Why doesn't HN have notifications for replies?

I quite like that it doesn’t. The reputation counter is all the feedback I need in order to know if I need to back off for a bit and do more research (going down) or if I’m making valid points that others find useful (going up). It also means I’m not overwhelmed with more manipulative stimuli (notification indicators) and can engage with HN at my own pace.

Honestly, if HN added notifications I’d probably just leave. I don’t need Yet Another Attention Thief in my life.

I think the lack of notifications is what makes it less likely to turn into a flamewar type of place. You don't know that someone is wrong.

I've considered creating an extension for firefox/chrome that added this feature because I'm argumentative.

Hacker News is designed to prefer fewer, higher quality comments over more lower quality comments - signal over noise. To that end it has numerous features intended to discourage engagement over the long term, as the quality of conversation tends to diminish and the chance of flamewars tends to rise over time.

Get it, say your piece, and get out. That's how one uses HN.

=> https://www.hnreplies.com/

You can always hit the 'threads' link in the navbar. Internet forums evolved without this glaring gap in basic functionality and some somehow continue to eke out an existence without it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22930391

I built https://hackernewsalerts.com just for that!

Try using hnreplies.com

People using Hacker News without notifications for replies suggests notifications for replies is not basic functionality for Hacker News.

Other sites often have other requirements. But of course they are not HN. Good luck.