Millet Porridge

English version of https://corvo.myseu.cn

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A Simple HackerNews Clone Site

Posted on Edited on In Disqus:
Because HackerNews is all in English and I wanted to read it but didn't want to read English, this website came to be — mainly to see new stories and comments as fast as possible. Later, because translation APIs were really too expensive, after much consideration I decided to translate it myself.

Site address:

https://zhn.corvo.fun/

Brief Introduction

Original intent:

Because HackerNews is all in English and I wanted to read it but didn’t want to read English, this website came to be — mainly to see new stories as fast as possible.

Because post content is scattered everywhere, only post titles and comments are translated. For personal use only, non-profit.

Later:

Translation APIs are really too expensive — small users simply can’t afford them. Thinking it over, I’d improve my English reading along the way, so I kept modifying: added a comment feature, where I can write notes and such.

Tech Stack:

The initial tech stack:

  • Used Hacker News’s public API; to avoid being blocked, syncs once every 6 hours
  • Backend Golang + templates; the CSS was mainly copied from react-hacker-news
  • No relational database — all data cached only in Redis
  • The translation part used Google’s Translate API
  • Automated build and deployment using Azure cloud
  • Server abroad using DigitalOcean, with Cloudflare for acceleration
  • Comments used Disqus; if you can’t access it please check your own network issues

The current tech stack:

  • No Google Translate API
  • Server abroad, static-file CDN domestic
  • No cloudflare — I think it actually slows things down
  • The comment system uses utterances (an implementation based on github issues). I don’t need disqus-style threaded comments at all, and disqus supports editing very poorly — when taking notes, you’ll often edit

Faq:

How long will the project be maintained?

Theoretically, if there are no problems it will be maintained indefinitely — mainly for personal use, non-profit.

Why not use React SSR?

I tried React SSR and felt React is unnecessary; for SSR, templates are better.

Requirements and collaboration?

The code is not open source. Please submit requirements in the comments of this post; completion is not guaranteed — please understand, thanks.

Are donations needed?

I don’t really want to run on love alone. Friends who read it regularly can donate a little; donating friends please leave a note — donations will be made public.

My costs:

  • One DO instance, $5/month, $60/year — price list

If I receive $60 a year, covering the cost, I’ll take the donation link down.

Please note who donated and for which service — thank you!!