Understanding Story Feeds

Hacker News organizes content through three distinct story feeds: Top, New, and Best. Each feed serves a different purpose and displays stories based on specific criteria. Understanding how these feeds work helps you access the most relevant content for your needs.

Top Stories Feed

The Top feed displays stories currently featured on Hacker News's front page. These are submissions that have accumulated enough upvotes and engagement to rise above other content. The Top feed represents what the community is actively discussing right now.

Stories in the Top feed are ranked using a time-decay algorithm—newer stories with strong engagement appear higher, while older stories gradually descend even if they have more total votes. This ensures fresh content continuously cycles through.

When to use Top: Access this feed when you want to know what's trending in the tech community at this moment, or when you need to stay current with breaking news and popular discussions.

New Stories Feed

The New feed shows the most recently submitted stories in chronological order, regardless of votes or engagement. This feed displays content as it arrives on Hacker News, giving you the earliest possible access to submissions.

Stories in the New feed haven't yet been filtered by community voting, so quality and relevance vary. However, this feed is where every front-page story begins its journey.

When to use New: Choose this feed when you want to be among the first to discover content, when monitoring for submissions about specific topics, or when you need comprehensive coverage of all submissions rather than just popular ones.

Best Stories Feed

The Best feed showcases stories that have demonstrated exceptional quality and community value over time. Unlike Top stories, which prioritize recent activity, Best stories have proven themselves through sustained engagement and high vote counts.

The algorithm for Best stories weights voting patterns differently, favoring submissions that continue to receive upvotes over extended periods and that generate meaningful discussion.

When to use Best: Access this feed when you're looking for high-quality content for research, when you want to discover significant discussions you might have missed, or when you need reliable, community-vetted resources.

Choosing the Right Feed

Your choice depends on your objectives. For real-time monitoring and trend analysis, use Top or New. For research and discovering high-quality content, choose Best. You can also query multiple feeds to get comprehensive perspective—start with Best for foundational content, check Top for current discussions, and monitor New for emerging topics.