website
Productivity
research paper discovery
SHOW HN2026
200points
79comments
#291of 4,366 in 2026
Top 7%of 2026 by points
How HN took it
DebatedReal support and real criticism
14 positive, 15 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 22 critical, out of 54 comments about the project. Thread score -0.17.
Idea: 7 for, 13 againstExecution: 4 for, 2 againstDesign: 1 for, 2 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 againstPricing: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Interesting concept for paper discovery
From 3 comments
Extremely interesting concept. I think it will be maybe hard to get a user base due to the scientific community itself not completely being "tik tok" people. Of course there are…
habitit on HNI think it's a cool idea. It could be great for discovering new papers in a fun way.
ksd482 on HNI like the idea. As others suggested it might be a good idea to drop the branding. Had the same considerations when I built a “Tinder” (1) for RSS Feeds. In the end it worked…
7777777phil on HN
Objections
Social network model may not gain traction with researchers
From 3 comments
I love this and wanted to build this - but https://www.alphaxiv.org/ already exists, and it gets no social action (hardly any papers have comments), so this makes me doubtful…
dennisy on HNPeople will not flock somewhere unless they sense some potential return on investment. If a website looks like it will disappear in a few months, it does not make sense for a…
smokel on HNExtremely interesting concept. I think it will be maybe hard to get a user base due to the scientific community itself not completely being "tik tok" people. Of course there are…
habitit on HN
AI-generated summaries may be factually incorrect
From 2 comments
I think the AI portion is not just something that ought have a toggle, but it should not be part of the platform. Somewhat recently, the ACM (one of the premier publishers for…
DonaldPShimoda on HNThis is exactly the problem with science reporting. All things can go wrong like click bait, out of context conclusions etc will go wrong.
vinni2 on HN
TikTok comparison is off-putting for the audience
From 3 comments
Just wanted to maybe make a light suggestions that, for marketing purposes, this really doesn't need any suggestion of TikTok and also might benefit from less heavy handed…
kamranjon on HNI think there is something to it. It seems that "TikTok" part is actually minimal, but it is bound, from purely marketing perspective, to drive some people here away. You might…
iugtmkbdfil834 on HNYeah, I have an allergic reaction to tiktok being mixed up in any serious intellectual pursuit. :-)
AlexCoventry on HN
Performance is poor and the site is slow to scroll
From 2 comments
Web site maxes out cpu utilization. Scrolls like PowerPoint 2003. Firefox 140 on Debian 12. Web design has gotten so terrible over the years. HN is an example of an extremely…
skillina on HNWindows 2000 works faster in my browser..
zb3 on HN
Requests
Offer an accountless web version
From 2 comments
Accountless Web version?
utopiah on HNGood idea. Right now I started with iOS because I wanted to experiment with the reading/saving flow and on-device features, but an accountless web preview would probably make…
ciwrl on HN
Drop the TikTok and AI branding
From 2 comments
Just wanted to maybe make a light suggestions that, for marketing purposes, this really doesn't need any suggestion of TikTok and also might benefit from less heavy handed…
kamranjon on HNI like the idea. As others suggested it might be a good idea to drop the branding. Had the same considerations when I built a “Tinder” (1) for RSS Feeds. In the end it worked…
7777777phil on HN
Support for Android
From 1 comment
Already "too many signups" at 13 votes, ruh roh This looks amazing. I hope Android will be an option.
boutell on HN
Questions
Can the AI part be turned off?
From 1 comment
I'm intrigued. But can the AI part be turned off?
vaylian on HN
How is this different from NotebookLM?
From 1 comment
How is this diferent from https://notebooklm.google.com?
bixxie09 on HN
Alternatives named
alphaxiv
From 1 comment
I love this and wanted to build this - but https://www.alphaxiv.org/ already exists, and it gets no social action (hardly any papers have comments), so this makes me doubtful…
dennisy on HN
Semantic Scholar
From 1 comment
People will not flock somewhere unless they sense some potential return on investment. If a website looks like it will disappear in a few months, it does not make sense for a…
smokel on HN
SciRate
From 1 comment
Scirate.com has been going since before 2010 and still active as far as I'm aware. Mostly used by quantum info folks though.
n4r9 on HN
NotebookLM
From 1 comment
How is this diferent from https://notebooklm.google.com?
bixxie09 on HN