

Ask HN: Value of comments in regards to applying for YC? - toisanji

So I am getting ready to apply for the summer 2009 ycombinator program and I was wondering about the importance of actually writing comments.  I consider myself fairly smart,   I do lurk and read lots of the material on the site, but I don't really comment much on ycombinator.  Is it really important for me to comment?  I realize that pg and the team need to get a better picture of the applicants, but I would think that people who are writing more comments on yc are spending less time on writing actual code for their projects.  What kind of disadvantage am I at if I don't comment often?  Should I be spending more time commenting for my preparation to apply to yc?
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cperciva
In the past, PG has talked about comments here from the perspective of the YC
crew"recognizing names". Based on this and my past experience with selection
processes, I imagine comments here will influence how carefully an application
is reviewed, but not necessarily the outcome of that review -- rather like any
resume which says "Linus Torvalds" at the top will be looked at closely, but
Linus would nevertheless probably not be offered a job as a web designer (if,
for some odd reason, he ever applied for one).

 _Should I be spending more time commenting for my preparation to apply to
yc?_

Please don't. There is an influx of new people posting here every 6 months,
and it does nothing to improve the level of discourse. I rather doubt that it
helps the YC applicant much either, since (a) the only reputation which you
have time to develop between now and the YC deadline is a bad one, and (b)
people who are writing comments just for the sake of writing comments rarely
end up saying anything interesting anyway.

~~~
yan
I agree especially with (b). Commenting is closely tied to personality, which
is very easy to tell if it's forced or artificial. On the other hand, if you
have something to truly add to the conversation, don't hold your tongue
because you feel it holds little weight for the funding process.

------
vlad
The more time you spend commenting on News.YC, the better. Other investors
look at this, as well.

