Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Data sources, longevity, and access

  • Commenters worry about sustainability if the project depends on manual newspaper scans and suggest tapping large digital archives (Newspapers.com, ProQuest, NewspaperArchive, etc.).
  • Some note that access via the Wikipedia Library requires significant contribution history, and discuss whether there are alternative paid routes or using other Wikimedia projects to reach eligibility.
  • One person argues “supply” isn’t really an issue as long as there was news 40 years ago each day.

Copyright, LLMs, and sourcing

  • Several raise copyright concerns: 40-year-old articles are generally not public domain; reprinting full text from major papers might trigger legal issues.
  • Others counter that the site presents AI-generated rewrites based on the facts of events, not verbatim articles.
  • Multiple people dislike the LLM layer, calling it unnecessary or “slop,” and request:
    • Explicit citation of original sources and country/outlet
    • A toggle to see non-AI text or at least headlines and links
  • Skeptics warn that without sources it’s hard to detect hallucinations or fabrication, and that an automated system should expose its inputs.

Emotional impact, continuity, and “perspective”

  • Many find the concept fascinating but emotionally heavy: instead of escaping doomscrolling, it highlights how today’s crises were seeded decades ago (antibiotic resistance, neoliberal policy shifts, Cold War moves, Middle East conflicts).
  • Some say old headlines show “nothing really changes” — corruption, corporate power, war, racism — and that we often failed to act when early warnings appeared.
  • Others appreciate the hindsight: you can see which events faded vs. which reshaped the world, and judge policies (e.g., Reaganomics, antitrust thinking) with long-term outcomes visible.
  • There are personal reactions to specific tragedies (e.g., Air India bombing) that make the project feel poignant rather than abstract.

Broader reflections on media and news consumption

  • Commenters connect the 40-year delay to ideas like reading week-old news or monthly magazines: it filters out noise and manufactured outrage.
  • There’s extensive criticism of contemporary media accuracy (especially tech/science coverage and survey reporting) and discussion of the “Gell-Mann amnesia effect.”
  • Some see the site as a tool to reintroduce context and undermine simplistic good-vs-evil narratives, though others feel its framing risks downplaying the long-term gravity of political and economic decisions.

UX and feature suggestions

  • Requests include: system-aware dark mode, richer layout/typography, sections (business, culture, etc.), images, adjustable time offsets (e.g., 24/40/60/100+ years), RSS/Atom feeds, explicit weather location/date, and left-aligned text.
  • Overall sentiment: strong interest in the core idea, with repeated calls for transparency about sources and less reliance on LLM rewriting.