Understanding Comment Threads

Comment threads on Hacker News often contain insights as valuable as the articles themselves. The Fireflies MCP server makes it easy to access and explore these discussions, whether you're looking for expert opinions, technical analysis, or community perspectives on trending topics.

Accessing Comments for a Story

To view comments on a specific story, you'll first need the story's unique identifier. You can obtain this by browsing story feeds (top, new, or best stories) through the server. Once you have a story ID, simply request the comments associated with that submission.

Ask your AI assistant in natural language to retrieve comments for a particular story. For example, you might say "Show me the comments on story 12345678" or "What are people discussing on the top story about artificial intelligence?" The server will fetch the comment thread and present it in a structured, readable format.

Navigating Comment Trees

Hacker News comments are organized hierarchically, with replies nested under parent comments to form conversation threads. When you access a comment thread, you'll see this tree structure preserved, making it easy to follow individual discussions as they branch and evolve.

Each comment includes several key pieces of information: the author's username, the comment text, the score (upvotes), timestamp, and any child comments (replies). This structure allows you to understand not just what people are saying, but how conversations develop over time.

To dive deeper into specific parts of a discussion, you can request individual comments by their unique IDs. This is particularly useful when you want to focus on a specific sub-thread or explore a particularly insightful comment and its replies.

Exploring User Commentary

If you discover a particularly insightful commenter, you can explore their comment history through their user profile. This allows you to find other valuable contributions they've made across different discussions, helping you identify subject matter experts in specific domains.

Tips for Effective Navigation

When exploring comment threads, start with top-level comments to get an overview of the main themes and perspectives. These often represent the most popular or highly-rated viewpoints. Then, dive into specific branches that interest you or relate to your research goals.

For active discussions on breaking news or trending topics, comments arrive continuously. The server provides real-time access, so you can check back periodically to see how conversations evolve and new perspectives emerge.

Remember that comment scores indicate community reception—higher scores typically signal well-received contributions, though controversial or contrarian viewpoints can also provide valuable insights regardless of their score.