How to get to the top of HN – and it's not gaming the system
mattkremer.com
mattkremer.com
That shouldn't have to be explained.
Yes, you can get to the top of the front page when submitting your own content. (I've done it multiple times, and with my domain name the same as my username, it's obvious it's my own content. Check my submission history.) What you did in your original post was game the system, which is a completely different story than just posting content that is not high quality.
"You have to produce content that someone else would willingly share without being coerced."
As I try to think of ways to make it to #1 on HN, a concern of mine has been not submitting too much "flop" content and "spamming" the system. His suggestion is to allow someone else to submit it, and that validates that there is value to at least someone other than just promoting yourself.
That's a valuable thought and reminder. At least is was to me. :p
Follow up: I remember your http://minimaxir.com/2014/07/show-hn/ post. Pretty interesting stuff.
That is -definitely- the point I was trying to get across. Instead of looking like a spammer, if someone posts your articles of their own volition, it is an immediate validation that the article has the possibility of making it to the front page.
I'm not saying you can't submit yourself, just taking the more "scientific" approach that if someone else submits, you success will most likely have a higher probability.