I made all of my front-pages without having any of my friends upvoting.
Likewise.
Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
21–30 of 36 posts
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not implying that there's any conspiracy. Some facts I do know: 1. I know for a fact many people do this and it ends up being successful. 2. I have tried this in the past and it worked. 3. I have been observing /new and several really interesting projects just go ignored because of bad timing, or lack of promotion, or whatever. So it's not just the question of whether it's interesting or controversial. It require…
I guess I'm just not understanding where you're going with this question. It seems like you're trying to figure out all the variables that go into a high profile post. Quite frankly, I don't see the point in that. Is it possible for an unknown to get on the first page and get exposure? Of course it is. Does that mean he's "made it on HN"? I don't even know what that means. In the end, my point is simply this; stop sp…
I am not trying to figure out all the variables. Also I am not spending too much time trying to figure out "how to make it on HN". I can just go back to doing the same thing I used to before--post on HN, share the post with friends (probably post on Facebook or Twitter), and it will go up on the front page. Again, I'm not so worried about this.
Here's what I think: I think Hacker news is the only influential site that functions as a place to help small but interesting projects get discovered in a democratic manner. You could just email about your startup to Techcrunch,Mashable,The Next Web, et al., but you still need to pass through their editorial filter.
What I find intriguing about Hacker News is that the filter is democratic (and focused on Startup culture), and relies less on social proof. A lot of companies get multiple coverage on larger tech blogs because they have funding from famous VC and angels. With Hacker News, you don't need social proof. You just need a good idea and good execution, at least this is what I want to believe.
As I said, for "the people in the know", HN works differently than the rest of the world. A lot of people post on Hacker News "hoping" to reach the front page, but for example the guys at YCombinator (or entrepreneurs who are their friends) don't need to worry so much about it because they already have enough karma to push their post up to the front page. It's almost taken for granted.
Well that's how the world is run, and that's why being in Silicon Valley is so attractive, but I think Hacker News provides a platform that's larger than that, and just wanted to know if any counter examples exist: Just a small startup out of nowhere posting on HN, and getting huge traction.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess I'm just not understanding where you're going with this question. It seems like you're trying to figure out all the variables that go into a high profile post. Quite frankly, I don't see the point in that. Is it possible for an unknown to get on the first page and get exposure? Of course it is. Does that mean he's "made it on HN"? I don't even know what that means. In the end, my point is simply this; stop sp…
I think he's trying to open some discussion around the mechanisms that govern the front page. Something I'm more than willing to discuss as I think there is some room for improvement there.
That's fine, I can understand that. Sometimes I just get a bit perturbed by questions along the lines of "what's the best way to get on the front page of site x?"
I get upset because, from a marketing standpoint, it isn't even that important or advantageous. You're far better off targeting sites directly in your vertical than aiming for exposure on more general sites like HN.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#24I made all of my front-pages without having any of my friends upvoting.
Ditto.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#25I made all of my front-pages without having any of my friends upvoting.
Same. (Granted, I haven't had a ton of front-pages, but still.)
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#26One feature I'd like to see on HN is to have a separate menu for any posts starting with "Show HN". I love coming in here and seeing what other hackers have worked on, it's post like these that make HN so unique to me.
You can combine the Ask link at the top of HN, which shows posts without URLs (many of which start with Ask HN), with a search for "Show HN":
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#27I'm relatively new here and don't have any friends on Hacker News (unfortunately). Of the 4 articles I've submitted, 3 have made the front page (albeit one only very briefly). In my experience I was able to make the front page after receiving only a couple of votes. I'd say it is definitely possible to get traction by submitting relevant/quality content without gaming the system.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#28I think the key to get upvotes is to be part of the RSS feed of HN. Not evey article shows up in my Google Reader. But once an article shows up in the RSS feed it will get upvotes from anyone. The key is to get over the hump and show up in the rss feed. And that may require a little help from friends. :-)
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#29Has anyone submitted their project on HN, and without any friends' help, reached front page? My hope is at least on HN, if your project is cool, it will get traction without asking friends to upvote your entry (which happens a lot most of the times). Am I too idealistic? Please share your story if you used to be a nobody and just posted your project/startup on hacker news, and it got significant traction just because…
I don't know anyone in here. I'm usually not submitting links, but among the very few I did submit, there was front page traction more often than not (if I remember correctly). So, yes, it's absolutely possible to "make front page" if that's your goal.
It's different when you're talking about your own project - I only submitted general news stuff. I understand that it can really sting if your project doesn't get picked up. There could be many reasons for it and, unless you're one of the top-ten superstars around here, I don't believe HN familiarity plays a big role in a story's success.
The main thing about the /newest section is that it is very low quality. It's dominated by spam and trash, so it's easy to overlook interesting stuff in there. Due to the high rate of new submissions a new entry doesn't last very long. Even good links vanish in record time if nobody sees them in the first few minutes.
In my opinion the main reason why good links do not get picked up is purely technical. Ideally, only accounts with good karma would be allowed to submit links to the queue and there should be harder limits on the number of things you can submit in a certain timeframe. That being said, HN's success rate is still pretty high regardless. Personally, when I see a "Show HN:" article I make it a point to vote it up (if the project isn't totally lame).
Re: Ask HN: Anyone gained traction on HN *without* any of their friends upvoting?
#30I made all of my front-pages without having any of my friends upvoting.
So you make most of your posts at some particular time?