4 ms·

Yeah, this "btw I have a newsletter here" seems overly promotional. HN as a forum doesn't have support for "signatures", then it feels a bit off to end every po

Yeah, this "btw I have a newsletter here" seems overly promotional. HN as a forum doesn't have support for "signatures", then it feels a bit off to end every post with something not really relevant. The grey area is people constantly linking to their own blog, but the linked post is relevant (example [0]). Like, it's good when people post relevant links to diver deeper, but when it's constantly your own content, that irks me a bit. [0]: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=simonwillison.net%20simonw&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

darkwater 10mo ago
> [0]: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... simonw is a smart guy, definitely an HN darling for anything LLM related nowadays but at the same time he is constantly pushing for his personal brand, IMO. Maybe unconsciously and just because he is very prolific but still, I get that feeling.
- tptacek 10mo ago
  He writes because he loves writing. People can tell, and thus like reading it. If that creates a "brand", there's not much he can do about it. He's an active, valuable, good-faith participant here, has a subject matter expertise in something HN obviously cares very deeply about, and isn't going anywhere.
  - nickthegreek 10mo ago
    Agreed. Simonw comments and posts are always on discussion and insightful. Never once have they come off as some sort of linkedin influencer bs.
  - darkwater 10mo ago
    I'm not denying that, in fact I think it's basically because he writes a lot and participates a lot. But yet, it can give the feeling that he is curating his own brand. But probably it's just an organic thing, not a fabricated one.
    - tptacek 10mo ago
      It's an extraordinarily rude thing to say about an HN regular with a long track record of constructive participation.
      - darkwater 10mo ago
        I don't think I have been rude at all, and also seniority does not give any special authority over opinions. My point was that the "creating the personal brand" part - which can seem something intentional - is just a byproduct of posting, writing and contributing. And he contributes because he has knowledge, opinions and things to say. It's like writing your own blog with good content and getting organic traffic from search engines vs writing SEO content to get traffic and get noted. Maybe I initially expressed myself not the way I really wanted.
      - nsagent 10mo ago
        I'll be honest and blunt: I try to avoid his blog posts and comments as much as possible because I do find his contributions to be super spammy. It's about the frequency of his self-promotion (as a researcher in NLP it's tiresome to constantly see his self-promotion on nearly all posts on HN related to LLMs). Seems I'm not the only one. If he posted on the ML subreddit while I was still a mod there (left after the API kerfuffle) I would have messaged him and asked him politely to tone it down.
        tptacek 10mo ago
        Where by "self promotion" you mean "sharing his thoughts"?
        NaOH 10mo ago
        I have no issue with simonw's work/comments; I've never gone near it because it's far afield from my non-tech world. He is, though, someone who breaks one HN guideline: >Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity. His submissions here are usually to his own work. Admittedly, that HN guideline is like an obscure 19th-century law which is still on the books that few know of and is never enforced. Even so, he's clearly well-regarded based on the amount of conversation his blog posts elicit.
- gus_massa 10mo ago
  Looking at the examples, each one goes to a different post that is relevant to the discussion. For me that's fine. I'd be unhappy if it's always the same link, for example to the top of his blog. Or different post to slightly related topics.

darkwater 10mo ago

> [0]: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... simonw is a smart guy, definitely an HN darling for anything LLM related nowadays but at the same time he is constantly pushing for his personal brand, IMO. Maybe unconsciously and just because he is very prolific but still, I get that feeling.

tptacek 10mo ago
He writes because he loves writing. People can tell, and thus like reading it. If that creates a "brand", there's not much he can do about it. He's an active, valuable, good-faith participant here, has a subject matter expertise in something HN obviously cares very deeply about, and isn't going anywhere.
- nickthegreek 10mo ago
  Agreed. Simonw comments and posts are always on discussion and insightful. Never once have they come off as some sort of linkedin influencer bs.
- darkwater 10mo ago
  I'm not denying that, in fact I think it's basically because he writes a lot and participates a lot. But yet, it can give the feeling that he is curating his own brand. But probably it's just an organic thing, not a fabricated one.
  - tptacek 10mo ago
    It's an extraordinarily rude thing to say about an HN regular with a long track record of constructive participation.
    - darkwater 10mo ago
      I don't think I have been rude at all, and also seniority does not give any special authority over opinions. My point was that the "creating the personal brand" part - which can seem something intentional - is just a byproduct of posting, writing and contributing. And he contributes because he has knowledge, opinions and things to say. It's like writing your own blog with good content and getting organic traffic from search engines vs writing SEO content to get traffic and get noted. Maybe I initially expressed myself not the way I really wanted.
    - nsagent 10mo ago
      I'll be honest and blunt: I try to avoid his blog posts and comments as much as possible because I do find his contributions to be super spammy. It's about the frequency of his self-promotion (as a researcher in NLP it's tiresome to constantly see his self-promotion on nearly all posts on HN related to LLMs). Seems I'm not the only one. If he posted on the ML subreddit while I was still a mod there (left after the API kerfuffle) I would have messaged him and asked him politely to tone it down.
      - tptacek 10mo ago
        Where by "self promotion" you mean "sharing his thoughts"?
        NaOH 10mo ago
        I have no issue with simonw's work/comments; I've never gone near it because it's far afield from my non-tech world. He is, though, someone who breaks one HN guideline: >Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity. His submissions here are usually to his own work. Admittedly, that HN guideline is like an obscure 19th-century law which is still on the books that few know of and is never enforced. Even so, he's clearly well-regarded based on the amount of conversation his blog posts elicit.
gus_massa 10mo ago
Looking at the examples, each one goes to a different post that is relevant to the discussion. For me that's fine. I'd be unhappy if it's always the same link, for example to the top of his blog. Or different post to slightly related topics.