Part 7: Recovering from Failure

My worst submission experience

• How to Do Code Reviews Like a Human

Submission to HN

Submission to HN

Submission to HN

Went for a run

• It doesn't matter
• I'm proud of the post
• I'm glad that I wrote it

Submission to reddit

And then a few days later…

If at first you don’t succeed

• Understand what happened: hnrankings.info

Possible outcome: flop

• Symptoms
  • Little to no upvotes or comments
  • Never reached the front page
• What to do
  • Resubmit in a day or two

Reposts are OK

Resubmitting

• Try a new title
• Try a new day of week
• Wait a few weeks

The Art of Titles

• Victor Zhou experiments with different titles

Possible outcome: flagged out

Possible outcome: flagged out

Possible outcome: flagged out

• Symptoms
  • Suddenly dropped off the front page
  • Marked as [flagged] (but not always)
• What to do
  • Review the rules
  • Review topic
  • Ask the mods: hn@ycombinator.com

Possible outcome: second-chance pool

• Symptoms
  • Mods invite you to submit to second chance pool
• What to do
  • Do it!

Make sure HN moderators can email you

Possible outcome: success, but barely

• Symptoms
  • Medium number of upvotes, but no time on front page
  • Resubmitting the link redirects to the previous submission
• What to do
  • Wait a few months and ask the mods to allow a resubmit

Next Lesson

Part 8: My Process