4 ms·

Can someone explain this phenomenon to me: http://i.imgur.com/lIAwLXP.png http://i.imgur.com/lIAwLXP.png

ageitgey 10y ago
There's a lot of randomness in what gets traction on a site like this based on whether or not the story clicks with the first few readers. A few people seeing it and upvoting it early can be the difference between it getting momentum and going on to be successful or totally dying. If the first few people don't upvote, the post loses more and more momentum and dies quickly (even if it was good content). It's sort of like a job interview at a big tech company. Being qualified isn't enough. Lots of good people get turned down based on random factors like who got assigned the interview or what random screening question they got asked. But they might apply again later, get a different interviewer or question and get an offer.
- bernardlunn 10y ago
  Get comfortable with some randomness in life. If you want theory to explain that reality, read Taleb
hisyam 10y ago
Second one looks like a spam.
- Method-X 10y ago
  It's more hard sell. HN responds better to soft sell.
  - oferzelig 10y ago
    The second one links to the very same URL (and actually came first). What's also interesting is that HN didn't block the 2nd one at all; they should've kept the first one only.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
bbcbasic 10y ago
The word 'freelance' captures the dreamers who want to fire the boss. This seems like potentially a story of how someone did this so it arouses curiosity.
z3t4 10y ago
one is on the front page. the other was not. more people vill upvote if also others do. social proof.
greendestiny_re 10y ago
We do what our friends do and upvote what is already upvoted. When the two identical links got posted, the first few drive-by voters opted for the first rather than the second. Other late clickers simply upvoted what was already upvoted. The derogatory term for that is "hivemind" and the effect is fairly common on Reddit or any other social media with anonymous users.

There's a lot of randomness in what gets traction on a site like this based on whether or not the story clicks with the first few readers. A few people seeing it and upvoting it early can be the difference between it getting momentum and going on to be successful or totally dying. If the first few people don't upvote, the post loses more and more momentum and dies quickly (even if it was good content). It's sort of like a job interview at a big tech company. Being qualified isn't enough. Lots of good people get turned down based on random factors like who got assigned the interview or what random screening question they got asked. But they might apply again later, get a different interviewer or question and get an offer.

bernardlunn 10y ago
Get comfortable with some randomness in life. If you want theory to explain that reality, read Taleb

hisyam 10y ago

Second one looks like a spam.

Method-X 10y ago
It's more hard sell. HN responds better to soft sell.
- oferzelig 10y ago
  The second one links to the very same URL (and actually came first). What's also interesting is that HN didn't block the 2nd one at all; they should've kept the first one only.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

bbcbasic 10y ago

The word 'freelance' captures the dreamers who want to fire the boss. This seems like potentially a story of how someone did this so it arouses curiosity.

z3t4 10y ago

one is on the front page. the other was not. more people vill upvote if also others do. social proof.

greendestiny_re 10y ago

We do what our friends do and upvote what is already upvoted. When the two identical links got posted, the first few drive-by voters opted for the first rather than the second. Other late clickers simply upvoted what was already upvoted. The derogatory term for that is "hivemind" and the effect is fairly common on Reddit or any other social media with anonymous users.