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Comment by iwonagr | Hacker News Reader

business, entrepreneurship, startups, technology and solutions for startups (I am not a tech person so I have to educate myself on new trends and how it all works to better understand my team), self-development (in terms of entering the tech & startup community), branding & marketing, networking & relationship building.

These would be the categories I'd come to HN for. And I just clicked on a topic and was redirected to National Geographic.

I am a marathoner so my other interests include anything related to running, training, etc. but for those I go to e.g. RunnersWorld... so for my brain it's a little bit confusing why on something that's called HACKER news one would post things about...nature (inspiration?- "Let's build an app that would prevent animal poaching"?)

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    > it's a little bit confusing why on something
    > that's called HACKER news one would post things 
    > about ... nature

So, have you read the FAQ[0]? From there, have you read the guidelines[1]? From the guidelines did you see this:

    What to Submit

    On-Topic: 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.

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

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

Hey Colin,

It still does not answer my question "Why" although I have just realized that HN is someone else's idea and they structured it they way they wanted, not the way "I" would like it to be.

If someone finds it beneficial, then fine. The only thing I am concerned is that if I wanted to apply to YC I'd need be active here. And if that is what motivates users to post here then they'd post just anything to get noticed. Anything is not good. Good quality information is good. As a startup founder I value time more than anything hence I'd rather spend time working on my product than on trying to get noticed on HN or brush through so many articles (of different value). But it's just me. Maybe I am wrong....

  > ... if I wanted to apply to YC I'd
  > need be active here.

I'm not associated with YC so my answer is not definitive, but if you wanted to apply for YC then I can imagine that you should have something running and submit links to it here. The feedback you'd get would be valuable, so this is a resource for you to mine in getting something running. That would then make you active.

  > As a startup founder I value time more
  > than anything hence I'd rather spend time
  > working on my product than on trying to
  > get noticed on HN ...

Then go build something, then submit it. Stop worrying about "what HN is for" and just go build stuff. Then come back and get feedback. People here are interested in more than just startups, so you'll get tech-savvy people with a broad range of interests commenting on what you've done.

That's what HN is for.

Building.

Well, I am wondering what HN "is for". People talk about it. People say it's good to use but I couldn't see it myself. I would love to engage but in a way that is beneficial for the community and myself as I mentioned. I am playing a devil's advocate a little in order to learn.

It's not that I am criticizing. I am just trying to better understand.

Thanks!

You don't need to be active on HN to get into YC, so don't worry about that.

HN's purpose is to find and discuss stories that gratify intellectual curiosity. So to decide whether HN is for you, simply browse the front page for a few days and see if any stories there interest you. If they do, then there's a good chance you share interests with other people here.

The text-based design is on purpose. It focuses on the content and doesn't try to appeal to everybody. It's true, though, that HN can seem cryptic to new visitors. One needs to hang around long enough to let one's eyes adjust. I hope you'll do that before reaching a final verdict.

If you'd like to read more about the thinking behind HN, try:

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

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

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

http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html

Hi Dang! Thanks a lot for your insight. Well, in the application guidelines for YC there is a passage saying that if the reviewer "knows" you from HN he/she may give your application a little more consideration.

I don't give up on anything before I understand the concept. Only after I know how something works do I decide to use it or not.

Many things interest me so I think I'll stick around. Moreover, those conversations are great. I love exchanging opinions and HN seems to be the place where 'great minds discuss ideas'.

Thanks for the links!

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