here's a slightly shorter version:

  javascript:open(`https://hn.algolia.com?dateRange=all&prefix=false&query=story:${location.href.match(/\d+$/)[0]}&sort=byDate&type=comment`)

    javascript: (() => {     const id = window.location.href.match(/\d+$/g)[0];     window.open(`https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=story:${id}&sort=byDate&type=comment`)%20%20%20})();

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

reddit style comment threads: https://hacker-read-it.netlify.app/item/40965892

there is also chan style: https://hnchan.netlify.app/thread/40937119

cleaner hackerdaily tree style: https://hackerdaily.io/40955693/comments

flat style: https://ditzes.com/item/40937119

There is also one I cannot find at the moment which let you click and open each comment thread in the right side of screen, that was very good. edit: found it: https://hzn.jero.zone

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/07/german-navy-still-us...

or the half-baked "threaded discussions" that exist on Twitter, Mastodon and clones that people abuse in various ways. Those forums need it more.

So far as the PhD I brought that up as one specific example. (Funny I have a physics PhD from a while ago, I still remember a lot about Hamiltonian chaos and its quantum manifestations, can understand something looking at the math from string theory, etc.)

My problem is related to the moderation problem but is different because I don't need to be fair to anybody or be perceived to be fair.

In general I am talking with a friend about ways to make the commenting experience online better that include everything from tools for power users to large-scale modifications of "the system" to change the incentives to change people's behavior. I can demo the first one today, the second is a bit harder.

Just look at any submission with hundreds of comments and deeply nested replies. It's a total unreadable mess.

It doesn't, unless you're using the new UI, at which point it's kind of your fault anyway, because Reddit is entirely unusable as a discussion place with its new UI. You have to click to load more than 3 anything, and half the time it refreshes and loses your position anyway.

It does a few things to make viewing big threads easier:

- Collapses large threads into a toggle button showing the number of replies in that thread.

- Highlights the OP

- Follow any timestamp link to "focus" on that sub-thread, like this: https://hw.leftium.com/#/item/40953431

- The author of the parent comment becomes the highlighted "OP."

I have a bookmarklet that toggles between viewing on HN and my web app.

My app was heavily modified, but original credit goes to https://hackerweb.app/. The original author had an idea to make HN threads more like Reddit threads, which he may have implemented in the mobile app rewrite:

- iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hackerweb-hacker-news-client/i...

- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cheeaun.hacker...

There are a couple of angles, straight up representation of forum | subreddit threads after the conversation has moved on, "live" tracking comments as conversations progress, and moderation of live threads (including swatting | detecting trolls, spambots, griefers, etc) (oh, and retro sweeps looking for tail end spammers and their puppet networks eg: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40800160 (with "ShowDead" on)).

In post analysis there's the whole ball of wax around decrufting chat threads to pull the meat best served to (various) AI, either for training, company | group intelligence, etc. Oh, and fingerprinting across multiple sources looking for common {group | individual} traits

The intrinsic issue with excluding all but those with a current PhD on chat would be the tossing of, say, those with dated PhD in theoretical physics or somesuch.

@dang obviously mods here and likely has a slew of lisp-y scripts | tools for giving various views, @jedberg was about for much of the early evolution of reddit and took part in a lot of discussions about presentation and implemented a few.

There'll also be useful input from any of those who've moderated | admin various largish forums | channels, etc over the years.

Using a non-graphical client I see all comments in a thread in a single page, all at once. Up the maximum that HN will display at one time. Nothing is hidden.