HN comments blocker

If you are anything like me, you have a tendency to not read the submitted posts on Hacker News and instead opt to only read the comments. While this might provide you with a wide range of knowledge, comments seldom provide deep knowledge as blog posts or other longer pieces might do. Further, you are neglecting an expert opinion or an unbiased information piece, simply because comments are easier to digest.

By only reading the comments you make yourself susceptible to the bandwagon effect and confirmation bias.

The habit to only read comments is thus a dangerous one, which is why I have chosen to counteract it. With this Firefox extension, all links leading to comment sections of posts you haven't read will be blocked. Once you have visited the post url, you will gain access to the comments section.

You will of course be able to cheat this system by visiting the linked post without reading it, but I leave that responsibility to you. This extension is merely a tool that can help you change a bad habit. If you don't inherently want to change that habit, this extension will most likely not help you.

Miscellaneous information

• If you want to read story links in new tabs or windows and later return to the HN home page with unblocked comment sections, this is supported with shift+click and right+click (i.e. left clicks) - not via the context menu (i.e. right clicks).
• Anchor tags are re-evaluated as blocked or accessible on page loads or five seconds after the respective story link has been clicked.
• Comment sections for posts linking to HN (e.g. Ask HN) are not blocked.