Part 2: Understand Hacker News
HN Culture
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”
- Stephen Covey
What is Hacker News?
- Discussion board run by Y Combinator
- Famously minimalist design
- Editorially independent from Y Combinator
Moderation
- Moderated much more tightly than almost any other large community
- dang (Daniel Gackle)
- A Y Combinator employee
- dang both moderates and maintains HN’s code
- Tell HN: Thank You Dang (2360 upvotes, 248 comments)
- “The Lonely Work of Moderating Hacker News”
Snark on reddit
- First response on /r/programming to my article about quitting Google
Snark on reddit
Snark on HN
- Early response on to my article about Stripe
Snark on HN
HN Culture
- Serious people who want to have meaningful discussions
Stay on topic
- Jokes, pop culture references
- Rarely welcomed unless they’re attached to a useful observation
Is HN Mean?
- Not as cynical or mean as you’ve heard
- Selection bias for well-publicized HN comments
- Caveat: I’m young, white, and male
Avoiding the ire of HN
- You’ll get pushback if it’s an opinionated article
- Less pushback talking about your experience
| Prescriptive | Descriptive |
|---|---|
| “ABC is confusing.” | “I had a hard time understanding ABC.” |
| “Everyone should do XYZ.” | “XYZ has been useful to me.” |
Learn by watching
- Look at posts similar to your desired style
- What made them succeed?
- Read the comments
Feast and famine
- HN is basically just the front page
- Your post either hits the front page or gets completely ignored
- Not much in between
Respect HN
- Don’t kill the golden goose
Respect HN
-
Read the rules
-
Don’t try to game the system
Don’t vote brigade
- You can get your post removed and your account flagged
Self-promotion is okay, to a limit
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.
- I make ~4x as many comments as submissions
What makes an HN post succeed?
- Relevance
- Quality
- Title
- Luck
Relevance
- Is it interesting to the Hacker News audience?
Quality
- Does the article contain useful information?
- Is the writing clear and concise?
Title
- Does it entice readers?
- Is it too clickbaity?
Luck
Voting algorithm
Karma doesn’t matter
- Everyone’s submissions receive equal treatment
Article quality
- HN values depth
- Show that you’ve thought seriously about the topic
- Anticipate common questions or objections
Article quality
- Practical applications over fluffy ideas
- Experience-based lessons over hypothetical ideas
HN Lingo
- OP: Original post / original poster
HN Lingo
- Parent: Parent comment
HN Lingo
- Sibling: Another response to same parent
HN Lingo
- GP: Grandparent
HN Colors
- Green username: New poster
HN Colors
- Faded text: Downvoted comment
Comment points
- You can see only your own points
Submission points
- Everyone can see everyone else’s points
Formatting
Footnoting
- People link by footnotes
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