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Oh thanks! I'll add these to the toptext.

Can you please fix the URL? HN policy is to link to the canonical site rather than an archive service, which I’m sure you are aware of. Thanks!

Which URL?


Ah, I see. I actually originally posted the x.com links but plenty of HN users can't read Twitter threads that way, so we usually try to provide a readable alternative. (Plus this helps to reduce offtopic complaints in threads.) You'll therefore often see both a twitter/x link and the corresponding xcancel link in toptext - like in these recent examples:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48317774

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48311485

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48212493

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48071262

In the current case, I decided not to do that because it would have made the toptext way too noisy, so I chose the domain that most people would be able to read.

As for HN's policy, you're right about the rule but not its scope. It only applies to submission links, i.e. the URL that a story title is linked to, which also determines the domain displayed to the right of the title.


> HN users can't read Twitter threads that way

This doesn’t seem correct. I can view all of these without a Twitter login. Compare this with nytimes, where a login is required but we still always post the canonical URL per the guideline.

> Plus this helps to reduce offtopic complaints in threads.

That can be a fixed with moderation and bans.


That's why I said "threads". As far as I understand it, logged-out users can see the initial tweet at a link, but not the replies.

> That can be a fixed with moderation and bans.

That is an excessive view of what can be done with hard power!


That’s still inconsistent with the NYTimes is handled - people paste non login links as comments if they’re wanted - and makes the links less useful for people that do have Twitter accounts.

I don't see any inconsistency. Users are asked to submit the original source as the top link. Workaround/archive URLs are welcome in the comments. We sometimes put such links in the toptext too. It works the same for any site.

There doesn’t seem to be a good reason to not apply the submission policy to the top text, for the same reason it’s applied to the link.

The toptext is often used for archive links which allow users to read otherwise-paywalled articles.



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