2 ms·

I'd like to know this as well. Nothing against them or their articles, they are usually interesting and well-written - but I did wonder why they show up on the

by xg15 4y ago

I'd like to know this as well. Nothing against them or their articles, they are usually interesting and well-written - but I did wonder why they show up on the frontpage so often. (They are a few other authors like that, like rachelbythebay). The articles are good, but I don't think the findings are substantially more unique than what probably many other people in tech are experiencing. I don't think there is some big conspiracy behind it, but I wonder if it might be the result of some algorithmic feedback loop: The system knows those sources as valuable, so posts reach the frontpage often, so people upvote them often, so the system registers them as even more valuable, etc... That or there is some bit of HN lore that I don't know. In which case I would be interested in learning :)

nivethan 4y ago
Both Rachel and Xe are people that get at the heart of things. Many of the ideas I’ve had they can put out in words. I think a couple other people that fall into this are Julia Evans and Dan Luu. I think they are HN sweethearts because they verbalize much of what we think rather than saying something new.
groby_b 4y ago
Alternate explanation: Xe, Rachel, and quite a few other people (patio11? tptacek?) have been at this a while, have worked with a lot of people, and have consistently put out high quality content. They put in the time to build an audience. It's not that "the system" knows them as valuable, it's that people have gotten to know them over time and trust them. These are people, for me, whose articles I'll always make time for. I suspect a lot of HNers feel similar, so that's a lot of upvotes, so that's a lot of frontpage hits.
xena 4y ago
Speaking as Xe, I'm not sure why my articles are so loved by people here either. I slightly loathe it at times because people can be _so toxic_ because I have had fundamentally different life experiences that have lead me down a different path than most other people have. It does happen enough that it's a meme among my friends and my husband is no longer surprised when it happens (he's more surprised that I'm surprised when it happens). I think this is just my curse as a writer.

by xg15 4y ago

nivethan 4y ago

Both Rachel and Xe are people that get at the heart of things. Many of the ideas I’ve had they can put out in words. I think a couple other people that fall into this are Julia Evans and Dan Luu. I think they are HN sweethearts because they verbalize much of what we think rather than saying something new.

groby_b 4y ago

Alternate explanation: Xe, Rachel, and quite a few other people (patio11? tptacek?) have been at this a while, have worked with a lot of people, and have consistently put out high quality content. They put in the time to build an audience. It's not that "the system" knows them as valuable, it's that people have gotten to know them over time and trust them. These are people, for me, whose articles I'll always make time for. I suspect a lot of HNers feel similar, so that's a lot of upvotes, so that's a lot of frontpage hits.

xena 4y ago

Speaking as Xe, I'm not sure why my articles are so loved by people here either. I slightly loathe it at times because people can be _so toxic_ because I have had fundamentally different life experiences that have lead me down a different path than most other people have. It does happen enough that it's a meme among my friends and my husband is no longer surprised when it happens (he's more surprised that I'm surprised when it happens). I think this is just my curse as a writer.