support for Ubuntu in software or features, including requests for Ubuntu releases, criticisms of Ubuntu, defenses of its suitability, and suggestions for alternatives or Ubuntu variants.

The cluster revolves around discussions of AI assistants' capabilities for making, receiving, and handling phone calls, including integrations with phone numbers, VoIP, robocalls, voice synthesis scams, and technical issues like confirmation codes.

The cluster focuses on debates about software developer compensation, including why programmers are paid highly, whether they are overpaid or underpaid relative to their value creation, comparisons to other professions, and the importance of market-rate pay to retain talent.

The cluster discusses Certificate Transparency (CT) as a mechanism to detect and mitigate misissued certificates by rogue or non-compliant Certificate Authorities (CAs), including related tools like CAA records and browser enforcement policies.

The cluster centers on debates about the accuracy, context, and political implications of statements attributed to Donald Trump, including accusations of misquotation, whataboutism, and defenses against propaganda.

Comments discuss personal challenges in understanding and motivating oneself to learn mathematics, emphasizing that comprehension develops through prolonged practice, discipline, and familiarity rather than immediate intuition.

Discussions center on the philosophical meaning of freedom, particularly whether it includes the right to restrict others' freedoms and the balance between individual liberties and societal restrictions.

The cluster centers on debates about virtual reality's hype, niche market status, and limited mainstream potential, citing factors like high costs, bulky hardware, lack of compelling content, and past failures, with some optimism for future growth.

Comments debate whether directly pursuing or optimizing for happiness leads to true happiness, often arguing it is a byproduct of purpose, fulfillment, or usefulness rather than a primary goal, with references to hedonic treadmill, eudaimonic happiness, and psychological studies.

The cluster centers on strong anti-JavaScript sentiments, including hatred for the language's existence, its ecosystem, and 'JavaScript fatigue,' alongside defenses and discussions of HN's prevalent JS backlash.

The cluster centers on advocating for heat pumps as a highly efficient alternative to resistive electric heating for home heating and cooling, correcting misconceptions and discussing their performance in cold weather.

Commenters repeatedly suggest, joke about, or inquire whether the original poster's project, product, or creation should be sold, often questioning its commercial potential or offering to buy.

Commenters overwhelmingly advise someone in a dysfunctional work situation to quit their job immediately, find new opportunities while employed, and prioritize personal well-being over company loyalty.

Commenters repeatedly propose bicycles as a simpler, existing, or superior solution to whatever invention or mobility device is discussed in the article, often with humor or sarcasm referencing bike features and history.

The cluster discusses the importance of sales skills in tech companies and startups, debates on what constitutes effective sales, and advice for engineers or non-salespeople entering sales roles.

Commenters question, confirm, or discuss whether the post's topic, service, or issue applies specifically in Germany, often speculating on the poster's location or sharing local experiences.

Discussions critique technical interview techniques, emphasizing the importance of showing thought processes, asking questions, and reasoning over rote correct answers, while highlighting flaws in trick questions and poor interviewer preparation.

The cluster centers on discussions about the adequacy of electric vehicle battery ranges for everyday commuting, road trips, and long-distance travel, with users debating sufficiency of 100-400 miles, sharing personal experiences, and addressing range anxiety.

The cluster focuses on discussions about server-side rendering (SSR) as a preferred or rediscovered approach in web development, often contrasted with client-side rendering in JavaScript frameworks like React, with mentions of tools like Next.js and debates on its benefits and alternatives.

Discussions revolve around the economics of free products and services, including whether users are freeloaders, the true costs involved (like data), and expectations or complaints about free offerings.

Comments repeatedly invoke Hanlon's razor, emphasizing that stupidity rather than malice adequately explains many actions and behaviors.

Comments discuss the merits of Templ and other HTML templating languages like Handlebars, Jinja2, JSX, and standard html/template, questioning their advantages, syntax, and necessity over plain HTML or JavaScript.

Discussions center on making LLMs more programmable through tool integration, agentic workflows with feedback loops, structured prompting, and frameworks like Langchain for tasks like code generation and external API calls.

Comments focus on whether Coinbase is affected by or exempt from a specific crypto-related issue, referencing their statements, public status, and comparisons to other exchanges.

Discussions center on TypeScript support in projects, tools, and frameworks, including requests for integration, confirmations of existing support, and comparisons with JavaScript.

Discussions focus on accusations against Google employees for defending company policies on Hacker News, debates over their loyalty, dissent, protests, and compensation amid controversies like retention incentives.

Discussions focus on Vim commands, plugins, and techniques for cursor movement, text selection, multi-cursor editing, and navigation, often comparing them to features in editors like Sublime Text or alternatives like Kakoune and EasyMotion.

This cluster features posts from full-stack developers and freelancers advertising their availability for remote or location-specific work, listing skills like Python, JavaScript, and experience in MVP development.

The cluster discusses the GPL license's viral nature, enforcement challenges, compatibility with corporate interests, acquisitions, and its impact on open source software adoption by companies.

The cluster centers on debates about MongoDB's suitability as a database, questioning its real-world use cases, reliability, and superiority over alternatives like Postgres, with frequent memes about it being 'webscale'.

The cluster focuses on Netflix's shift from licensing broad content to producing originals, debates over declining content quality, profitability pressures, and comparisons to cable TV.

Discussions focus on whether AI like AlphaStar can truly outperform humans in Starcraft, critiquing advantages such as high APM, lack of camera management, and direct input versus human peripherals, while questioning the value and fairness of such AIs.

The cluster centers on discussions about raw, unprocessed, or 'real' cow's milk versus pasteurized, homogenized, ultra-pasteurized, low-fat varieties, and plant-based alternatives like oat or soy milk, including health effects, legality, adult consumption, and preferences.

Discussions focus on the challenges of writing and maintaining documentation in software development, including why developers often neglect it, its importance for teams and onboarding, and strategies like dedicated teams or automation to improve it.

Discussions center on Germany's decision to shut down nuclear power plants, the shift to renewables like wind and solar, increased reliance on coal and gas, and debates over emissions, energy stability, and policy effectiveness.

Discussions focus on how browsers and OSes handle trust in root certificate authorities, including manual installation of custom CAs for corporate traffic monitoring, MITM attacks, and challenges with trust stores and certificate pinning.

The cluster focuses on concerns about DNS as a single point of failure, criticism of centralized providers like Cloudflare, and discussions on improving resilience through decentralization, redundancy, and proper TTL management.

This cluster centers on user frustrations with Windows automatic updates, including forced reboots, disruptive timing, and feature updates, along with tips for disabling or scheduling them.

Discussions criticize Microsoft's history of hyping innovative projects without delivering, abandoning efforts, and lacking user focus, often contrasting with new third-party attempts at similar technologies.

Commenters sarcastically or emphatically remind others that developers are humans, users, and relevant participants in discussions, debating whether statements apply to developers versus non-developers or other roles.

Comments debate the necessity of advertising revenue for sustaining the web and online services, contrasting it with alternatives like subscriptions, micropayments, or non-ad models, and discussing potential consequences of ad-blocking.

This cluster consists of comments complaining about websites, particularly the linked article or page, being unreadable or poorly rendered on mobile devices due to layout issues, text overflow, overlapping elements, and lack of responsiveness.

The cluster revolves around debates on whether users prioritize privacy or prefer free/cheap services that trade it for convenience, money, or simplicity. Commenters argue that most people value cost savings and ease over protecting their data, questioning if privacy-focused products can succeed without charging users.

This cluster centers on discussions of formal verification in software development, including its benefits for proving correctness, tools like Coq, Lean, and TLA+, real-world examples such as seL4, and challenges like cost, limitations, and practicality.

Cluster focuses on personal experiences and advice advocating for stopping or minimizing mainstream news consumption due to its negative impacts like anxiety, irrelevance, and propaganda, with alternatives like RSS feeds, HN, or social osmosis for important updates.

The cluster centers on debates about whether nuclear waste from power plants is a solvable technical problem, a political issue, or an insurmountable challenge, with discussions on reprocessing, breeder reactors, geologic storage like Onkalo or Yucca Mountain, and comparisons to other wastes.

Discussions revolve around the backlash, downvotes, and fanboyism encountered when criticizing Elon Musk on Hacker News, alongside debates on his personality, behavior, and decisions.

Cluster focuses on Hacker News' upvoting system, including algorithms, heuristics like upvote-to-comment ratios, suspicions of manipulation, and strategies to influence visibility.

Cluster centers on reactions to Hindenburg Research's allegations of accounting manipulation at Super Micro Computer, with users anticipating a stock crash, referencing auditor resignation, and drawing parallels to past tech scandals and bubbles.

Users express frustrations with Spotify's practices, including music access restrictions, licensing issues, missing features like reliable offline mode or playlists, and shady behaviors, often suggesting alternatives or defending the service.

The cluster focuses on discussions about smells, odors, and the human sense of smell, including personal anecdotes, detection of scents, scientific explanations of olfaction, and comparisons of various smells.

The cluster centers on debates about pension systems, particularly underfunding in public sector defined benefit plans, comparisons to private 401(k)s, sustainability challenges, and intergenerational impacts.

Comments praise the idea and usefulness of a hardware product or gadget but overwhelmingly criticize its high price as a dealbreaker, with many suggesting lower price points they'd accept.

Discussions center on the definition and nature of money as an abstraction, medium of exchange, or store of value, debating its fungibility, exchangeability, and distinction from commodities or fiat currency.

Commenters repeatedly invoke the 'pics or it didn't happen' meme while discussing the absence, quality, relevance, or deceptive nature of photos in a linked article or post.

This cluster captures comments where users repeatedly ask for specific examples, clarifications, or concrete instances to better understand or verify claims made in the original post or other comments.

Commenters debate the precise meaning of 'middle class' versus 'upper middle class,' arguing that lifestyles or incomes described in the article align more with upper middle class standards, influenced by regional definitions like US vs. UK.

Users debate whether Hacker News has declined in quality, with many claiming it is turning into Reddit through lower discourse, more general topics, and Reddit-like comments.

This cluster captures comments where users express interest, curiosity, and a desire to learn more details about the topic or event discussed in the parent post or thread.

The cluster focuses on Apple's development and shift to custom ARM-based Silicon chips like M-series, moving away from Intel processors, and debates on their superior efficiency compared to Intel/AMD chips.

Discussions center on the health and cognitive impacts of sleep deprivation, recommendations for books like 'Why We Sleep', and debates over sleep studies, quality versus quantity, and optimization strategies.

This cluster centers on discussions about the health dangers of alcohol consumption, especially the WHO's statement that no level is safe, including debates on its harms, comparisons to other substances, and calls for alternatives.

This cluster features comments repeatedly asking if the discussed idea, technology, or product is patented, requesting links to specific patents, and expressing skepticism or surprise about patent coverage.