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Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

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Re: Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

#11

Post by dean »

The author seems to be under the impression that 200 visits from a link he posted to Hacker News automatically means "people were discussing my article and engaging", and there was a "lively discussion" about it.

Discussion about a posted story is not a given, even if you get many visits from the site. Personally, I've often visited the posted links, and not been bothered to up-vote the story, let alone comment. And I've often seen stories on the front page with many up votes and no comments.

I think the OP is jumping to conclusions when he says that "Hacker News had buried my submission, precisely because it was getting rapid traction." That's a pretty strong accusation. I didn't read the post the author is referring to, but I think it's more likely that the post was just not that interesting to Hacker News readers.

Re: Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

#13

Post by jnorthrop »

From my own experience with posts to Hacker News from my own blog I can tell you 200 visits is about what you'll get from time a post lasts on the front of the "new" page. Then, if no one is interested in the story, it drops off that page and so do the visits.

I don't understand the basis here for any accusation.

Re: Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

#15

Post by danso »

200 visits is not really much of anything...I think I've averaged about 100 visits per point...so 10,000 visits for a story that manages 100 votes. HN does from time to time bury submissions that break a rule (dupes, for example) but getting votes seems to be a combination of good content and traffic conditions.

Re: Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

#16

Post by gyardley »

The author seems to be talking about this submission:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3644751

It got a couple hundred visits from HN and, if I've found the correct submission, no votes or comments - so he's assuming there was an active discussion and it was removed and buried because of the content.

There's a simpler explanation, of course.

Re: Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

#17

Post by pkenjora »

brudgers wrote: post #10

Irrespective of the relationship slideshare has to Ycombinator or HackerNews, the "buried" article simply didn't gain traction - it happens all the time. 200 visits is just a small slice of HN users and reflect a response to the title of the article, not the quality of the article itself. Anecdote is not evidence, but the article wasn't compelling enough that I would be likely to upvote it - upvotes are the only thin…

I appreciate the feedback. It was just surprising to see the article with significantly more relative traction get buried while others I've posted without seem to still be here.

I hopeI was fair in my analysis, given the data I had at hand. Still think its worth posting to Hacker News, just with a grain of sand.

I'm pragmatic, which is cool because if Hacker News is not what I said, its only a matter of time before I come around.

Re: Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

#18

Post by pkenjora »

gyardley wrote: post #16

The author seems to be talking about this submission: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3644751 It got a couple hundred visits from HN and, if I've found the correct submission, no votes or comments - so he's assuming there was an active discussion and it was removed and buried because of the content. There's a simpler explanation, of course.

I get the skepticism, and I'm not trying to convince anyone I'm right, just putting forth an observation.

I have 5 submissions on Hacker News. The only one to get buried is the one that registered any significant visits in my Google Analytics.

So please be receptive to the idea, from my point of view how I could form this theory. Then put a plausible reason for why Hacker News would do this. I love knowing why, it makes me learn and be better.

All of this may just be a coincidence that the OP decided to remove the one story out of all 5. No big deal, it happens, per the OP's suggestion, I reposted still enjoy Hacker News.

Re: Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

#19

Post by dariusmonsef »

Umm. That slideshare post has one upvote. And that is from your submission. It didn't have significant traction and then get buried... it just didn't move once you posted it.

I posted something yesterday not exactly critiquing YC, but presenting an alternate idea to how they should run housing for batches... that post didn't get buried because it had a different viewpoint. PG even commented in it.

Also... any reason to link "Hacker News" 12 times in your post to your old thread? IMHO it makes it looks a bit SEO spammy.

Re: Does Hacker News Deliver Value For Startups?

#20

Post by code_pockets »

chrisacky wrote: post #5
code_pockets wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Submitting an objective, or factual story is fine, but when the sole intention is to tarnish the reputation, then the "bury hatchet" comes out. Such is the reason HN thrives. Though experience has led me to reason that such behaviour is applied to anyone who sets out to tarnish someone else's reputation. Not only YC people/startups. >I've even seen high karma members get completely banned because of submissions abou…

> Karma is not a good indicator of anything. I meant that just to underscore the point that (from my observations) PG doesn't care if you have been a long standing community member at HN. I perhaps should of said account age in the many years. And I agree with this perspective. People who from the first line in their article set out with the intention of just sensationalizing some innocuous or accidental lapse in jud…

>I meant that just to underscore the point that (from my observations) PG doesn't care if you have been a long standing community member at HN.

I agree with your point. A man who has written such a collection of essays cannot be a hypocrate. PG is one of the few authors that have provided insight into my own self.

But that has consequences for him: I hold him to the highest of moral standards and expect him to adhere to them. I think he will not fail to meet them.

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