Ask HN: What are some key points to raise discussion on HN?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6024820

by atrilla • 13 years ago

1 2 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Is is matter of writing style what makes a submission successful? Content? What do most HN readers want to see here? Personal stories? Technical articles? Good writing takes time and a lot of deliberate practice, and I'm trying. I know a few of my posts are at least "somewhat interesting" as they have caught the eye of some companies, which provided me some work as a freelance, but I've never yet been able to post a blockbuster post. My blog: http://atrilla.net/

lsiebert• 13 years ago

I think it's a mistake to aim for most readers. Aim for a segment that is similar to you, and write about what interests you.

Build a cool little OS X utility? I use Linux, so I probably don't care, but there are plenty of people who will.

Interested in a discussion on a topic? Find an article about it, or write a blog post with your own ideas, and post it.

Stop trying to target people. Write about what interests you. Hell, write up a whole bunch of different things, post them at the same time, and see what does best, then report back on which caused the most click throughs, which had the most discussion etc, if that's what interests you.

atrilla• 13 years ago

Hi, thanks for your feedback. I've been posting technical Machine Learning issues (my interests) for a while now (a few years), not quite regularly I must say, but no success. I assume I must be doing something wrong here, because others do succeed with similar topics. Moreover, as my professional career evolves so do my interests (business topics), and that's what led me to stick out a little. I'm very eager to learn about the hot topics of a challenging community like HN, and that's what pushed me to ask the question directly.

Ask HN: What are some key points to raise discussion on HN?

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