Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning

arthurcnops.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 455 posts

Re: Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning

#61

Post by m4tthumphrey »

kitd wrote: post #54
m4tthumphrey wrote: post #50

I find this very interesting, but am I being dense here? https://www.arthurcnops.blog/images/hn-show-dead-one-point.s... The legend says SHNs are getting worse, but surely if the % of SHN posts with 1 point is going DOWN (as per graph) then it's getting better? Either I am dense or the legends are the wrong way round no?

The long-term trend (ie since 2023) is for more ShowHN posts to be stuck at 1 point compared with normal posts, and for that gap to be growing. This implies that people find the ShowHNs to be less and less interesting.

Ah yes, I was being dense. I was so obsessed with the steepness of the last point drop and completely missed the overall trend line! Thanks.

Re: Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning

#63

Post by pdyc »

weird-eye-issue wrote: post #5

I did a Show HN a few years ago on another account. It got no upvotes but that website/app has generated over $6m in revenue in that time (over $4.5m profit). Not sure what my point is but thought I'd share

mine got lot of upvotes and huge traffic but it died after few days. I think it has more to do with novelty of idea rather than commercial interest.

Re: Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning

#64

Post by m4tthumphrey »

dgellow wrote: post #39
conartist6 wrote: post #31

The small indie developer ain't dead yet, and from where I sit you could drive a star destroyer through the gaps in what software has been built so far. It's only that you can't claim any of the top shelf prizes by vibe coding

Vibe coding as a term is really annoying. At what point does a project stops being considered vibe coded? If I spent a year iterating on a design and implementation using Claude code, in a domain I’m an expert in, will that still be considered vibe coded?

I feel similar but since starting to use Claude (only 4 days ago) I get it. "Vibe coding" to me is just a new term for pair programming.

Re: Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning

#65

Post by weird-eye-issue »

reconnecting wrote: post #48
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't use one. Got connected through with the first affiliates in a paid/private community in that particular niche

This is helpful. Just to clarify, so you had created your own affiliate network and run this manually? Tracking, payouts, etc?

There's software for running your own program so they handle most of that except the actual payment part, monitoring for fraud, etc. Plus they don't give any visibility to your program which a network would help with to an extent

Re: Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning

#66

Post by bambax »

The fact that the volume is exploding but the graveyard is also exploding, is a sign that the system is working, not that it's broken (the filter is working).

I did 3 ShowHN in 2024 (outside of the scope of this analysis), one with 306 points, another with 126 points and the third with... 2. There's always been some kind of unpredictability in ShowHN.

But I think the number one criteria for visibility is intelligibility: the project has to be easy to understand immediately, and if possible, easy to install/verify. IMHO, none of the three projects that the author complains didn't get through the noise qualify on this criteria. #2 and #3 are super elaborate (and overly specific); #1 is the easiest to understand (Neohabit) but the home page is heavy in examples that go in all directions, and the github has a million graphics that seem quite complex.

Simplify and thou shall be heard.

Re: Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning

#67

Post by conartist6 »

dgellow wrote: post #39
conartist6 wrote: post #31

The small indie developer ain't dead yet, and from where I sit you could drive a star destroyer through the gaps in what software has been built so far. It's only that you can't claim any of the top shelf prizes by vibe coding

Vibe coding as a term is really annoying. At what point does a project stops being considered vibe coded? If I spent a year iterating on a design and implementation using Claude code, in a domain I’m an expert in, will that still be considered vibe coded?

I'll counter you this: I don't use AI at all, but in a way I am a vibe coder, even though I'm five years of full time work into one OSS project. I have no code review. I move fast and ship bugs. I roll forward.

I see no reason to disrespect your work from what you say, but I also see no reason that AI would be much help to you after you had been learning for a year. If you are in the loop, shouldn't this be just about the moment when your growing abilities start to easily outpace the model's fixed abilities?

Re: Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning

#70

Post by vdupras »

phaser wrote: post #52

I launched an idea 75 days ago, here as Show HN. It snowballed into a little community and a game that now sells every day. Maybe not an overnight sensation but the encouragement I found in the community was the motivation that i needed to take it further to a bigger audience. It was not just a product launch for me. I was, sort-of in a crisis. I had just turned 40 and had dark thoughts about not being young, creativ…

  > sloptimists
That's a good one! Did you just come up with it? I've never seen it before.
Post reply on HN