Probably still ranks #1 in ultimate HN comebacks:
I sell onions on the internet. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19728132 I keep coming back to read this every once in a while.
https://danluu.com/hn-comments/ is a good list
I've been saving interesting threads and comments in my favorites (they are in my profile). Many old-timers are surprised that Hacker News has a favorite feature. Comments are tricky: to favorite a comment you need to first show its details by clicking on the timestamp.
Now, for the links. A lot of freelancing and consulting advice threads have a good discussion and stories from the trenches:
Starting as a consultant - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21189801
Getting paid - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4817193
Common mistakes - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21728436
Lessons learned from a veteran developer - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25658216
Branding and marketing - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23282278
Hiring a personal assistant - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29336234
Other pretty cool and fun threads:
Crowdsourced HN book recommendations: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28595967
Product recommendations from HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29353980
What 4chan thinks of HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6747373
The comment thread about a developer of a high level of mathematic ability who wrote and maintained a widely used piece of software used for backups. Someone commented something to the effect of “He gave up on solving Millennium problems to write backup software”.
I looked on my hard drive to see what I saved and there were two, other than the usual technical saves:
Why Hacker News Thinks PHP Won Something (2009)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=438871
Unfortunately the article appears to have been scrubbed from gilesbowkett.blogspot.com and is not on the Wayback machine. Basically, the article trashes PHP and Hacker News, which I thought was interesting.
and
The company that has a monopoly on ice cream truck music (2020)
Fred, that coworker who never stops refactoring:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24120359
I will never stop being Fred, but this thread keeps me from confusing my drive to refactor with what the company actually needs. Particularly these comments:
It's a job posting, but I think about Dear Future Homejoy Engineer near the end of every year.
The famous Alan Kay appearance: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11939851
All passive income threads
The Dropbox launch post is a great example of why you shouldn’t take (particularly dismissive) comments here too seriously. (This isn’t to dunk on any of the contributors there - but just a reminder that we’re all fallible and have biases)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863
On that note, PG coining “middlebrow dismissal” isn’t a very elaborate comment, but is a term that has entered a few people’s lexicon.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4726248
Both the article and the comments here have some good life info (“I Thought I Would Have Accomplished More Today and Also Before I Was 35”)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24316725
Also, check out the top posts all time, and top comments all time.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
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I was going to post this standalone, but will post it here. I was recently reading the Hacker News initial reaction to Facebook acquiring Instagram in 2012:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840
One of the commenters says it will be the equivalent to Google buying YouTube. To which another commenter replies "bookmark this comment, see you in 2022". And here we are:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3818055