HACKER Q&A
📣 jezzosbeffIs

Tech news HN alternatives with stronger tech focus?


I spent some time looking through the HN search results for this topic, but haven't seen any more recent post (please correct me if I'm wrong.)

I'm hoping to collect some recommendations for sites that have a similar news aggregator functionality like HN, but with more of an actual focus on technology/hacker space/CS careers/etc.

For whatever my personal opinion is worth, it seems that HN has, over the past 2-3 years become an amalgamation of r/news, r/politics, r/TIL, and other popular subreddits that might have some kind of a technology-adjacent topic.

It feels similar to how Instagram Reels, or Youtube shorts, are merely copy/pasted Tik Tok videos (this is probably a different conversation altogether.)


  👤 gus_massa Accepted Answer ✓
Do you visit https://news.ycombinator.com/newest ?

It has a lot of crap, but also a lot of small post that die with 5-10 points. (I don't like the threads in the front page, because they usually have too many unrelated comments.)

Also, there is the second chance pool: https://news.ycombinator.com/pool

It has a list of post curated by the mods. Those projects get a second chance, and go for a short time to the front page.


👤 PaulHoule
This essay motivating the solution is a little obsolete (I wouldn't feel the need to block Apple now)

https://ontology2.com/essays/HackerNewsForHackers/

it is top-quality trash talk and got a lot more upvotes than the solution

https://ontology2.com/essays/ClassifyingHackerNewsArticles/

which was 100% successful application of technology that people like to talk about FAANG doing but muggles can't be bothered to make a training set.

When I was in a tough spot and needed a job I attached that code to a workflow system and got a ML job before the system was half done.

I am looking at repurposing that system again to maximize my post-Coronavirus life.


👤 bengtan
Sorta related ... I run a newsletter that curates HN stories which didn't (mostly) make the frontpage, but I also omit politics, big-tech news and stuff like that. There's about 40 stories every week, and most of it is tech/dev related. Would it be a help to you, perhaps?

See https://bengtan.com/interesting-things.

Or see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27492255 for a prior discussion.


👤 ThrowawayR2
There isn't one because nobody's willing to pay for the site hosting and, more importantly, moderation costs for something like HN. Any other site (e.g. Slashdot) would be plastered with ads and optimizing for engagement; imperfect as it may be, HN is an act of charity by YCombinator to the world.

👤 jedberg