What it does

Deletes your HN comments automatically that have negative points

WHY do this

Ever post a comment you regret? Often these comments have negative points. If you aren’t monitoring the comment closely you will lose your ability to delete the comment — making it permanent :(

Install dependencies:

bundle install 

How to run it

To use:

ruby run.rb [YOURUSERNAME] [YOURPASSWORD] [MIN_NUMBER_OF_POINTS]

let’s delete comments less than one point

ruby run.rb USERNAME PASSWORD 1 

let’s delete comments less than two points

ruby run.rb USERNAME PASSWORD 2

How to get it to run automatically?

add rvm properties to your cronjob file [backup your crontab first!]

rvm cron setup; 

open crontab in your Terminal:

crontab -e

Add this line:

* * * * * cd [path to code source]; ruby run.rb [YOURUSERNAME] [YOURPASSWORD] [MIN_NUMBER_OF_POINTS]

Example

cd /Users/username/hn-delete-negative-point-comments; ruby run.rb throwaway203821 throwawaypassword 1  >> /tmp/delete.log

On macOS to get the ruby path, type in your Terminal:

which ruby 

On macOS if you have problems with crontab with “Operation not permitted”

http://osxdaily.com/2018/10/09/fix-operation-not-permitted-terminal-error-macos/

For more help with crontab

https://ole.michelsen.dk/blog/schedule-jobs-with-crontab-on-mac-osx.html

For more help with rvm and cron

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5680561/need-to-set-up-rvm-environment-prior-to-every-cron-job

Watch it run (Assuming you pipe it to /tmp/delete.log)

$ tail -f /tmp/delete.log
No bad comments....
No bad comments....
No bad comments....
No bad comments....
Deleting comment: 18588594
No bad comments....

Tests

ruby test.rb