Re "better that they be accurate", I figured I'd check it again, since I haven't in a couple years. That led to the following errata, which I will send to Max. I thought I'd share them here too in case people are interested in this level of detail.
> it can be [dead] again at which point it can't be re-vouched
I don't think that's right? Pretty sure it can be re-vouched. I'd have to check the code to be sure.
> the [+x] number on the right
Since changed to [x more], to make it easier to click.
> will usually be at the top of the front page at that time
It would be better to say "on the front page". The "$Person has died" thread is usually at the top for a while, but we leave the black bar up for longer than that.
> the line between technology and politics is blurred
I've written a lot about how we approach this; it might be helpful to point to some of that. I usually direct people to these links first:
Removed in July 2020. I removed 'past' as well but there was more pushback about that so I put it back.
> what the front page looks like at any point in time
Not quite - it's a blended view of the front page for a 24-hour period, sort of like a weighted average of a bunch of snapshots. That turns out to be unsatisfyingly hard to get right; different algorithms produce very different blends, and none of them feels like a real front page. You can always look at https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://news.ycombinator.com to see specific snapshots.
> it can be [dead] again at which point it can't be re-vouched
I don't think that's right? Pretty sure it can be re-vouched. I'd have to check the code to be sure.
> the [+x] number on the right
Since changed to [x more], to make it easier to click.
> will usually be at the top of the front page at that time
It would be better to say "on the front page". The "$Person has died" thread is usually at the top for a while, but we leave the black bar up for longer than that.
> the line between technology and politics is blurred
I've written a lot about how we approach this; it might be helpful to point to some of that. I usually direct people to these links first:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22902490
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21607844
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014869
There's lots more at https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...
> The web button next to submissions
Removed in July 2020. I removed 'past' as well but there was more pushback about that so I put it back.
> what the front page looks like at any point in time
Not quite - it's a blended view of the front page for a 24-hour period, sort of like a weighted average of a bunch of snapshots. That turns out to be unsatisfyingly hard to get right; different algorithms produce very different blends, and none of them feels like a real front page. You can always look at https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://news.ycombinator.com to see specific snapshots.
> https://news.ycombinator.com/lists
We added one for whoishiring and one for Peter Roberts' immigration AMAs. I should also add the Launch HN list for YC startups. (Edit: added now.)
> All public URLS with user-generated content
I don't have a comprehensive list but the quantifier "all" there can't be right.