Sundry previous threads: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
{'1': 0.6896551724137931, '2': 0.13793103448275862, '3': 0.06896551724137931, '4': 0.06896551724137931, '5': 0.0, '6': 0.0, '7': 0.0, '8': 0.034482758620689655, '9': 0.0}
It's not exactly Benford's distribution. It doesn't span more than two orders of magnitude, but it's somewhat Benfordian, and it is what you might expect from a distribution of comments.
Also, please don't report 16 digits when your data set only has 1 sigfig.
i: 10 min: 0.000000 max: 0.689655 range: 0.689655 width: 70 scale: 101.500000
1 0.69 **********************************************************************
2 0.14 **************
3 0.07 *******
4 0.07 *******
5 0.00
6 0.00
7 0.00
8 0.03 ***
9 0.00Though it doesn't indicate how many previous discussions there were, or what discussion occurred. Dang's comments (or occasionally, those by others, I've been known to add similar myself) manifest that information into the thread in a more immediately tangible way.
That's ... an interesting property of UI/UX and simple perception that itself leads to some interesting questions. I've been looking at the notion of manifest vs. latent functions (Bronislaw Malinowski and Robert K. Merton), which implies the related notion of manifest vs. latent perceptions or awareness (I'm not finding any ... manifest ... discussion of this, though I'm sure it exists).
And there's a strong psychological element here.
Dang's moderation often hinges on this -- retitling of posts and detaching of threads all change the degree of manifestation of certain aspects of a topic. Dang's guidance is generally toward promoting productive discussion, and of avoiding derailment.
Which might start approaching a latent answer to your question ;-)
Clearly even the mere suggestion touched the community’s proverbial nerve. I wonder if Dan G has life aspirations beyond HN moderator and how the community shall survive without his touch.
Of dang's future aspirations I know not.