My open source side project Full Stack Python (https://www.fullstackpython.com/) hit front page over July 4th weekend in 2014 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7985692). I've continued to write and grow the site from ~5k users per month to over 100k/month now.

The traffic bump and feedback was motivating and helpful to know I was on the right track with my content. I also learned there are some comments you just need to ignore and focus on your own vision :)

edit: my traffic was lower than I originally remembered, it was ~5k per month, not 25k in mid-2014