Raft Is So Fetch: The Raft Consensus Algorithm Explained Through Mean Girls
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Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI've been working through a basic implementation over the weekend [0] in Go. I am skipping dynamic cluster management and log compaction/snapshots. I mostly got leader election working and the basics of log replication. But it's not yet correct because nodes that are down when new messages come in are not correctly brought up to date. :D Still working through issues. When it's less buggy I'll write a post. If you haven't read the paper, just try it out [1]!…
That is so fetch! In all honesty though, I quite enjoyed how this article was written. Is there a listing somewhere of articles written like this, with algorithms or concepts explained using analogies to pop culture?
Also, if you never watched Mean Girls and want to know what all the fuss is a about, look at this article as Mean Girls as explained via the Raft Consensus Algorithm.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 437
- Total comments
- 86
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-10-03 | Raft Is So Fetch: The Raft Consensus Algorithm Explained Through Mean Girls | orangechairs | 6 | 0 |
| 2020-03-08 | Raft Is So Fetch: The Raft Consensus Algorithm Explained Through Mean Girls | akulkarni | 81 | 4 |
| 2022-10-03 | Raft Is So Fetch: The Raft Consensus Algorithm Explained Through Mean GirlsFirst breakout · Best thread | mikaelaustin | 214 | 53 |
| 2026-04-10 | The Raft Consensus Algorithm Explained Through "Mean Girls"Latest 20+ point return | vermilingua | 136 | 29 |