The problem with getting a stream of someone's comments is that (unlike blog posts and tweets) comments are not written to stand alone.
One can reduce the problem by always including the parent, but that is often too much or too little context. For a stream of omments to be worth reading really requires some indication of what older comments are necessary to understand any given comment and probably some changes in the habits of comment writers.
And yeah, the inability to make views worth reading of comments by selected authors makes me try to stay away from trees of comments like we see on reddit and HN. (HN however has other things going for it though that offset my dislike of trees of comments.)
I noticed that link, but did not try it because I was not really paying attention and assumed it was like those links on Reddit or (old) Slashdot that hide low-score comments.
I would have been more likely to try it if the link said, "Show x more comments above," since that phrasing is used on Less Wrong, or, "Show context."
I think the 'x more comments' interface is great. I've always followed certain HNers (most recently using RSS feeds from searchyc.com), but seeing their comments in context was never easy.
It's a shame we can't get an API which gives access to which stories users have upvoted/downvoted and use that to build a better frontpage for ourselves.
Well, the HN model has always been that votes are private. We can argue about whether that's a good idea (I don't think so), but it's probably not going to change.
One can reduce the problem by always including the parent, but that is often too much or too little context. For a stream of omments to be worth reading really requires some indication of what older comments are necessary to understand any given comment and probably some changes in the habits of comment writers.
And yeah, the inability to make views worth reading of comments by selected authors makes me try to stay away from trees of comments like we see on reddit and HN. (HN however has other things going for it though that offset my dislike of trees of comments.)