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The same author has a post from 2013 (3 years after "Why I stopped reading HN") addressing what is lost when programmers chase internet points.

https://sealedabstract.com/rants/hey-programmers-we-need-to-...

It resonates with me because I often find myself scrolling HN when I was meaning to be working on a project, both at work and at home.

View on HN

Interesting because in the original post, he declares his resolve to quit HN and declares that he's not visited it in one whole month. "Yeah, right", I thought, and indeed in the intervening 3 years, he came back.

I'd wager most of us have needed a break at some point. I myself have gone through at least 4 accounts since 2006. I periodically "delete" them by setting minaway to 999999999. The act of starting over with a new account with zero fake internet points does help keep their value in perspective, though.

I don't know if this[0] will help with your scrolling but it helps with mine. I made it so I could more quickly scan new stories today not mixed amongst popular stories from past days. It also groups common themes (e.g. covid, etc) so I can scan/skip them as a group, leaving the unclassified/interesting stories at the top. Any/all feedback welcome.

[0] https://hackerer.news/

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