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Tell HN: A data-driven look at a failed HN account

3 points attogram | 1 comments | 01 Sep 25 11:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.206s | source

I crunched the data to figure out why my old HN account was a failure:

Old Account:

  Day 0: Account Created in mid 2017 | 0 karma
  Day 0: Submission 1: Show HN - live - 2 points - 3 comments | 2 karma
  Day 0: Submission 2: Show HN - live - 2 points | 4 karma
  Day 0: Comment 1: replied to post on Submission 2 | 4 karma
  Day 11: Submission 3: Show HN - [flagged] - [dead] - 1 point - 1 comment | 3 karma
  Day 11: Submission 4: Show HN - live - 2 points - 1 comment | 5 karma
  Day 11: Comment 2: replied to post on Submission 3 | 4 karma
  Day 11: Comment 3: replied to post on Submission 4 | 3 karma
  Day 12: Submission 5: Show HN - [dead] - 1 point | 3 karma
  Day 13: Submission 6: Show HN - [dead] - 1 point | 3 karma
  Day 2584: Submission 7: Show HN - [dead] - 1 point | 3 karma
  Day 2942: Submission 8: Show HN - [dead] - 1 point | 3 karma
Notes:

- Day 11: the [flagged] submission basically killed the account

- Pattern of using HN as a marketing/pr outlet with minimal community engagement

- Turn on showdead in your user settings, it's a great help in analyzing failures

This new Account:

  Day 3019: Account Created | 1 karma
  Day 3019: Comment 1: on post | 2 karma
  Day 3019: Comment 2: on post | 3 karma
  Day 3019: Comment 3: on post | 4 karma
  Day 3020: Comment 4: on post | 5 karma
  Day 3020: Comment 5: on post | 6 karma
  Day 3021: Comment 6: on post | 7 karma
  Day 3021: Comment 7: on post | 8 karma
  Day 3022: Comment 8: on post | 9 karma
  Day 3022: Comment 9: on post | 10 karma
  Day 3023: Comment 10: on post | 12 karma
  Day 3023: Comment 11: on post | 14 karma
  Day 3024: Comment 12: on post | 16 karma
  Day 3024: Comment 13: on post | 18 karma
  Day 3025: Comment 14: on post | 20 karma
  Day 3025: Comment 15: on post | 22 karma
  Day 3025: Comment 16: on post | 24 karma
  Day 3025: Comment 17: on post | 26 karma
  Day 3025: Comment 18: on post | 28 karma
  Day 3025: Comment 19: on post | 30 karma
  Day 3025: Submission 1: This post | 30 karma
The fix wasn't a new account, but a new strategy: listen first.
1. pwg ◴[01 Sep 25 11:50 UTC] No.45091950[source]▶
You've discovered why this sentence is in the HN guidelines:

Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity.