gwern.net
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 4 of 26 newsletters by recommenders
Free, dense, well-researched essays with rich interlinking and polished typography; critics say the writing lacks personality.
Free, dense, well-researched essays with rich interlinking and polished typography; critics say the writing lacks personality.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Dense, well-written, thoughtful essays
“it let me read good, well written thinking I had never seen from the NYTs or my parents”
Comment from 16 May 2026 in “NYT and Vaping: How to Lie by Saying Only True Things” “Some of Gwerns's articles are evergreens and I really like them.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Why is every rationalist blog post way too long?” “I still admire the density and efficiency”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “The peculiar case of Japanese web design” Excellent typography and design
“I frequently visit your website to get design inspiration for my own.”
Comment from 30 May 2026 in “What Happened to the Locusts?” “absolute best blog typography in the last 30 yrs”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: Favorite text heavy blogs the are a joy to read” Richly catalogued, interlinked content
“I like how much information is spread across the site. It's satisfying to explore on a desktop.”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “First, Make Me Care” “absurdly catalogued personal site”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Guardian Angels: LLM Personalization for Productivity and Security” Distinctive style and voice
“I wanted to have a thing that grows alongside me over time and it seems very much like your website is that”
Comment from 30 May 2026 in “What Happened to the Locusts?” “I absolutely love your website and the style and voice it has”
Comment from 31 May 2026 in “What Happened to the Locusts?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Lacks personality and voice
“Gwern’s writing lacks personality to me.”
Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “First, Make Me Care”
Other newsletters people recommend
The four most recommended other newsletters, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ed Zitron newsletter | 46 | 42 | 52% | 12 | — | — |
| Simon Willison's blog | 21 | 2 | 91% | 9 | — | Approved |
| SemiAnalysis | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| gwern.netThis page | 19 | 3 | 86% | 9 | — | Approved |
| acoup.blog | 19 | 0 | 100% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
18 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Some of Gwerns's articles are evergreens and I really like them.”
“Gwern's AI-assisted cartoons include some funny ones.”
“absurdly catalogued personal site”
“Gwern's website changed my life at least 12 years ago by introducing me to spaced repetition”
“absolute best blog typography in the last 30 yrs”
“I absolutely love your website and the style and voice it has”
“I frequently visit your website to get design inspiration for my own.”
“I wanted to have a thing that grows alongside me over time and it seems very much like your website is that”
“I do them inline, because I think that requiring effort like OP does just leads to the same pervasive lack of numerosity”
“it let me read good, well written thinking I had never seen from the NYTs or my parents”
“I still admire the density and efficiency”
“For the more LLM-pilled would also recommend reading the Gwern piece on writing online”
“Gwern does actual research into usability, and that's the reason there aren't any ads on Gwern.net”
“Gwern’s writing lacks personality to me.”
“I like how much information is spread across the site. It's satisfying to explore on a desktop.”
“Gwern has hands down one of the worst blogs, readability wise, ever created on the internets.”
“The article is also laden with a certain kind of politics.”
“Much better article than the economist one.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.