All Topics

9,998 topics • Page 63 of 100

Looking for something specific? Use search

Dad Anecdotes

📉 0.4x

Users share personal stories and anecdotes about their fathers, frequently relating them to the HN post's topic by highlighting dads' technical skills, impressive feats, or quintessential 'dad' behaviors.

3,396 comments Other

Reference Requests

📉 0.5x

This cluster captures comments where users repeatedly ask for references, sources, links, or citations to support claims or statements made in discussions. It reflects a pattern of skepticism and demands for evidence across various topics on Hacker News.

3,396 comments Other

Google China Exit

📉 0.4x

Comments discuss Google's decision to leave China rather than comply with government censorship demands on search results, referencing historical events like hacks and ethical concerns.

3,396 comments Politics & Society

Hexapodia Key Insight

📉 0.4x

Discussions center on the 'hexapodia is the key insight' meme from sci-fi, applied to insect and arthropod locomotion gaits, with comparisons to mammals and other animals' movement strategies.

3,395 comments Science

Domain-Specific Languages

➡️ 0.5x

The cluster focuses on debates about the advantages and disadvantages of Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) versus general-purpose languages, including whether to embed DSLs in existing languages like Ruby or Lisp or create standalone ones.

3,394 comments Programming Languages

LLM Security Risks

🚀 2.3x

This cluster centers on security concerns with LLMs, including prompt injection vulnerabilities, risks of granting them access to systems or commands, and the fundamental untrustworthiness of LLMs as security barriers.

3,394 comments AI & Machine Learning

ECC RAM CPU Support

📉 0.3x

The cluster focuses on discussions about ECC RAM support on consumer and desktop CPUs, particularly Intel's restrictions to Xeon processors versus AMD's broader compatibility on Ryzen and other lines, including motherboard availability and use cases like NAS.

3,394 comments Hardware

XSS Vulnerabilities

➡️ 0.7x

Discussions center on a website or demo site's vulnerability to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, with users reporting exploits like injected JavaScript alerts and urging fixes.

3,393 comments Security

REST vs RPC

➡️ 0.5x

The cluster centers on debates comparing RESTful APIs to RPC mechanisms like gRPC, JSON-RPC, and SOAP, questioning if modern REST is just RPC over HTTP and discussing their architectural trade-offs.

3,392 comments Web Development

NVIDIA vs AMD Linux Drivers

📉 0.5x

The cluster centers on debates about the quality, reliability, and user experiences with NVIDIA and AMD GPU drivers on Linux, with a strong consensus favoring AMD's open-source support over NVIDIA's proprietary drivers.

3,392 comments Hardware

Fermi Paradox & Great Filter

📉 0.3x

The cluster centers on discussions of the Fermi Paradox, questioning the absence of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations despite the vastness of the universe, and the Great Filter hypothesis as a potential explanation for this silence.

3,391 comments Science

Conversion Rate Optimization

📉 0.3x

The cluster centers on discussions about improving website and app conversion rates, including requests for data on effectiveness, sharing optimization tips, and debates over metrics and claims of boosts.

3,391 comments Startups & Business

Future CSS Features

📉 0.4x

Discussions revolve around CSS limitations, upcoming native features like nesting, :has pseudo-class, and @layer, vendor prefixes, and preprocessors like PostCSS as workarounds or precursors.

3,391 comments Web Development

Straw Man Arguments

📉 0.4x

Comments accusing others of constructing or arguing against straw man positions in debates. Users frequently point out misrepresentations of arguments as logical fallacies.

3,391 comments Other

CDNs for Static Assets

📉 0.4x

Discussions focus on recommending CDNs like Cloudflare, CloudFront, and Fastly to cache and serve static files, images, and assets efficiently, often in combination with S3 or other storage solutions for better performance and cost savings.

3,391 comments DevOps & Infrastructure

Data Export Features

📉 0.4x

Users repeatedly ask about data export options in various services and apps, requesting formats like CSV, JSON, or HTML, while developers discuss current capabilities or future plans.

3,390 comments Startups & Business

US Hegemony Decline

➡️ 1.3x

The cluster discusses the erosion of the United States' status as the dominant global superpower, drawing historical parallels to the British Empire and highlighting the rise of powers like China toward a multipolar world order.

3,390 comments Politics & Society

Hope Amid Pessimism

➡️ 0.5x

This cluster features comments expressing optimism, hope for the future, and counterpoints to prevailing pessimism in the discussion.

3,390 comments Politics & Society

Climate Science Consensus

📉 0.1x

Discussions center on defending the scientific consensus on climate change, particularly the accuracy of IPCC reports and predictions, against skeptic claims with links to NASA, Scientific American, and IPCC sources.

3,390 comments Science

US Slavery Civil War

📉 0.3x

Discussions focus on the role of slavery in the American Civil War, including debates over states' rights, founding principles, abolition methods, and historical comparisons with other countries.

3,390 comments Politics & Society

Client vs Server Processing

➡️ 0.5x

Debates on trade-offs between client-side and server-side logic in web apps, focusing on network latency from roundtrips, server resource savings, and UI responsiveness.

3,390 comments Web Development

Questioning Knowledge Claims

📉 0.5x

Comments repeatedly challenging the source, evidence, or basis for another user's assertion or belief, often phrased as 'How do you know that?'

3,390 comments Other

Real-Time OS Scheduling

📉 0.3x

Discussions focus on real-time scheduling in Linux and other OSes, including preemptive vs. cooperative multitasking, PREEMPT_RT patches, SCHED_DEADLINE, kernel/user-space preemption, and latency guarantees compared to dedicated RTOS.

3,389 comments Open Source

Bible Quotes and God

➡️ 0.7x

Comments centered on quoting Bible verses, claiming direct messages from God, and sharing personal religious experiences or interpretations, often overlaid on unrelated tech discussions.

3,388 comments Politics & Society

Old Hardware Usability

📉 0.4x

Users share stories of using 10+ year old laptops and desktops, often upgraded with SSDs and RAM, that remain fully capable for programming, web development, browsing, and daily tasks.

3,388 comments Hardware

EU-US Data Privacy Laws

➡️ 0.6x

The cluster focuses on conflicts between US laws like the CLOUD Act, which allow access to data by US authorities regardless of location, and EU regulations like GDPR requiring data residency and protection from US jurisdiction, leading to recommendations for EU-based cloud providers.

3,387 comments Legal

Game Dev Hiring

📉 0.5x

The cluster centers on discussions about recruiting game developers for jobs or projects, praising their skills, work ethic, and suitability while debating their popularity on Hacker News and industry insights.

3,387 comments Career & Jobs

National Parks Access

📉 0.3x

The cluster focuses on debates about access, management, crowding, and rules in US national parks and public lands, contrasting strict protections with desires for greater freedom like 'freedom to roam' in other countries.

3,387 comments Politics & Society

Compiler Function Inlining

📉 0.5x

This cluster focuses on discussions about function inlining by compilers, its impact on performance by reducing call overhead and enabling further optimizations, and factors influencing when inlining happens or doesn't.

3,386 comments Programming Languages

Startup Failure Rates

📉 0.4x

The cluster focuses on the high failure rates of startups, frequently citing statistics like 90-99% failure and debating the low odds of success compared to lotteries or other gambles.

3,386 comments Startups & Business

Long-standing Issues

➡️ 0.5x

Commenters highlight that a discussed problem or situation has persisted for years or decades without significant progress, often questioning why it's only now being addressed or if change is imminent.

3,384 comments Other

Newspaper Media Analogies

📉 0.5x

Commenters repeatedly reference traditional newspapers, especially print editions, as analogies or historical precedents for modern digital news practices like content generation, business models, and consumption habits, often noting newspapers' decline.

3,384 comments Politics & Society

HN SEO Link Spam

📉 0.4x

Users discuss suspicious spam links on Hacker News pages, suspecting they are manipulative tactics to gain high-value backlinks for SEO benefits like pagerank and rankings, despite nofollow attributes.

3,383 comments Web Development

Customer Wants vs Needs

📉 0.4x

This cluster debates the nuances in product development between building what customers explicitly request versus what they truly need and will pay for, stressing the importance of deep conversations to uncover underlying problems rather than blindly following feature requests.

3,383 comments Startups & Business

Window Resizing and Snapping

📉 0.5x

Cluster focuses on challenges, techniques, and tools for resizing and managing windows across Windows, macOS, and Linux, including keyboard shortcuts like Win+arrows, snapping features, and apps like SizeUp and ShiftIt.

3,382 comments Other

AR Glasses

➡️ 0.6x

The cluster focuses on discussions recommending and evaluating AR glasses (e.g., Xreal, Viture, Nreal) as alternatives to monitors or VR headsets for productivity and immersive experiences, including their capabilities, limitations, and future potential.

3,382 comments Hardware

Monopoly vs Antitrust Abuse

📉 0.3x

Comments debate the legal distinction between simply having monopoly or market power, which is not illegal, and abusing it through anticompetitive practices, referencing antitrust laws, FTC guidelines, and cases like Microsoft.

3,382 comments Legal

Handwritten Note-Taking Benefits

📉 0.3x

Cluster focuses on personal experiences and studies showing that handwriting notes during lectures or meetings improves retention and focus through active processing, even if notes are never reviewed, outperforming typing which often leads to verbatim transcription.

3,382 comments Other

Rust vs C/C++ Performance

➡️ 0.7x

The cluster discusses performance comparisons between Rust and C/C++, focusing on compiler optimizations enabled by Rust's aliasing rules and memory safety guarantees, debates on whether Rust matches or exceeds C/C++ speeds, and specific code examples.

3,382 comments Programming Languages

Israel-Hamas War Debate

➡️ 1.2x

Comments debate the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, Israel's military response in Gaza, civilian casualties due to human shields, accusations of genocide, and justifications for targeting Hamas.

3,381 comments Politics & Society

Laser Eye Surgery Experiences

➡️ 0.7x

Users share personal anecdotes about undergoing procedures like LASIK, PRK, SMILE, and ICL, discussing benefits such as freedom from glasses, side effects including dry eyes and night vision problems, long-term outcomes, and alternatives.

3,381 comments Health

FUSE Filesystem Comparisons

📉 0.5x

Discussions center on comparing a specific filesystem or mounting tool to FUSE, debating its use, Linux-specific limitations, and possibilities for FUSE-based implementations or alternatives.

3,381 comments DevOps & Infrastructure

Robot Vacuum Alternatives

➡️ 0.8x

Discussions center on robot vacuum cleaners like Roomba, including recommendations for alternatives without cloud connectivity or telemetry, personal experiences, praises, complaints, and feature comparisons such as poop avoidance or mapping.

3,380 comments Hardware

Systems Exploited by Bad Actors

➡️ 0.5x

Comments debate how various systems are vulnerable to corruption, exploitation, and perverse incentives by greedy or bad actors, questioning whether the fault lies in system design or human nature.

3,380 comments Politics & Society

Typing Speed Bottleneck

📉 0.5x

The cluster debates whether typing speed is a limiting factor in programming and coding productivity, with most arguing that thinking, problem-solving, and organizing thoughts are the true bottlenecks rather than finger speed.

3,380 comments Career & Jobs

Code Naming Conventions

📉 0.4x

The cluster focuses on debates and preferences for programming identifier naming styles, including camelCase, snake_case, kebab-case, Hungarian notation, and related conventions like prefixes for members or parameters.

3,379 comments Programming Languages

Software Telemetry Concerns

📉 0.3x

Discussions focus on telemetry data collection in applications like VSCode and Firefox, including options to disable it, opt-in/opt-out mechanisms, and user privacy worries.

3,379 comments Security

Customer Discovery

📉 0.4x

The cluster focuses on advice for startups and product developers to identify potential customers early, talk to them to understand their real needs, and build products around what customers actually want and will pay for, rather than assumptions.

3,379 comments Startups & Business

Weaponized Killer Robots

📉 0.3x

The cluster discusses fears of advanced humanoid robots like Boston Dynamics or Tesla Optimus being used as autonomous weapons in warfare, referencing Slaughterbots and comparing to drones and landmines while debating ethics, proliferation, and human oversight.

3,378 comments AI & Machine Learning

Apple Crippling PWAs

📉 0.4x

The cluster discusses Apple's deliberate limitations and hostility towards Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) on iOS Safari, including poor support, installation difficulties, and missing features to favor native App Store apps. Commenters contrast this with better PWA support on Android and debate PWAs as alternatives to native apps.

3,378 comments Web Development

Mean vs Median

📉 0.3x

Discussions correcting the misuse of 'average' (mean) in favor of median, especially for skewed distributions, and highlighting their statistical differences.

3,377 comments Science

USSR Collapse

📉 0.4x

The cluster discusses the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, including its causes, rapid downfall, aftermath in Russia and Eastern Europe, Western involvement, and comparisons to other regimes or modern events.

3,376 comments Politics & Society

Iteration Order Reliability

➡️ 0.6x

Discussions center on whether the order of elements in data structures like sets, dictionaries, or directories is guaranteed, meaningful, or safe to rely on, and the implications for code that assumes specific ordering.

3,376 comments Programming Languages

Tor Anonymity Limitations

📉 0.3x

The cluster discusses Tor's privacy and anonymity features, including risks from traffic analysis, exit nodes, relays, and bridges, as well as limitations in hiding Tor usage and protecting against advanced attacks.

3,375 comments Security

Caller ID Spoofing

📉 0.3x

This cluster focuses on the ease of spoofing caller ID in phone calls, its facilitation of scams and spam, and discussions on why it's still possible despite efforts like STIR/SHAKEN.

3,375 comments Security

Go Interfaces Debate

📉 0.5x

The cluster focuses on debates about Go's interfaces, including their structural and duck typing nature, comparisons to type classes in other languages, criticisms like interface pollution and overuse of interface{}, and defenses of their design.

3,375 comments Programming Languages

Timeline Skepticism

➡️ 0.9x

Comments sarcastically doubt or mock promised timelines for tech projects or milestones, predicting delays to future years like 2025, 2030, or beyond.

3,375 comments Startups & Business

Charting Libraries Recommendations

➡️ 0.8x

The cluster centers on recommendations, comparisons, and questions about various JavaScript charting libraries such as Chart.js, Highcharts, ECharts, FusionCharts, and Vega, often in the context of a new charting tool or project. Discussions highlight APIs, performance, features, and alternatives to established options.

3,375 comments Web Development

IRC's Continued Relevance

📉 0.4x

Commenters debate IRC's ongoing usage and vitality despite its age, sharing nostalgia, personal experiences, and comparisons to modern chat tools that reinvent its features.

3,375 comments Open Source

Short-term vs Long-term Thinking

📉 0.5x

The cluster focuses on critiques of short-term thinking in decisions, contrasting it with the need for long-term perspectives, often noting how people overestimate short-term impacts and underestimate long-term consequences.

3,375 comments Politics & Society

Selling Startups Debate

📉 0.3x

The cluster centers on debates about whether startup founders should sell their companies, particularly if profitable or highly valued, questioning motivations, regrets, alternatives like growth or bootstrapping, and investor pressures.

3,375 comments Startups & Business

Historical Presentism Debate

📉 0.5x

The cluster centers on debates about applying modern moral standards to historical events (presentism), the relevance of historical context to present-day discussions, and whether history supports or contradicts contemporary views.

3,375 comments Politics & Society

Apache vs Nginx

📉 0.3x

Discussions compare Apache and Nginx web servers, debating performance, memory usage, configuration ease, use cases, and reasons for preferring one over the other.

3,373 comments DevOps & Infrastructure

Price Fixing Collusion

📉 0.4x

Users debate whether companies' coordinated pricing practices via apps or platforms constitute illegal price fixing, collusion, or cartel behavior, often citing antitrust laws and examples like oil cartels.

3,373 comments Legal

Homepage Demo Video

➡️ 0.6x

Users provide feedback requesting a demo video, GIF, or screenshots on the product's homepage to better illustrate its functionality and user experience, as the textual description alone is unclear.

3,373 comments Startups & Business

Waste of Resources

➡️ 0.5x

Comments debating whether specific projects, technologies, or actions represent a waste of resources, time, energy, or money, often highlighting inefficiency and lack of benefit.

3,372 comments Startups & Business

Defense in Depth

📉 0.5x

Comments center on the security principle of defense in depth, advocating for layered protections and minimizing attack surfaces to improve overall system security against adversaries.

3,372 comments Security

School Network Hacking Stories

📉 0.3x

Users recount personal anecdotes of hacking, exploiting vulnerabilities, and playing pranks on school or university computer networks during their youth, often involving password cracking, fake logins, and net send messages.

3,372 comments Security

Movie References

📉 0.4x

Users repeatedly reference or inquire about a movie depicting the article's topic, often recalling scenes, questioning accuracy, or asking for the title.

3,372 comments Other

Bitcoin Investment Debate

📉 0.2x

The cluster revolves around discussions on whether to invest in Bitcoin, including advice to buy small amounts, regrets over missed early opportunities, and debates on its risks compared to gambling or lotteries.

3,371 comments Finance & Crypto

Open Office Distractions

📉 0.2x

This cluster focuses on complaints about noise, chit-chat, visual distractions, and concentration issues in open office environments, with frequent mentions of headphones, noise-canceling solutions, and preferences for quieter workspaces.

3,371 comments Career & Jobs

Bitcoin Speculation vs Currency

📉 0.3x

The cluster debates whether Bitcoin is primarily a speculative asset held for value appreciation or a practical medium of exchange, with most comments arguing that high fees, volatility, and expected price increases make spending it unwise.

3,370 comments Finance & Crypto

First Step Encouragement

📉 0.5x

Comments praising or acknowledging initial actions as valuable 'first steps' toward larger goals, emphasizing the importance of starting somewhere rather than waiting for perfection.

3,369 comments Career & Jobs

Running Doom on Hardware

➡️ 0.6x

Comments focus on porting the classic game Doom to unconventional hardware and platforms, often jokingly proposing or linking demonstrations as a benchmark of capability.

3,369 comments Gaming

MBTI Personality Test Debate

📉 0.3x

Comments debate the scientific validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), frequently comparing it to the more reliable Big Five model, sharing critiques, correlations, and personal experiences.

3,369 comments Science

Caps Lock Remapping

📉 0.2x

Users share experiences and recommendations for remapping the Caps Lock key to Escape, Control, or both for better ergonomics, especially in Vim, Emacs, and general typing. Common tools mentioned include Karabiner, xcape, and OS settings.

3,369 comments Hardware

arXiv Paper Links

➡️ 0.6x

This cluster features comments where users share direct hyperlinks to arXiv preprints, often providing the paper referenced or related to the Hacker News discussion.

3,368 comments Science

HTTP Status Codes

📉 0.2x

Cluster focuses on debates about the proper use of HTTP status codes for error handling in web APIs and servers, criticizing misuse like 200 for errors or incorrect 4xx/5xx distinctions, and suggesting alternatives like 400, 410, 418, or 451.

3,368 comments Web Development

CSS Blink Hacks

➡️ 0.5x

Discussions revolve around CSS techniques recreating retro effects like blinking text and marquees, including invisible text tricks, text shadows, and user tips for disabling or inspecting them via dev tools.

3,367 comments Web Development

Upgradable Laptops

➡️ 0.5x

Discussions center on the desire for laptops with user-replaceable and upgradable components like RAM, storage, batteries, ports, and motherboards, praising models like Framework Laptop while criticizing soldered designs in mainstream products such as MacBooks.

3,367 comments Hardware

Space Observation Awe

📉 0.4x

The cluster centers on users sharing profound emotional reactions, goosebumps, and surreal feelings from viewing high-resolution images or live sightings of planets like Jupiter, spacecraft such as ISS and Starlink, auroras, and eclipses.

3,367 comments Science

PhD Oversupply in Academia

➡️ 0.5x

The cluster discusses the oversupply of PhD graduates relative to scarce academic positions, highlighting poor job prospects, low pay, tenure difficulties, and the pyramid scheme nature of academia, especially in sciences.

3,367 comments Career & Jobs

Moon Landing Comparisons

➡️ 0.6x

Discussions invoke the Apollo moon landing as a benchmark for technological achievements, often contrasting it with modern challenges or questioning why similar feats aren't repeated.

3,366 comments Science

January 6 Capitol Insurrection

➡️ 0.7x

The cluster debates whether the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol constituted an insurrection, coup, riot, or peaceful protest, focusing on Trump's incitement, violence, deaths, and comparisons to other events like BLM protests.

3,366 comments Politics & Society

DNA Database Privacy

📉 0.3x

Discussions focus on privacy concerns with law enforcement accessing consumer DNA databases like 23andMe, familial matching to identify suspects, and issues with DNA evidence reliability and uniqueness.

3,366 comments Legal

Code Editor Color Schemes

📉 0.3x

Users identify, praise, and recommend color themes for code editors, IDEs, and terminals, frequently mentioning Solarized Dark, One Dark, Gruvbox, and alternatives for better contrast and reduced eye strain.

3,365 comments Other

War on Drugs Analogies

📉 0.3x

Comments repeatedly compare the ineffectiveness or futility of some policy, enforcement, or ban (likely the thread's main topic) to the failed 'War on Drugs', highlighting its poor outcomes and ongoing presence of drugs.

3,364 comments Politics & Society

Missing Website Info

➡️ 0.5x

Users complain about linked websites lacking about pages, clear descriptions, sitemaps, or easily accessible information, often requesting links or noting hidden details at the bottom of pages.

3,364 comments Web Development

Citation Needed Requests

➡️ 0.5x

This cluster captures comments where users demand citations, sources, or references to substantiate claims or assertions made in discussions. It reflects a common Hacker News practice of challenging unsubstantiated statements.

3,364 comments Other

Databases vs Filesystem

📉 0.4x

The cluster centers on debates about whether to store data in databases (like SQLite or RDBMS) versus using the filesystem or flat files, weighing simplicity, performance, reliability, and overkill concerns.

3,364 comments Databases

Status Verification

➡️ 0.6x

Comments focus on checking, verifying, and confirming the accuracy of claims, operational statuses, or data, often involving direct spot-checks or references to status indicators.

3,364 comments DevOps & Infrastructure

QA Teams and Practices

📉 0.5x

This cluster centers on debates about the role, necessity, and effectiveness of dedicated QA teams in software development, contrasting them with developer-led testing and automation.

3,364 comments DevOps & Infrastructure

Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

📉 0.4x

Commenters speculate on infectious causes for a mysterious illness, frequently referencing zoonotic diseases like rabies, Lyme, Ebola, Capnocytophaga from dog bites, and rare cases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from eating squirrel brains.

3,364 comments Health

Affordable Design Services

📉 0.3x

The cluster focuses on recommendations, promotions, and critiques of affordable graphic design platforms like 99designs, Manypixels, Fiverr, and crowdsourcing sites for startups and developers without in-house designers. Discussions compare contest models, subscription services, and freelancer options to hiring professionals.

3,364 comments Startups & Business

HN Culture Critique

➡️ 0.7x

This cluster revolves around criticisms of Hacker News commenters' snarky, elitist, and holier-than-thou attitudes toward programming posts, particularly debates on passionate 'hacker' culture versus professional software development as a 'day job'.

3,363 comments Career & Jobs

Fetus Personhood Debate

📉 0.1x

The cluster revolves around debates on whether a fetus is a person with rights, contrasting pro-choice arguments emphasizing bodily autonomy (e.g., kidney donation analogies) against pro-life views prioritizing the unborn's right to life.

3,362 comments Politics & Society

Postgres JSON Support

📉 0.3x

Comments discuss PostgreSQL's JSON and JSONB features for storing, querying, and indexing semi-structured data, often recommending it as an alternative to NoSQL databases like MongoDB.

3,362 comments Databases

Elite Educational Credentials

📉 0.4x

Discussions center on verifying and critiquing the educational backgrounds of tech figures and commenters, often highlighting degrees from prestigious universities like Stanford, MIT, and Harvard to challenge claims of non-elitism.

3,362 comments Career & Jobs

Software Liability Debate

📉 0.5x

The cluster discusses who bears responsibility and liability for harms caused by software bugs, misuse, or failures, debating between developers, companies, users, deployers, and comparing to other industries.

3,361 comments Legal

Low-Level Computing Resources

➡️ 0.5x

Comments recommend courses, books, and projects like Nand2Tetris, assembly for classic CPUs (e.g., 6502, 8086), and FPGA implementations to understand computer architecture from logic gates to software.

3,360 comments Hardware