5 ms·

> Enough people read /newest that you should take no upvotes as a sign the content just wasn't as interesting as you thought Umm, no. Sometimes, it's just luck

by caaqil 5y ago

> Enough people read /newest that you should take no upvotes as a sign the content just wasn't as interesting as you thought Umm, no. Sometimes, it's just luck and timing. Many posts that are interesting hit/stay on the front page the second time someone posts it. I don't think enough people browse the /newest queue. More people (myself included!) should browse /newest more often.

bravetraveler 5y ago
I'm one that doesn't use newest, honestly... I think I just like having my feeds a little curated Scrolling newest submissions feels like digging for gold when I can just walk to the bank Not that I disagree, just some context to offer. The internet is too big of a hose
- Jaruzel 5y ago
  /newest isn't about passive reading of the posts though. It's about upvoting the ones that are worthy in the aim to get them to a wider audience.
  - bravetraveler 5y ago
    I can get that, I didn't look at it from this angle Sounds a bit like work, appreciate y'all
samwillis 5y ago
I often find myself on /newest when I’m spending the day trying to “complete the internet”. It tends to fall after reading the full front page, all of twitter and various news websites, but before I resort to Reddit…
- hutrdvnj 5y ago
  Same here, except that I skim through reddit before /newest.
- moepstar 5y ago
  Hah, and i thought i was the only one who tries to "play through the internet" - somehow, every time i think i'm through, it grows back it seems...
sohkamyung 5y ago
My experience at posting content at HN is somewhat hit-and-miss: sometimes stuff I post get no votes, only for the same content (posted by another person) to be upvoted and hit the front page. Ah well. :-) Maybe it's related to the timezone I'm in (Singapore: UTC+8). When I post, most of the western hemisphere HN population is still asleep. Side none: one time, I did get an email politely requesting that the upvotes for an item I posted be re-assigned to somebody (who posted the same content) with much lower karma. I was okay with that.
kgwxd 5y ago
I'm sure anyone that's submitted even semi-regularly has experienced getting no upvotes then seeing the same thing submitted by someone else hit the front page a few days later.
rbreaves 5y ago
True, I have posted info about my key remapper here a few times, https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto, but when I posted it it never really took off. Then some guy, nick something, posted it and the thing really took off. Timing & luck is what it really seems to come down to. That surge of viewers also resulted in a distinct up take of stars for days, almost a full week following the event lol. Word of mouth definitely kept it getting attention, but typically I see a few new stars a day. I don't really watch it that closely now though. I am happy to have created an app that really resonates with a lot of tech users and programmers though.
derekp7 5y ago
The one and I think only time I hit the front page (after a couple years of submissions) was a title that was extremely dry -- just the name of my project, without trying to say what it was (other than what is conveyed by the name). And had a 10 second elevator pitch as the intro paragraph on the page. My conclusion is that if you can think of a click bait title, think of the complete polar opposite of click bait, and that is more likely to be looked at.
dang 5y ago
Randomness plays a large role. That's why the FAQ says a small number of reposts is ok if a story hasn't had significant attention yet (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html. We want good stories to get multiple cracks at the bat. For best results, it's important not to just post and repost your own stuff though. If you do that, our software will start interpreting your account history as promotional and will start enforcing this guideline: "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." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) It's best to build up a track record of interesting submissions from unrelated sources, and to intersperse your own articles with those. If you dig up interesting things from a variety of places, things people haven't run into before, then you'll be perceived as a community contributor rather than someone trying to market something. Particularly good are stories on out-of-the-way topics that rarely or never get attention. The best submissions are the ones that can't be predicted from any existing sequence (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=can%27t%20predict%20sequence%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...).
- bradknowles 5y ago
  I’ve never had any of my submissions approved, so I don’t bother attempting to submit anything any more.
  - dang 5y ago
    What do you mean by approved? I'm not following your point here. If you mean making the front page, two submissions, which is the number you've made with the current account, isn't anywhere near enough to overcome randomness. Far fewer than 50% of submissions make the front page.

by caaqil 5y ago

bravetraveler 5y ago

I'm one that doesn't use newest, honestly... I think I just like having my feeds a little curated Scrolling newest submissions feels like digging for gold when I can just walk to the bank Not that I disagree, just some context to offer. The internet is too big of a hose

Jaruzel 5y ago
/newest isn't about passive reading of the posts though. It's about upvoting the ones that are worthy in the aim to get them to a wider audience.
- bravetraveler 5y ago
  I can get that, I didn't look at it from this angle Sounds a bit like work, appreciate y'all

samwillis 5y ago

I often find myself on /newest when I’m spending the day trying to “complete the internet”. It tends to fall after reading the full front page, all of twitter and various news websites, but before I resort to Reddit…

hutrdvnj 5y ago
Same here, except that I skim through reddit before /newest.
moepstar 5y ago
Hah, and i thought i was the only one who tries to "play through the internet" - somehow, every time i think i'm through, it grows back it seems...

sohkamyung 5y ago

My experience at posting content at HN is somewhat hit-and-miss: sometimes stuff I post get no votes, only for the same content (posted by another person) to be upvoted and hit the front page. Ah well. :-) Maybe it's related to the timezone I'm in (Singapore: UTC+8). When I post, most of the western hemisphere HN population is still asleep. Side none: one time, I did get an email politely requesting that the upvotes for an item I posted be re-assigned to somebody (who posted the same content) with much lower karma. I was okay with that.

kgwxd 5y ago

I'm sure anyone that's submitted even semi-regularly has experienced getting no upvotes then seeing the same thing submitted by someone else hit the front page a few days later.

rbreaves 5y ago

True, I have posted info about my key remapper here a few times, https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto, but when I posted it it never really took off. Then some guy, nick something, posted it and the thing really took off. Timing & luck is what it really seems to come down to. That surge of viewers also resulted in a distinct up take of stars for days, almost a full week following the event lol. Word of mouth definitely kept it getting attention, but typically I see a few new stars a day. I don't really watch it that closely now though. I am happy to have created an app that really resonates with a lot of tech users and programmers though.

derekp7 5y ago

The one and I think only time I hit the front page (after a couple years of submissions) was a title that was extremely dry -- just the name of my project, without trying to say what it was (other than what is conveyed by the name). And had a 10 second elevator pitch as the intro paragraph on the page. My conclusion is that if you can think of a click bait title, think of the complete polar opposite of click bait, and that is more likely to be looked at.

dang 5y ago

Randomness plays a large role. That's why the FAQ says a small number of reposts is ok if a story hasn't had significant attention yet (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html. We want good stories to get multiple cracks at the bat. For best results, it's important not to just post and repost your own stuff though. If you do that, our software will start interpreting your account history as promotional and will start enforcing this guideline: "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." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) It's best to build up a track record of interesting submissions from unrelated sources, and to intersperse your own articles with those. If you dig up interesting things from a variety of places, things people haven't run into before, then you'll be perceived as a community contributor rather than someone trying to market something. Particularly good are stories on out-of-the-way topics that rarely or never get attention. The best submissions are the ones that can't be predicted from any existing sequence (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=can%27t%20predict%20sequence%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...).

bradknowles 5y ago
I’ve never had any of my submissions approved, so I don’t bother attempting to submit anything any more.
- dang 5y ago
  What do you mean by approved? I'm not following your point here. If you mean making the front page, two submissions, which is the number you've made with the current account, isn't anywhere near enough to overcome randomness. Far fewer than 50% of submissions make the front page.