Ask HN: Can we get an option to show root comments only on HN?

When there are more than about 300 comments on a post it is difficult to read the root (1st level) comments that pertain directly to the post/article. These are the comments I want to read the most. I end up just scrolling past everything the whole time. It would be great if there was a link at the top that linked to the comments with something like a &root-only=1 in the URL.

4 points | by codingclaws 293 days ago

6 comments

  • activiation 293 days ago
    That would be nice... Most of the time I just click the link to hide all replies to each top comment... It's getting repetitive
  • fsflover 293 days ago
    I'm using "next" instead and it's not so bad.
  • DoreenMichele 293 days ago
    You can read the top comment, click the minus button [-] to collapse the thread, read the next top comment, rinse and repeat.
  • hayst4ck 293 days ago
    If you want these types of things, then it's likely only going to be through somebody creating an extension to modify the HN interface.

    I think client side modification is probably better (albeit inefficient) engineering anyway.

  • gnicholas 293 days ago
    I also have this perspective. The HackerNewt app is perfect for people like us.

    They posted a Show HN here a few weeks ago, which is how I learned about them. Highly recommended!

  • Leftium 293 days ago
    https://hw.leftium.com/ shows only root comments.

    Example: https://hw.leftium.com/#/item/36200884

    Can even show just root replies to a comment: https://hw.leftium.com/#/item/36201108

    Each page has a link to the original HN page.

    ---

    My app doesn't show the default HN feed; it shows the list of all items that have hit the front page in reverse chronological order (like https://hckrnews.com/).

    If you want the default feed, use https://hackerwebapp.com/ (I forked my app from this app)