subthreads

The longer a thread becomes (particularly using a threaded format like HN does) the more divergent the subthreads become.

There is a neutral dimension to subthreads as well - conversations which are neither praiseworthy nor trolling.

We're planning to add collapsible subthreads, which will enable some of the things you're asking for.

There are many more downvotes than there are substantive things to say, which is why subthreads about downvotes invariably degenerate.

Why does hacker news not have a reddit style 'below threshold' to display none subthreads?

There are two reasons: (a) it's the only reliable way to get things like this fixed, and (b) these meta-subthreads add noise.

But this doesn't solve the issue of being notified of replies to subthreads.

Each top-level conversation contains groups of messages that are sort of like subthreads.

Then, a screen reader or browser extension can easily provide a way to skip over whole subthreads, without having to do something HN-specific.

You've just described the function of the title, though, as the subject of the thread, which only has (as of now) a couple of rather short subthreads.

That'll teach me to contribute to pedantry-focussed subthreads.

We'd all be better off if this thread were actually a discussion of the libraries Dropbox released, and if subthreads like this dropped to the bottom of the page.

I'm adding to the noise, but on Firefox there's a "add collapse subthreads button" add-on.

The conversations are referred to as "waves" and the subthreads are called "wavelets".

We can blame HN for being unable to hide subthreads, but for now the first 2 pages on my 25" monitor discuss if lies are acceptable or not and in what circumstances..

It's still very visible on the list of "active" (heavily discussed) threads.[1] Sometimes heavy discussion in certain patterns triggers the flamewar detection automated software, which causes threads (and subthreads under a particular story) to drop in page placement.

Subthreads are supposed to go on tangents, that's what they're for - the deeper you go, the further away you get from the abstract subject involving everyone to more and more context-specific conversations between fewer and fewer people.