Ask Dang: Can we have community guidelines around product launch etiquette? | Hacker News Reader

Ask Dang: Can we have community guidelines around product launch etiquette?

Over the many years I've been here, I've observed a good number of users being so unnecessarily harsh and critical to users launching new products. The feedback may be valid, but it is often delivered very antagonistically.

This is a community of hackers who build stuff. We should thus be receptive and encouraging of those who are taking the leap to create new products, which is a highly messy process fraught with mistakes, inconsistencies, and low-info decisions.

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HN is the most polite site on the Internet [1]; if the response from HN is "too harsh and critical" then those launchers will just be eaten alive on the Internet at large.

Everyone already politely lies to people trying to do new things, we don't need to encourage it further (see: https://www.momtestbook.com )

[1] I cannot think of a largish site with more polite discussion, perhaps they exist somewhere.

There are guidelines for comments generally [0]. What special guidelines would you like to see for product launches?

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

For launches https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html is probably more relevant.

Off the top of my head:

-Assume the creator's impetus to create is legitimate.

-Give feedback like you would to an excited friend.

-Do not ascribe a product decision to malicious intent.

-Do not predict the ultimate success or failure of a product.

-Do not plug your own competing product.

That seems like it crosses the line from "Be civil, be curious" to "Be a mindless yes-man or be silent."

> Give feedback like you would to an excited friend.

Why do we need to treat creators like an excited friend? A lot of the ‘excitement’ from founders seems like a self-conscious performance, and they aren’t our friends. They are people starting businesses, not children.

Personally, I would rather give people the benefit of doubt.

Giving people feedback like they are an excited friend it not giving them the benefit of the doubt. It’s infantilizing to both of you, and borders on sycophantic.

Lots of malicious products get launched and promoted here. Cop tech for instance – completely adversarial. I'd just go elsewhere.

There are Show HN rules, as mtmail pointed out. The hard part is getting people to abide by them!

https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

I’d rather we had guidelines for the people who launch stuff. Usually they talk like an LLM crossed with a customer service call center.

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