Hacker Smacker: Browser extension to track favorite and disliked HN commenters

What it does

Hacker Smacker is a browser extension that adds visual markers next to commenters' names on Hacker News. Users can mark commenters as friends or foes by clicking colored orbs next to their names. The extension then highlights these relationships in future threads, making it easier to spot preferred commenters while scrolling through discussions. If multiple users install the extension, it also surfaces "friend of a friend" relationships to help identify quality commenters based on the users you already trust.

Who it is for

Hacker Smacker targets regular Hacker News readers who want to reduce time spent scanning long comment threads. It appeals to users who have identified commenters whose writing they consistently value or dislike. The extension is open-source and available on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.

Pricing

The site does not show prices.

How it stands out

Hacker Smacker borrows directly from Slashdot's friend/foe system, a proven model from earlier internet communities. The key differentiator is the social layer: when multiple users adopt the extension, their friend and foe lists network together via a Friend of a Friend (FoaF) mechanism. This means users can discover quality commenters not just from their own curation but from the preferences of people they already trust. The creator built the extension partly as a learning exercise to develop the technical infrastructure that later powered the social features in NewsBlur, an RSS feed reader. The project uses Redis sets and Node.js/CoffeeScript for the backend.

What a founder should check

A founder considering a similar product should verify three things. First, whether Hacker News users actually want curation tools of this type—Slashdot's friend/foe system proved valuable there, but Hacker News has different community norms and moderation practices. Second, the switching costs and adoption threshold: the FoaF feature only adds value when enough users in a particular community install the extension, creating a cold-start problem. Third, whether the moat is defensible—the extension model is relatively easy to clone, and Hacker News itself could build similar features natively, eliminating the need for a third-party tool.

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