> Would be better if I could actually read HN while waiting, might make people willing to keep waiting longer on mobile.

It actually would be really interesting if there was a functionality to chat with other people viewing the same article. Or still one-to-one, but with someone else also looking at the article.

Oh that could be great, especially if there were someone (like the submitter, or just with the right personality) to get people talking.

Would hate for something like that ever to detract from the reading experience though - e.g. someone with something great to say or niche experience etc. tells their story then feels no need (or lacks the energy/motivation) to write it out again.

you could also add some statistics of how many users there have been in the past hour. or how long people have been talking. (just add up all the talk time for the past hour)

just to get an idea how active the service is.

later also show stats for 24 hours to see which daytimes are busiest and more likely to meet find someone online.