

'Show HN' bombed, but this got me on the front page - jawns

On 3/18, I posted this, with the title "Show HN: Correlated - Help us discover surprising correlations":<p>http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=2340921<p>It got 3 up votes, and they were all from my friends.<p>Then, a day later, I posted this, with the title "Explained: The MySQL query that powers Correlated":<p>http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=2342664<p>That made it to the HN front page.<p>Part of it was probably the timing (Thursday afternoon versus Friday evening).<p>And part of it was probably the teaser headline.<p>But I'm curious what others think: Could it be that many HN readers are tuning out "Show HN" submissions?
======
revorad
Timing is everything. If you don't get noticed once, post again at a different
time.

Correlated is an interesting idea. Have you considered hooking into the
various social networks' APIs like Hunch, Twitter, FB, 4sq etc? There is a
wealth of data to be explored.

Make your signup even easier. Get rid of First name, ask me later when you get
to know me better :-). For now, just let me in.

I think you don't even need to explain why I have to sign up, just ask for
email and pwd and click sign up. Reduce clutter.

Also, you've got a branding and mission problem with "Help us discover
surprising correlations". It's not about you, it's about me me me. Change it
to "Discover surprising correlations."

See <http://headrush.typepad.com/>

~~~
akkartik
Is it really ok to repost? What about tools to manage and automate reposts,
would people care for a tweetlater for hacker news?

There's a banning offence some way down this slippery slope, but I don't know
where that line is drawn.

~~~
revorad
I've seen lots of people repost Ask HNs. If you are genuinely looking for help
and just got the timing wrong the first time, why not?

I wouldn't go near autoposts, that's a recipe for spam.

------
atgm
I had the same problem -- I posted a "Tell HN" that bombed, but that was
probably because I posted it on Saturday morning on St. Patrick's Day weekend
without realizing it.

There are definitely ways to game the system and post at times that will get
you the biggest, most active audience... but in your case, I feel like the
topic titles also made a difference: the first title asks for participation,
but the second title says "Hey, look at this!"

~~~
rgbrgb
When do you think is the best time to post?

~~~
atgm
I wish I knew. I'd guess late afternoon from Monday to Thursday, but I don't
know which time zone the majority of the upvoting users are in.

