Show HN: WhatHappened – HN summaries, heatmaps, and contrarian picks
11 comments
·December 8, 2025jcoughenour
The timestamp under each title seems to be the timestamp of when it was summarized and not when it was actually posted on HN. As a reader, I would prefer to see when it was posted. You already have a "updated x hours ago" at the top of the page so there is no reason to just repeat that updated timestamp on all the cards.
MrCoffee7
It seems like each article takes a lot of vertical space. What if you changed the UI so you just displayed a title for each article with a little icon next to it like a downward arrow that you could click on if you wanted to see more of that article? That way, you could display more titles on one screen so that the user could more quickly scroll to the articles they actually wanted to see?
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9vigugfgg
The arrows in the circles floating fixed at the bottom expand and collapse as you want.
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jrdnpsnc
Looks great Two things: - I second the whole vertical space thing of MrCoffee - I feel like clicking on the title should either take you to the post (I know there is a link but it feels un-intuitive).
Gg otherwise!
hyperjeff
Nice. It’d be cool if you could tap on the subject tags to filter for the latest posts with that tag.
mvkel
Really nice experience on mobile. I didn't think I'd like the "contrarian take" section, but it's actually useful to see what the main counterpoint is on a post, and how seriously others are taking it
9vigugfgg
This is perfect for me. I want to stay updated on the same kind of information that is shared here, but i don't care about cred points and find the social networking aspect of hn to be a codified toxic echo chamber.
Thus i love the contrarian take.
I also love that you can switch the default analysis from the story to the comments.
I think this is a good use of ai. Using ai a a creative crutch is dehumanizing like all division of labor as Adam Smith described in his magnum opus was a major problem with capitalism. As we see.
However, as it is wise enough to browse the covers of magazines, but skip the detail inside, so too it's it sufficient and better for the mind, body, and soul to merely browse what happened than the radioactive details from the brainwashed miscreants inside.
kiba
What social networking aspect? The karma point is basically hidden from other posters.
fhutrr567
Look at the green blue and red bars on the what happened summaries. Almost everyone here agrees with each other (mostly green) even on the most controversial issues, which what happened let's you sort by.
I can't wait for what happened IN THE WORLD!!!
that green bar is not a coincidence in a codified echo chamber.
Almost no one is allowed to disagree with the consensus here and then only in a particular way. Some dissent is outright banned.
Like for example, try suggesting any of the following ideas: Trump is misunderstood, feminism is bad for women, mrna shots aren't vaccines, vc increases pain, suffering and failure, etc.
No discussion like that, among countless other ideas will get your account immediately shadow banned.
So it appears that there's consensus about what "truth" is, as proven now by what happened's green and red bars, but in reality contrarians are forced to lurk.
And what I just said only touches the surface of the many significant issues with this community.
Go deeper and you find some sinister tactics being used to control the narrative.
Good luck seeing this post. I know it was a waste of time to write it.
Hi HN,
I built WhatHappened (whathappened.tech) because I have a love/hate relationship with this site. I love the content, but the "wall of text" UI gives me FOMO. I was spending too much time clicking into vague titles ("Project X") or wading through flame wars just to find technical insights.
I built this tool to act as a filter. It generates a card for the top daily posts with a few specific features to cut the noise:
1. AI Summaries: It generates a technical TL;DR (3 bullet points) and an ELI5 version for every post.
2. The Heat Meter: I analyze the comment section to visualize the distribution: Constructive vs. Technical vs. Flame War. If a thread is 90% Flame War, I know to skip it (or grab popcorn).
3. Contrarian Detection: To break the echo chamber, the AI specifically hunts for the most upvoted disagreement or critique in the comments and pins it to the card.
4. Mobile-First PWA: I mostly read HN on my phone, so I designed this as a PWA. It supports swipe gestures and installs to the home screen without an app store.
Stack: Next.js, Gemini, Supabase.
It currently supports English and Chinese. Any feedback will be appreciated! My original X post: https://x.com/marsw42/status/1997087957556318663, please share if you like it or find it helpful! :D
Thanks!