It only approximates the date you first joined. It uses https://archive.org/ https://archive.org/ (the Internet Archive) to load the archived page nearest to (

It only approximates the date you first joined. It uses https://archive.org/ https://archive.org/ (the Internet Archive) to load the archived page nearest to (or nearest before?) the date you joined. Since the Internet Archive does not mirror HN every day, the page it will show you may differ by a few days from your exact signup date. It so happens that I joined on March 11, 2009 but I was shown the page for March 10, 2009 instead. You can use http://www.waybackhn.com/ http://www.waybackhn.com/ to get a list of the top stories on the exact date you joined HN.