Ask HN: Is it ok to repost my “failed” Show HN? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it ok to repost my “failed” Show HN?

11 pointszizee11 comments

Hey all, I posted a Show HN over the weekend and it didn't get any votes/comments. This might be because it didn't really interest anyone, maybe because it never got off "new", or possibly a bit from column a and a bit from column b.

At what point is it ok to have another run with the same (or tweaked) Show HN without being rude/spammy?

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The FAQ[0] says a small number of reposts is OK.

> Are reposts ok?

> If a story has had significant attention in the last year or so, we kill reposts as duplicates. If not, a small number of reposts is ok.

If you want to be even more certain, write a blog post and submit that.

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[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

What would be considered a significant attention? E.g. I had 20 votes and a few comments, is that a lot?

I'm not one of the mods, I'm just a random user, so take what I say with a pinch of salt ...

My advice is always that one extra post at least 36 hours later is probably fine, but even better is to write a blog post and submit that.

And when you write the blog post, your challenge is to think of it from the reader's/user's point of view, not yours. You may be excited about the technology you use, and the clever techniques, but unless I can see immediately that this is something relevant to me, I probably won't read further.

I've clicked on the link you submitted ... I think ... and I look at it and go ... so? I need to find a blog, I need to find an About, I need to spend time figuring out why this might be relevant.

When there's something you want me to do, don't make me work hard to do it. Remove friction, make it easy.

End random thoughts ... good luck.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment. The Show HN link I submitted was the landing page of a small SaaS app that I have developed. Good advice on putting up a blog post - I think that makes a lot of sense for a regular submission to HN, but for a Show HN it seems that product landing pages is appropriate/expected. I think if my next attempt gets no traction, I will do a blog post. Cheers.

My personal threshold (for my submissions) is around ten upvotes or a few comments, or being on the front page.

That is probably too conservative, and I don't follow it slavishly, but so far I haven't had the mods complain. And I submit and resubmit a lot.

From your profile I saw you posted "Jargonaut", looks like a great project and I would hardly call it a failure. I really like the name (juggernaut & jargon), it's also a problem which all companies deal with... jargon!

From what I've seen, the most popular "Show HN" posts are released at the right point in time. You can see that some projects get reposted once or twice with no comments then they randomly explode with comments one day. But it does get annoying when people repost their same project every month or so.

My advice is to post the project when it's been updated... and with luck it'll take off!

Jargonaut looks pretty interesting. I was on a team once where the lack of a shared glossary really slowed down development of the process. It's easy to make a glossary in a shared document, or as part of a larger project-management application. But the lack of a specific tool used for maintaining a glossary might make it easy to overlook the need for one. I was a teacher working at a school trying to implement a new model of education, so this isn't just about programming teams.

I have no idea if people would pay for this, but I think it could certainly generate a more thoughtful discussion than what I saw on this weekend's post.

Thanks for that thoughtful feedback.

> but I think it could certainly generate a more thoughtful discussion than what I saw on this weekend's post.

Thanks, I'd like to think it's not such a mundane idea that it warrants no discussion at all, hence my desire to resubmit.

Now is okay.

If it again doesn't get attention, wait a few months for the next submission, I'd say.

I won't complain.

i think it's ok. as long as you don't abuse it too much.

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