It's not my article. And I agree with you on that point, where I believe this article has value is in this quote:

"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.