from Hacker News

Ask HN: Does HN customize front page content per-user?

by bubblecheck on 11/16/22, 8:15 PM with 4 comments

Hi, does Hacker News front page customize content per user? For instance using fingerprinting such as IP addr, user agent, etc., to show articles directly targeted at the visitor based on inferred identity.

  • by latexr on 11/16/22, 9:25 PM

    That seems counter-productive and simple to disprove. I've done four tests:

    * Grabbed the official RSS feed¹ via `curl`.

    * Opened the front page in Safari with Private Relay² turned on.

    * Opened the front page in a Chromium browser.

    * Opened the front page on a phone, through cellular.

    All showed the same content. Plus, you can revisit the front page of other days³. So either they don’t personalise the front page or they’d need to go to great lengths to conceal it (perhaps targeting specific users).

    ¹ https://news.ycombinator.com/rss

    ² https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212614

    ³ https://news.ycombinator.com/front

  • by PaulHoule on 11/16/22, 8:21 PM

    Not so far as I know.