We're considering how to improve the way Show HNs are evaluated and presented.
Lately we've had to think deeply about exactly what has changed about Show HNs in the era of AI-generated code, and one way of thinking about it is that code-generation has basically eaten everything that used to be interesting about most Show HN posts. I.e.: What were the obstacles to making it work? What approaches did you try that didn't work? What was the breakthrough that made it work? What do you learn?
So, we need a new way of evaluating the ways in which a project may be interesting to the HN audience, and in the way project creators convey that in their post. It will take time for new conventions to emerge, but we're doing what we can to help find them.
For now, please don't post comments like this. It arguably counts as snark, a swipe, curmudgeonliness, a generic tangent, or other breaches of the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
If you think something is unfit for HN, please email us ([email protected]) and we'll take a look.
I didn't intend it as a swipe, more as an invitation for the creator to write a comment explaining the development process.
I have no problem with people using AI to make things, even for a Show HN. I myself use AI as does I assume almost everyone on HN nowadays.
I do have a problem with if something was made entirely with AI and the OP didn't disclose that fact. I'm not saying that this OP did that, but if they don't say either way then all I can do is make my best guess, which could be wrong.
IMO it would be useful if the description on Show HN was made mandatory so that creators can introduce their projects. The days when you can just let your work speak for itself are long gone.
I try to be fair minded, but some things warrant strong reactions in my opinion. Journalists shilling for corporations exerting more control over a platform they already have too much control over is one of them.
The mods or whoever are welcome to remove my comment if they think it's too far out of line.
Anyway, the dupe detector is only in effect for 8 hours after a URL is submitted. If it gets no front page time, then a repost is allowed, to give the URL another chance of making it onto the front page. If the software didn't do this, more URLs would miss out on front page time.
Another way to see if a URL has been submitted previously is to look at the feed for that TLD:
But it's still fine to submit it again if a submission has already been posted without getting any discussion. Either it will just count as an upvote (if it was last posted within the preceding 8 hours) or a new submission will be created.
If things aren't being found in Algolia search, we'd need to see an example to investigate it, but it seems to be working fine for this title:
The HN rule is that a repost of a past submission is a dupe if it last had significant attention and discussion in the preceding 12 months.
The exception is that if it is a major upgrade, such that it is effectively a new/different product.
If this is the case, you need make it clear in your introduction post, how that is the case. You should reference the previous post ("Hey HN, we posted this project here a few months ago and at that time the state of the app was ___". Since then we've added ____, changed ____ and removed ____").
If you can write an intro like that and if the community agrees it's sufficiently changed, it can have some more front page time (because the discussion can be substantially different from what it was last time).
Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.
Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity.
Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html