All Topics

Commenters discuss not enjoying exercise but persisting for health benefits, sharing strategies to build habits, find enjoyable activities, and experience improvements over time.

This cluster features comments where users share direct links to PDF versions of academic papers, lecture notes, technical documents, and resources from university websites, often providing accessible alternatives to paywalled or garbled content.

The cluster discusses prosecutors' extensive discretion in deciding whether to charge, what crimes to pursue, overcharging tactics, selective enforcement, and lack of accountability, with references to cases like Aaron Swartz.

This cluster features numerous job advertisements from healthcare startups and companies like DrChrono, PredictionHealth, and Doctor On Demand, seeking engineers for roles in building AI-driven tools, data platforms, telemedicine, and electronic health record systems to improve medical care and patient outcomes.

Discussions center on counterintuitive traffic dynamics like Braess's paradox, where adding lanes or roads worsens congestion, and concepts like induced demand and optimal throttling for better flow.

This cluster centers on debates about whether buying a home or real estate is a good financial investment, comparing it to stocks, crypto, or renting, while discussing leverage, appreciation, opportunity costs, and the distinction between primary residences and rental properties.

Comments debate the trade-offs between short, single-purpose functions and longer monolithic functions, focusing on readability, maintainability, cognitive load, and real-world usability in codebases.

Commenters recommend specific laptop models like Asus Zenbook, Thinkpads, Dell XPS, Xiaomi, Slimbook, and Chromebooks that offer strong Linux compatibility, good battery life, portability, and value as alternatives to MacBooks.

Users complain that a demonstrated Android feature or app is unavailable on their specific devices, often limited to Pixel phones, newer stock Android versions, or excluding Samsung and older models.

Discussions focus on tools and apps for checking movie and TV show availability across streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and recommendations for sites like JustWatch that provide this information.

This cluster discusses strategies for developers and consultants to start freelancing, focusing on building networks, portfolios, personal branding, and securing initial clients through referrals, social media, and direct outreach rather than bidding platforms.

Commenters draw parallels between the HN post's topic and specific episodes from The Simpsons, South Park, Futurama, and similar satirical shows, often sharing video links.

The cluster focuses on recommending and discussing niche, well-moderated subreddits on Reddit as a way to access high-quality, topic-specific content and avoid the low-quality front page.

Discussions center on challenges of unpowered or problematic plane landings, including gliding capabilities, landing gear failures, bird strikes, go-arounds, and safe emergency procedures.

Comments primarily advocate for Docker Compose as a simple, sufficient tool for container management and orchestration, questioning the need for alternatives like Docker Swarm or Kubernetes and sharing use cases where it excels.

Users discuss the limitations of iPadOS compared to macOS, expressing desires to run full desktop apps, enable advanced productivity like coding on iPads, or merge/allow macOS on iPad hardware.

This cluster centers on discussions about MongoDB's notorious bad reputation among developers, with comments questioning its viability for new projects, seeking explanations of its flaws and horror stories, and debating defenses against widespread criticism.

The cluster debates the value of startup ideas, emphasizing that ideas are cheap and common while execution, prototyping, and building are what lead to success.

Comments center on advocating for the complete removal of certain features, elements, or entities, arguing it would be a net benefit without needing replacements or modifications.

This cluster focuses on discussions about using GitHub Issues for project management, its features compared to alternatives like Jira, GitLab, and Pivotal Tracker, and suggestions for improvements or new tools.

Comments argue that reducing or eliminating CO2 emissions is insufficient to combat climate change, emphasizing the need for active carbon removal, negative emissions, and technologies like capture to address existing atmospheric CO2.

Users discuss personal experiences with varying sleep durations, from 3-4 hours to 12-15 hours nightly, debating individual requirements, sustainability of short sleep, and adaptations like polyphasic schedules.

The cluster focuses on debates about the privacy implications and ethics of uploading photos online, especially non-consensual sharing of others' images without permission, and advice against posting personal photos publicly.

Users recommend email alias services like Fastmail, SimpleLogin, and techniques such as plus-addressing or catch-all domains to create disposable addresses for signups, preventing spam and tracking leaks.

Users discuss personal struggles with reduced book reading due to internet distractions like HN and Reddit, sharing experiences of focus issues, slumps, and advice like audiobooks, reading multiple books, or choosing engaging fiction.

The cluster revolves around discussions on whether people enjoy or tolerate unfulfilling jobs, the necessity of working undesirable roles for a paycheck, and debates over work ethic and expectations in employment.

Comments in this cluster debate and sarcastically question whether specific outcomes or achievements truly constitute a 'win', often highlighting ironic, pyrrhic, or redefined victories in contexts like politics, games, and life.

Discussions focus on the support, submission, and handling of HTML forms in web tools or frameworks, with users questioning why standard forms aren't used and suggesting improvements or alternatives.

Discussions debate optimal methods for websites to detect and set user language preferences, primarily contrasting browser Accept-Language headers against IP geolocation, with strong advocacy for prioritizing user browser settings over location-based assumptions.

Discussions center on experiences of non-native English speakers, including accents, pronunciation issues, misunderstandings, language nuances, and interactions with native speakers.

The cluster focuses on arguments over anti-American sentiment in HN comments, including backlash against 'America bad' whataboutism, downvotes for non-US perspectives, and debates on US-centrism.

Users share fond personal memories of owning, playing with, watching, or reading about the discussed item or media during their childhood. The comments evoke nostalgia for 80s/90s experiences triggered by the article.

The cluster discusses asymmetries in modern dating, particularly online, where women are more selective and focus on top-tier men, creating challenges for average men while highlighting hypergamy and selectivity differences.

Discussions focus on assumptions, experiences, and realities of working at FAANG companies, including job desirability, performance expectations, interviewer knowledge, and comparisons to non-FAANG workplaces.

This cluster focuses on discussions attributing various risks, events, or concerns to earthquakes, including their predictability, regional threats like in Japan or the West Coast, and preparedness measures.

This cluster captures comments where users express strong agreement or appreciation by wishing they could upvote a post or comment more than once or simply giving an upvote.

Comments repeatedly expressing that no one cares about a particular issue, feature, or detail, emphasizing its irrelevance.

The cluster focuses on user frustrations with arbitrary maximum password length restrictions imposed by websites and services, which prevent the use of longer, more secure passphrases.

The cluster focuses on debates questioning whether the United States remains a functioning democracy, with comments highlighting democratic backsliding, institutional failures, corruption, and calls that it is already broken or no longer exists.

The cluster discusses the merits, risks, and sustainability of benevolent dictatorships versus democratic systems, often referencing historical examples and the potential for dictators to turn tyrannical or fail upon succession.

The cluster focuses on privacy risks and data handling practices of 23andMe's genetic testing services, including concerns about data sharing with third parties, potential leaks, insurance implications, and requests for more privacy-focused alternatives.

The cluster debates whether language is necessary for thought, reasoning, and abstraction, discussing examples like non-verbal thinkers, animals, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and AI limitations.

Discussions revolve around the historical timeline of personal computers becoming mainstream household items, contrasting their past status as novelties or non-ubiquitous in the 1970s-1990s with modern ubiquity.

Comments debating the true meaning of communism, correcting misconceptions, distinguishing it from socialism or totalitarianism, and sarcastically accusing others of communist ideas or actions.

Commenters debate and explain why people watch car racing events, drawing parallels to traditional sports by emphasizing drama, entertainment, social bonding, nostalgia, and fascination with car technology.

Discussions center on security vulnerabilities and exploits in Apple's iOS and Secure Enclave, including debates on patching, zero-days, public disclosure, and potential exploitation in the wild.

Debates on open source projects banning contributors from specific universities like UMN due to institutional threats or intimidation against students over studies or incidents, with comparisons to Harvard federal scrutiny and other university controversies.

This cluster features job seekers posting their locations, remote preferences, technical skills (primarily Python, data science, and machine learning tools like PyTorch and Pandas), and resume links in Hacker News hiring threads.

The cluster revolves around debates on whether Android is truly open source, with core comments emphasizing Google's control, proprietary components like Google apps, and the limitations of AOSP despite its open licensing.

Comments frequently invoke game theory concepts, especially the Prisoner's Dilemma, to analyze scenarios involving cooperation, defection, and strategic interactions. Discussions explore applications like tit-for-tat strategies, Nash equilibria, and critiques of these models in real-world contexts.

Commenters repeatedly provide direct URLs to academic papers, mostly from ACM Digital Library, along with PDFs and citations from various sources, to facilitate access to full research content.

Commenters debate the purpose of prisons as punishment versus rehabilitation, the inhumane conditions and effects of incarceration, and alternatives like reform or abolition.

Users share recommendations for ambient, electronic, and instrumental artists such as Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, and Nils Frahm, including links to albums, tracks, and playlists ideal for focus or background listening.

Users share positive experiences and recommendations for Ubiquiti products like Unifi APs, EdgeRouters, and Dream Machines for home and small networks, praising reliability, performance, and management while comparing to alternatives like Mikrotik, OpenWRT, and Asus.

Users compare a new infrastructure-as-code tool to Terraform, frequently advocating for Terraform, Terraform Cloud, or alternatives like Pulumi and CDK while discussing features like provider support and state management.

Users express gratitude and satisfaction for finding precisely the resource, tool, information, or content they were searching for in the post or comments.

This cluster focuses on discussions about using Julia professionally, its workflows, performance compared to languages like C++ and Python, ecosystem strengths and shortcomings, and user experiences.

Comments debate why manufacturing remains dominant in China, emphasizing supply chain ecosystems, workforce scale, and logistics over just cheap labor, while discussing rising wages, reshoring challenges, and shifts to countries like Vietnam.

Comments attributing criticized economic or business behaviors to the inherent nature of capitalism, often with phrases like 'that's capitalism for you' or debates on its definition versus free markets.

This cluster centers on debates about the ethics, risks, and objections to performing unpaid work, such as take-home assignments, unsolicited contributions, or free labor for companies in tech contexts.

The cluster discusses the US Electoral College and Senate structure, focusing on how they provide disproportionate representation and voting power to smaller, less populous states compared to larger ones, with debates on whether this is intentional federalism or an undemocratic flaw.

The cluster debates the role, authority, bugs, and necessity of formal specifications compared to reference implementations in software development, particularly whether specs are infallible or superior to code.

The cluster focuses on debates about whether creating new works, such as AI models or adaptations based on copyrighted material, constitutes derivative works that infringe on the original copyright holder's exclusive rights without permission.

Discussions identify Jamie Zawinski (jwz) as a famous tech figure, recall his past HN activity, handles, strong opinions, and issues like blocking HN referrers, with links to prior threads.

The cluster centers on discussions about the necessity, implementation challenges, pros and cons of generics in programming languages, including comparisons across Go, C, Java, C#, and regrets or benefits of their presence or absence.

This cluster discusses YouTube's dominant monopoly due to network effects, creator dependency for discoverability and revenue, ongoing creator backlash against algorithms and policies, and the scarcity of viable alternatives like Nebula or PeerTube.

Comments debate the purpose and responsibilities of government, particularly whether it should handle societal issues like infrastructure, housing, health, and regulation that private companies cannot or will not address.

Cluster centers on experiences, advice, and debates about writing and publishing technical books, contrasting self-publishing platforms like Leanpub, Amazon KDP, and Lulu with traditional publishers in terms of royalties, profitability, and audience reach.

Discussions focus on the legality of wiping or erasing data from devices like phones when law enforcement demands unlocking, debating if it counts as destruction of evidence, admits guilt, or renders evidence inadmissible via doctrines like 'fruit of the poisonous tree'.

Discussions debate whether current and projected world population levels (around 10-12 billion) are sustainable given resource consumption, environmental limits, and demographic trends like declining fertility rates.

Users share personal stories of learning to code without formal education, often starting young or later in life through books, tutorials, games, and projects, and achieving professional developer careers. Discussions include advice, encouragement, and occasional debates on self-teaching versus degrees.

This cluster features comments quoting or riffing on the phrase 'The future isn’t what it used to be' and similar ironic references to 'the future,' often reacting to posts about technology, predictions, or timely developments.

The cluster centers on users expressing skepticism, bias accusations, and dismissal of BBC reporting, often citing its state funding, sensationalism, or agenda as reasons to doubt its articles.

Users debate the merits of a new collaborative document tool against Google Docs, often questioning its advantages or suggesting Google Docs suffices.

Users express frustration over linked articles being behind paywalls, often requesting summaries, archive links, workarounds, or full text postings.

The cluster discusses the widespread issue of cheating in online multiplayer games, the challenges and strategies of anti-cheat systems, and their impact on player experience and game integrity.

Commenters debate the necessity of JavaScript in a web feature or demo, criticizing misleading claims of pure HTML, third-party scripts, and advocating for native browser implementations without JS.

This cluster centers on comments criticizing a specific article for being too short, thin on substance, and lacking sufficient details or depth. Users express disappointment over the absence of more insightful analysis or evidence to support the content.

The cluster debates whether programming languages like C inherently encourage bugs through poor design or if bugs are solely due to programmer errors, highlighting compilers' reliability in catching issues over human mistakes.

Comments offer advice on becoming a better programmer through extensive coding practice, studying expert codebases, seeking mentorship, building diverse projects, and gaining broader perspectives.

Discussions center on whether false accusations or generated content qualify as libel or defamation, including lawsuits, truth as a defense, actual malice, and legal remedies.

Users debate the accuracy and representational value of paintings compared to photographs, discussing how paintings emphasize details interpretively rather than literally capturing reality, with references to historical art, photorealism, and recreations.

This cluster centers on discussions about the high prevalence of bike theft in urban areas, its challenges for personal ownership and bike-sharing programs, and strategies like locks, trackers, and secure parking to mitigate it.

Users complain about missing, broken, or undiscoverable RSS/Atom feeds on websites and blogs, frequently requesting their addition, fixes, or direct usage as a superior syndication method.

Commenters debate the accuracy of claims about whether 'most people', 'many people', a 'majority', or only a 'minority' engage in certain behaviors, hold opinions, or share preferences.

Comments debate the failures of socialism in Venezuela under Chavez and Maduro, US interventions and sanctions, economic collapse leading to mass emigration, and comparisons to Cuba.

Comments discuss challenges with reproducibility in Docker image builds and propose alternatives like Nix, Buildah, Kaniko, Podman, and multi-stage builds to create consistent, efficient container images without traditional Dockerfiles.

The cluster discusses the 'tourism curse,' where tourism-dependent areas face local resentment toward tourists due to overcrowding and social issues, despite economic reliance on visitor spending.

Users debate the pros and cons of self-checkout kiosks in grocery stores, sharing anecdotes on speed, technical glitches, suitability for different cart sizes, and comparisons to traditional cashier lines.

This cluster focuses on discussions about generics in the Go programming language, including complaints about their initial absence, defenses of Go's simplicity without them, the eventual addition in Go 1.18, and opinions on their necessity and implementation.

This cluster centers on discussions about consumer preferences for cheap products despite lower quality, the value of expensive items, affordability challenges, and adages like 'you get what you pay for'.

Users discuss and request mathematical explanations behind AI demonstrations, evaluate AI models' abilities to solve math problems, and compare them to tools like Mathematica.

Comments sarcastically mock obvious or trivial statements about water, repeatedly using phrases like 'water is wet' to question or ridicule the relevance or novelty of water-related claims in a scientific or discovery context.

This cluster centers on debates about the root causes of homelessness, primarily arguing whether it stems from housing shortages or from drug addiction and mental illness, with discussions on why simply providing housing often fails without addressing these issues.

This cluster revolves around complaints and sarcastic remarks urging commenters to read the linked article before posting opinions, highlighting frustration with uninformed comments on Hacker News.

The cluster centers on users repeatedly asking for performance benchmarks, links to benchmark results, or comparisons for software projects, tools, and libraries discussed in HN threads.

Debates over precise wording, terminology accuracy, and pedantry in articles, tweets, and HN comments, distinguishing necessary clarifications from nitpicking semantics.

Commenters repeatedly compare a modern nicotine product (likely vaping or heated tobacco) to traditional cigarettes, discussing health risks, regulation, stigmatization, tobacco company hypocrisy, and marketing tactics.

The cluster focuses on the philosophical limitations of software testing, repeatedly emphasizing that tests can only prove the presence of bugs, not their absence or the full correctness of code.

Users discuss the availability of apps on official stores like Apple App Store and Google Play, frequently noting their absence and suggesting alternatives such as direct APK downloads, sideloading, or third-party app stores.