I recognise that 80% of the magic of SN is the semi-ephemeral nature. Opening up a window to check the latest ‘news’ and brainwaves, that we’re all interested in. With some abilities to go back and find old stuff, if you’re determined.

I’m coming round to the opinion that this shouldn’t change much here. However I do believe too that older posts could be elevated at opportune times. Like:

Ultimately, on the subject of properly ephemeral content, it’s a personal choice. I don’t particularly like seeing the remains of past information and messages that were once there, but are now not, it degrades trust in that person, as well as the reading experience for others.

What I would prefer is for people to have better tools to create ephemeral profiles, to post content that they don’t feel comfortable sharing on their profile.

Yes, it takes a lot of cognitive load, but we need to have easy & accessible coin control for our thoughts. If I post about my favourite sports team, you don’t need to be interested in my thoughts about my favourite investments also. Everything should be possible to be segregated, if we wish. Perhaps open source AI we run locally should help us keep those ‘profiles’ distinct.

We should be able to wear our Neo sunglasses one day and our beach shorts the next, without the cognitive overhead of wondering who is tracking and profiling you and merging both ‘personas’. We need better tools for this.

Maybe there’s a place here for certain posts being ephemeral and disappearing but if so it requires careful thought. I believe it shouldn’t damage the experience for others who have engaged. Commenters should be made aware before posting, that their thoughts will also self-destruct if they engage. Better to have no record whatsoever of the conversation, than what looks like a dead-end, or someone who has talked with a brick wall.

However as mentioned, I also think many of the use cases that this provides would be overcome by better profile switching & segregation. Or private communities in the form of buy-in or invite-only groups on Nostr. Smaller communities reduce the attack surface of potential privacy leaks. And I think from what I am seeing with the SN development, this is the likely direction the site will go also. For that reason, I’m extremely happy to be using a site with talented brains behind it, as well as to be here and welcomed. Stacker News is in great hands & shape. Long may it continue.

P.S. Thanks for tagging @elvismercury