No idea how influencial harlembiospace is, but with all those "HN Clones" these days it's worth pointing out that to build an "HN Clone" one should start with being a major player in the respective industry. Compared to that, putting up a forum software is nothing.<p>In the early days HN felt absolutely hardcore to me. Comments were clearly part of an extended (or future) Y-Combinator application (and last time I checked, the Y-Combinator application form is still asking for your HN account) and there was absolutely no bullshit.<p>This was particularly clear in discussions about games - they were strictly about the technical or sociological aspects, no one would ever admit to playing (everyone's working on their starup, right?). I remember the first tentative comments from the player's perspective being scoffed at, and even today I feel a little dirty in those EVE online threads, heh.<p>Point is, knowing that "pg" was watching has always ensured a high quality of comments, and indirectly made HN the place to be.
It's funny...looking at the OP, I suddenly realize how much real estate is wasted on HN and its single column layout...if the OP reduced font-size and a little line-height, it could fit almost as many headlines above-the-fold as HN does, using much less horizontal space.<p>But maybe I'm old, and too familiar with HN, and too resistant to change, but HN's fuck-it-just-fill-the-column-with-a-table layout is comfortable in ways that I've only noticed when doing direct comparisons to HN-like sites.<p>In regards to the OP, I think that what HN loses in information density, it gains in "zen"...On the front page, there's simply less "conflict"...my mind feels more relaxed at looking at a single flat list...and when I click through to the comments, seeing just a long (and admittedly, too wide) column of comments. With the OP, my mind has to divide itself between scanning the list on the left and whatever may be on the right...and even if the right side is mostly <i>blank</i> (as it is with empty threads), something in my subconscious thinks that <i>something is wrong</i>...it's enough cognitive burden to make the experience not as effortless as it is with HN.<p>But I may be stretching here...HN works instinctively because I read it enough for its quirks to be instinctive. But the bigger picture is that HN, day in and day out, provides good reading material and almost never fails to disappoint in the comment threads...so any HN-clones, regardless of improved UI, still have that major hill to adoption to climb.
I think the biggest problem with the homebrew biotech world right now is that even with the labs opening up, there's still such a barrier to entry.<p>There's a "hello world" to biotech, no doubt; extract some DNA from strawberries or explore the tiny world with a consumer microscope.<p>But then what? There doesn't seem to be much potential mid-tier work to be done in biotech. In contrast with software where there is a very visible ladder you can climb.<p>Most of the biotech work seems to be in research, not development (unless you own a huge firm)<p>Where does one go after they've exhausted the basics, and how can you make money off of this stuff without working in a expensive lab for somebody else?
We see 1 or 2 of these "Hacker News for X" sites a month. Have any of you succeeded and developed a community beyond the spike of interest you received making the HN frontpage?
TL;DR: For those asking, "WHY?" : It's about control.<p>Background: Every time there's a new forum site, people often ask, "why not just create a subreddit or facebook group, etc". That would save much code, debugging, & traffic/marketing.<p>However, the reason people still create 3rd party forum sites is not out of foolishness. Rather, they are trying to control the community, & harvest the benefits of the community over time (by either influencing the community, or selling to the community, or both or more).<p>I like HN because it's better quality. The harvesting/controlling forces are very benign, & the community here is great at keeping things relevant.<p>It is a huge challenge, though, to build up a quality community anywhere.
Kudos. Not in the biotech space myself, but I've bookmarked for a rainy day. I particularly enjoy the UI. Arrow keys work to navigate posts (comment section). Enter works to launch URL. Sexy.
I love it, especially the desktop interface. I love HN for the comments, and it is really nice to be able to see the comments on the same screen as the list of articles.<p>I'm not a big fan of the mobile version, but that's no critique. I haven't liked any of the mobile HN versions; I just use the regular site and zoom in anytime I want to vote on a submission or comment.<p>My only suggestion: I'd like to see the number of comments in the sidebar, so I know which articles already have active conversations going.<p>Nice work!
Shameless plug: I just built a Hacker News for Education, and I'd love to get some feedback/ interested users:<p><a href="http://educatornews.net" rel="nofollow">http://educatornews.net</a><p>PS Also very happy to check out OP's take on building an HN "clone". I am a math and science teacher, and keeping up with current science always makes my classes more interesting and relevant.
I am the one Indian who cannot code. I run www.fairobserver.com and, for full disclosure, you should know that Matt Owens once worked with me. I wish he could do this shit when we were working together. I am amazed at what Matt has done. As a non-tech guy, I like the clean design and its user-friendliness.
Cool, I was thinking about one for a while, but I see one problem. Harlem Biospace doesn't really scream "Hacker News for Biotech". Not intended to offend the Manhattan based incubator that charges $1k for a desk/month.
You should check out Berkeley Biolabs if you haven't already: <a href="http://berkeleybiolabs.com/" rel="nofollow">http://berkeleybiolabs.com/</a>
Can you please make it extremely more simple. HN kills because it's so simple. I dont need this full screen nonsense.<p>I really want this to work well.<p>I need an HN for biotech.
I hope the developers didn't spend a whole lot of time on this.<p>Sacha Greif's telesc.pe makes this really, really easy and it's all real-time.