I’m a product manager who frequents hacker news. I typically write about non-tech issues in my free time. Is it bad form to post my writings here? If it isn’t, is there a convention (such as “show HN”) that I should use?
Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
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Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#2It is no problem if you participate in HN as a real person.
That is, if you post comments and submit articles from a variety of sites that get some upvotes and slip in a few links from a site of your own that is great.
If you sign up for a new account and start spamming links from your blog that will get you in trouble.
Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#3It is no problem if you participate in HN as a real person. That is, if you post comments and submit articles from a variety of sites that get some upvotes and slip in a few links from a site of your own that is great. If you sign up for a new account and start spamming links from your blog that will get you in trouble.
Thanks. I’m on here quite a lot for the past few years. Do you think the “show HN” is appropriate for things I’ve written? It seems it is typically used for products.
Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#4It is no problem if you participate in HN as a real person. That is, if you post comments and submit articles from a variety of sites that get some upvotes and slip in a few links from a site of your own that is great. If you sign up for a new account and start spamming links from your blog that will get you in trouble.
Thanks. I’m on here quite a lot for the past few years. Do you think the “show HN” is appropriate for things I’ve written? It seems it is typically used for products.
"Show HN" would not be appropriate for the blog postings that you've submitted in the past.
Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks. I’m on here quite a lot for the past few years. Do you think the “show HN” is appropriate for things I’ve written? It seems it is typically used for products.
"Show HN" would not be appropriate for the blog postings that you've submitted in the past.
I suppose just throwing it up there is the way? I guess I’d like to be transparent that I am the author and looking for feedback.
Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Show HN" would not be appropriate for the blog postings that you've submitted in the past.
I suppose just throwing it up there is the way? I guess I’d like to be transparent that I am the author and looking for feedback.
Yes. Frankly putting it in any kind of frame is like wearing a "kick me" sign on your back. For instance, people try starting a discussion and put a url in the text and then get surprised that the link didn't get turned into a hyperlink.
To offer some tough love I don't like the posts you've written about COVID-19. The problems are: (1) there is no value in armchair quarterbacking if you're not an expert, (2) the articles are way too long giving that the content is speculative, (3) anything you say about COVID-19 (even if you are an expert!) could be proved totally wrong in a few months... Last summer I shared a lot of speculations with friends and family about how the pandemic would develop and it was all wrong because I had no idea about delta and omicron.
So find your voice and look for something to say that is unique, that you can say better than anyone else. My favorite blog these days is
the author of that blog started out blogging about very ordinary Arduino projects he did and he grew to write articles that, at first glance, might seem to be about obscure topics but that catch people in various ways and invite everyone to understand and appreciate the world of electronics a little more.
Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#7Yes it's frowned upon, but there is another guy who does it all the time, and once I commented on it and I got downvoted to oblivion for that, so shrug.
Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#8As an alternative, can't you post your writings on a personal blog and then submit to HN? As long as you are not spamming and blogging about topics that HN readers like to read, and submitting no more than once a week or fortnight - then perhaps it is OK?
Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#9I mostly agree with @PaulHoule... if you post some of your own stuff here and there, that's probably going to be fine. If you post nothing but your own stuff, and you post it all. the. freaking. time., then yeah, people are going to get annoyed and I wouldn't be surprised if you wind up shadow-banned or something.
HN has always had a culture of accepting a certain level of self-promotion, but on the other hand, HN is not your personal platform for pitching/espousing/proselytizing/whatever.
Re: Ask HN: Is it frowned upon to post things on HN that I’ve written?
#10I mostly agree with @PaulHoule... if you post some of your own stuff here and there, that's probably going to be fine. If you post nothing but your own stuff, and you post it all. the. freaking. time., then yeah, people are going to get annoyed and I wouldn't be surprised if you wind up shadow-banned or something. HN has always had a culture of accepting a certain level of self-promotion, but on the other hand, HN is…
This is even noted in the guidelines.
> Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff occasionally, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity.