Ask HN: How do I get started on Hacker News?

[sonofacorner]

Hi!

I'm completely new to HN and I have no idea how to get started.

I submitted a couple of posts on a website I'm building, but I'm unable to see them on the "new" section when I'm logged out of my account.

Are there certain requirements before you can post something on the site?

Does anyone know any good resources on how to get started on HN?

Thanks in advance!

[al_borland]

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

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

[sonofacorner]

Thanks!

I've read these but I still don't fully understand why my posts with an associated url are not showing up and this one did...

Do I need a certain amount of karma before I can post links to other sites?

Should I first engage in other people's comments before submitting some of my own stuff?

[al_borland]

>Should I first engage in other people's comments before submitting some of my own stuff?

I find that engaging with, and understanding, a community before posting is generally best. Otherwise is just seems like a person is running around to every site spamming their product for cheap click and traffic... which no one likes.

[sonofacorner]

Makes sense.

Thanks for this!

[nobody9999]

I had a similar experience when I first arrived here.

I found that If you're here to participate in good faith discussion, you will be welcomed. Eventually.

I see your username in green (not sure if "green" is supposed to evoke "greenhorn" or new), but that means you're a relatively new user.

I would point out that even long-time users have their submissions ignored/flagged pretty often too. There's been some discussion here (and posts elsewhere) that discuss "how to get your submission to the front page of HN," with varying degrees of success. You might search for some of those.

That said, as you mentioned in your "Ask HN" submission (I note that it has not been flagged or ignored):

   I submitted a couple of posts on a website I'm building, 
   but I'm unable to see them on the "new" section when I'm 
   logged out of my account.

Submitting your own posts (presumably as marketing/shilling for your site) is often (not always, "Show HN" posts are mostly just that) not well received here.

All that said, welcome to HN!

I hope your experience (as mine did, after a short while) becomes a positive one that allows you to qualitatively add to the discussions here.

N.B.: I speak only for me and wouldn't attempt to do so for anyone else, including HN management.

[sonofacorner]

Thanks for sharing this.

My website is a newsletter with python tutorials so that's why I didn't submit it to Show HN, where from what I understood from the rules is not permitted.

All in, I get the idea. Engage with the community and participate in discussions before doing self-promotion, which makes a ton of sense.

[nobody9999]

>All in, I get the idea. Engage with the community and participate in discussions before doing self-promotion, which makes a ton of sense.

No. I can't speak for anyone else, but I generally ignore/downvote "self-promotion" type stuff. And AFAICT, others tend to do so too.

If you want to be a part of this community, great!

If you just want to use HN to shill whatever it is you want to shill, and think that a few comments here or there gives you license to spam here, you're wrong.

That said, I'm not telling you what to do, say or think. Just a bit of friendly advice.

Good luck and I look forward to your contributions to the community.

[sonofacorner]

I get your point.

Thanks for being so upfront on the advice, and it's something I'll definitely consider.

What I was curious about is why is HN regarded as such a good place to promote your own work, if in general, this sort of posts are frowned upon?

[mtmail]

Brand new accounts who immediately post might need an existing user to click 'vouch'. Not always, I'm a regular and still don't understand the settings of the algorithms. I vouched now.

[sonofacorner]

Yeah it's definitely confusing if you're completely new to these types of forums.

Thanks for the vouch, hope I'm able to share some stuff here soon.

[mettamage]

How I got started was reading all the "soft" articles, because they were fascinating and slowly work my way up to actual hardcore technical stuff.