What I would improve is the discoverability of improvements that already exist, if that makes sense : So many scripts, extensions, and UIs are out there. Maybe someday I will organize it together and feed it as RAG to a custom GPT.

And speaking of GPT, I just used it to create (in less than 1 minute) a userscript that does your request.

Interesting! What is a "userscript" in this context?

I would also like a quick way to see if any new activity has occurred in my posts' comments, or beneath my own comments, since my last visit. Is something like this already possible? I find it difficult or tedious to keep up-to-date with comment threads I'm interested or involved in.

I'd like to add an option to the search box for searching through my own comments. Useful for when I want to refer to a thread where I commented two years ago.

I'm unclear on whether I'd like a tiny flag indicating that someone replied to something I wrote. I feel bad when someone raises a good, thoughtful question that I only see weeks later, but I also worry that it could encourage participation just for participation's sake.

>for searching through my own comments

It's already possible with "author:" filter:

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateEnd=1672444800&dateRange=custom&...

End down votes. They are unprofessional and their presence is an embarrassment to thoughtful adults.

But what about the thoughtless children who may stumble upon the website? Not everyone in HN is a thoughtful adult.

On a slightly more serious note, I think it's important to have a way of saying "this type of content does not belong in this community". Not to mark disagreement, mind you, but rather to tell someone that no, posting your OnlyFans in the comments is not what this community is about.

More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36673613

"Unprofessional?" If I booed you at a town hall, would you call me "unprofessional"? "Shut up, hater" would seem more apropos.

Yes

I'd like to have a way to hide content coming from particular places or of particular themes. So: tags for submissions and blocking lists for domains, tags and users.

Rest is pretty much fine as it is.

Why is this important for you who is commenting? HN is about arguments, not personalities.

Users often post links to personal projects, blog posts, etc., and then discuss them in the comments. I find it helpful to quickly distinguish the author's comments from the rest of the discussion.

Most of the time this is not relevant. So you would have to only do it for "Show HN:" posts.

I'd have it do so for all posts, but in a clean and unobtrusive way.

Perhaps a designated color for the OP's username, similar to how new account usernames appear green.

When somebody (related to HN topics like the author of a programming language) dies HN shows a black bar at the top. That leads to questions, e.g. "Ask HN: Why is HN showing a black bar now?". Add explanation to the FAQ and even better add a mouse-over help or click-able help to explain what the bar means.