1. I find something that I find interesting, and speculate that perhaps other people would find it interesting as well. So I share it here in the hopes that somebody else will enjoy it. There's no expectation at all of getting anything "back" from this interaction other than a subject sense of self-satisfaction for doing something I consider cool.
2. I find something I find interesting, and hope that maybe a fascinating discussion will be sparked by sharing the link here, from which I may learn interesting new things I did not know. A good HN conversation is one of the most wonderful things on the Internet, IMO.
3. I have some "thing" I want to promote - something related to my business, or maybe a philosophical or ideological position I want to advocate for. I may share something here that promotes that agenda in some way.
Out of those three, number (3) is by far the least common. I rarely post anything that's blatantly self-promotional (even though it is allowed here, as long as it's not to excess) and don't post extremely ideologically slanted things terribly often. Most of mine fall into (1) and/or (2) for sure.
but beyond that does it really translate into commerce and connections for people ?
Occasionally yes, in my experience. But I personally consider that about the least important reason to use HN. YMMV. shrug
Specifically:
> What to Submit: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.
Is what you're submitting something "good hackers would find interesting"?
I submit links in the hope of sharing some novel/interesting information with others, and to spawn discussions around a subject I find interesting.
> but beyond that does it really translate into commerce and connections for people ?
Sometimes, for some people, it does. But still, rule #1 is that it should be interesting, then the commerce and connections (from HN and other sources) will follow automatically.
This is not different from posting interesting links you find. It is not self-promotion as you are not selling anything here. Instead you are trying to see if the content resonates with others and kickstarts a discussion.
In fact, I see it as no different from the comments we are writing here.