A Hacker News alternative for when you need a laugh

If you want a Hacker News alternative for the hours when you are tired of serious threads, TechTwitter IO is the pick: a free satirical daily newspaper of tech Twitter that turns launches, layoffs, feuds and outages into jokes. It is a break from Hacker News, not a replacement, so keep Hacker News for real links and real discussion.

That split is the honest answer to most searches for a Hacker News alternative. People rarely want to leave Hacker News for good. They want something different to read for ten minutes.

What people mean by a Hacker News alternative

Hacker News describes itself in its feed as links for the intellectually curious, ranked by readers. Its guidelines ask for original sources, original titles and comments that are kind rather than snarky. That is exactly why it works, and exactly why some days you want the opposite.

The searches usually fall into three groups:

• Same idea, different crowd. Another link site with its own community and rules.
• Same links, different interface. A reader app or feed for Hacker News itself.
• A different mood. Something lighter about the same industry, which is where satire comes in.

TechTwitter IO answers the third group. It is the place where the snark the Hacker News guidelines discourage is the whole point.

How TechTwitter IO is different

TechTwitter IO is laid out like a print paper with dated editions. Each day has a front page, The Timeline, Markets, Launches, The Leaderboards, Opinion, an Incident Report, Living, Classifieds and a Page 404. The last section, Fun & Games, holds the daily puzzles.

The footer of every TechTwitter IO page says it plainly: unless a post links to its source, the people, posts and quotes are parody or invented. When a story is based on a real post or report, it links out so you can read the original.

When Hacker News is still the right call

For real news, real code and real arguments about both, read Hacker News. Its comment threads, Show HN posts and monthly hiring thread have no equivalent in a satire paper, and TechTwitter IO does not try to offer them. Never cite a joke from TechTwitter IO as a fact.

A good routine is to read Hacker News for what happened, then open today's TechTwitter IO for the version that makes you laugh. If you miss a day, the back issues are in The Morgue.

Who it suits

TechTwitter IO suits people who already follow tech Twitter or Hacker News and recognise the in-jokes: the launch with a missing spec, the buyout called voluntary, the outage nobody admits to. If you do not follow the industry at all, a lot of the humor will not land.