Forty.News
Ranked 5 of 16 news outlets by recommenders
People enjoy reading news from 40 years ago as a window on the past. Critics most often say it lacks links to original sources.
People enjoy reading news from 40 years ago as a window on the past. Critics most often say it lacks links to original sources.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Historical view of past news
“equal parts fascinating and terrifying to think what could have been”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” “All of this is still relevant for understanding our world.”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” “I like this because I can read the newspapers of my youth”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” Interesting concept and clean UI
“Interesting to read these, and you must have a good prompt underneath”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” “amazing idea, and the UI is very cool!”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” “Hmm, I like the idea. But interestingly, it immediately brought back my 40 year old anxieties.”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Missing links to original sources
“This is great! but in my opinion it needs the links to the original stories.”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” “you really need to publish the sources of each article”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” “Without mentioning the source of the articles, it's completely useless.”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” Unclear whether content is AI-generated
“Why would such a project possibly benefit for using LLMs to garble the text?”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” “I can't tell if these were pulled from real newspapers or AI generated”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “A new bill in New York would require disclaimers on AI-generated news content” “the uninspired layout, the barely-functional page; all AI-tinted”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” - Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay”
Other news outlets people recommend
The four most recommended other news outlets, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN Lite | 34 | 54 | 39% | 12 | — | — |
| The Guardian | 33 | 44 | 43% | 12 | — | — |
| Ars Technica | 32 | 62 | 34% | 9 | 16 yrs6 owners | — |
| text.npr.org | 23 | 1 | 96% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Forty.NewsThis page | 19 | 7 | 73% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
21 of the 26 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I can't tell if these were pulled from real newspapers or AI generated”
“simple to verify, and can’t push an agenda the same way”
“equal parts fascinating and terrifying to think what could have been”
“amazing idea, and the UI is very cool!”
“the uninspired layout, the barely-functional page; all AI-tinted”
“All of this is still relevant for understanding our world.”
“Too bad this is not adjustable”
“Thank you for this project.”
“Interesting to read these, and you must have a good prompt underneath”
“Hmm, I like the idea. But interestingly, it immediately brought back my 40 year old anxieties.”
“This is great! but in my opinion it needs the links to the original stories.”
“Why would such a project possibly benefit for using LLMs to garble the text?”
“this is pretty awesome! would love to see a few different "sections" like Business, Culture, etc.”
“Why does this need to be AI?”
“I've always wanted a news source with a 4 week delay.”
“I assume you select the stories automatically, but the time of the story might not be correct.”
“I like this because I can read the newspapers of my youth”
“you really need to publish the sources of each article”
“Cool stuff. Would be fantastic to be able to configure the number of years back.”
“Without mentioning the source of the articles, it's completely useless.”
“But I wonder about longevity of the project if it relies on scanning newspapers.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.