[urbanautomaton]

They're auto-generated, and aren't enabled in "ask HN" OPs (as I understand it, at least). I guess this is to prevent people link-spamming...

(Edit - thanks for providing one. I'm another dev at Tribesports, by the way.)

[ColinWright]

Well, exactly. That's why people often put in a "reply" that includes a clickable link, and I was wondering why you didn't.

Alternatively, why not submit a link to the site as the URL, and your question as the title? Submissions that don't include links have a ranking penalty, so you're doing yourself down by submitting it the way you did.

[urbanautomaton]

Ah right - we weren't aware of the ranking penalty. Previous "rate my startup" submissions were pretty universally non-linked ones, so we went with that, assuming direct links were specifically frowned upon for these posts for some reason. Live and learn...

[ColinWright]

Indeed.

My suggestion would be to create a landing page for HN readers, and then link to that. Put something attractive (but accurate!) as your title, and submit a link to the landing page. There you can solicit opinions and suggestions, ask for comments, explain your reasoning, etc.

That would also be much more readable than a large slab of darkish grey on lighter grey.

Just my thoughts - I don't speak for the management, and have a tendency to strong opinions, unsupported by facts.