HN Explorer

Ask HN: Can we persist hide YC job postings from the same company?

65 points by dpres ↗ HN
Frequent job posts by YC companies prioritized on front page:

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring a Full-Stack Engineer in SF - 1 hour ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21508840)

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring a Full-Stack Engineers in SF - 20 days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21318785)

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring a Full-Stack Engineers in SF and in ATX - 32 days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21213893)

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring 2 Full-Stack Engineers in SF - 39 days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21146429)

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring 2 Full-Stack Engineers in SF - 46 days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21080481)

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring Full-Stack Engineers in SF - 54 days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21003584)

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring a Director of Engineer in SF - 75 days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20822555)

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring Full-Stack Engineers in SF - 89 days ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20695766)

ZeroCater (YC W11) Is Hiring Full-Stack Engineers in SF - 3 months ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20571209)

Would love a setting to turn this off, so new posts from same company are auto hidden.

57 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 122 ms ] thread
dickeytk
As the only form of advertising that HN does—I think this is a totally acceptable trade-off to being able to use it for free.
toomuchtodo
Even if someone has decided they have no interest in pursuing a gig at a YC startup (no complaints personally, great folks, great opportunities for those interested)? Just prominently advertise https://www.workatastartup.com/ on the HN homepage instead or give us an option to hide them in our HN profile.
jamiequint
Yes, because you're using the site for free it's not up to you.
toomuchtodo
Browser extension it is then (you can detect the job posts, as they have no discuss ability), although I would love a way to donate to mods so they can go get a fancy lunch or something like that. I love HN, I think the mods' work is super valuable, but I block ads in general (while donating cash to non-profits and paying for news sources I consume), so of course I would want to filter what I want.

EDIT: I'm apparently entitled because I don't want to see job postings that I'm not interested in in my news feed. Ce la vie.

[dead] jamiequint
Kind of a dick move to be honest.

You're entitled because you expect to have a free service provided to you AND expect to dictate the terms of how it's provided. Whether or not you want to pay is irrelevant, you're trying to dictate the terms and it's not your right to do so.

If you don't like the terms don't use the service. It's very simple.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
toomuchtodo
I would pay for HN if there was a way to (seriously, charge me with Stripe, it'll go in the same expense category for me as Bloomberg). Never said I expected it to be free. I even Patreon someone who contributes on HN because I find their contributions valuable.

EDIT: Big oof. I get it, you believe a website should get to control someone's browsing experience. My browser, my rules. No need to argue it further and pollute the thread.

tedivm
How do you feel about ad blockers?
paulcole
I don’t use them. If the ads I see are too offensive, I don’t visit the site again. If there’s a paywall and I want to get around it, I pay.
laugable
Did the GP ask you?
tedivm
I didn't, but part of why I use websites like this is to get multiple viewpoints. I don't need anyone gatekeeping conversations with me.
paulcole
I thought they did. Let me know if I was wrong and I’d be happy to delete my post.
ianai
I take a similar view. But it’s not so much about a desire to not pay for good content. It’s that there are way more content sources than time in the day for attention and money.
tedivm
When companies actually honor the DNT headers I may consider this, but for me as long as these sites refuse to stop tracking I feel I have no choice but to block their ad software.
paulcole
But I mean you do have a choice right?
tedivm
Considering how many people have trackers I'd argue that I don't really have a choice, unless I'm planning on completely leaving society. My bank, cell phone company, my electric company, my water bill- all of these are on websites that have trackers of various sorts.
paulcole
Maybe you’re missing my point? Just saying you don’t have a choice doesn’t make it so.

You do have a choice: go to the bank, pay your bills by mail, call a company on the phone, etc. AFAIK none of those things are examples of leaving society. You may not like that choice, but don’t pretend it doesn’t exist.

You’re acting like your hand is somehow forced by something you find objectionable when alternatives do exist.

dang
I hear you—the front page only has 30 slots, and those 30 slots are by far the scarcest resource on HN. To burn one of them on an ad is a pain. Also, don't forget that we place Launch HNs on the front page from time to time (https://news.ycombinator.com/launches), especially when YC is in session and with a traffic jam towards each Demo Day. There have even been two of those plus a job ad on the front page at the same time, though that's rare—only once, or maybe twice, IIRC.

It's just so reasonable for HN to give back to YC in exchange for funding it, though, that I don't believe the bulk of the community has a problem with it. It seems to me, if anything, on the modest side.

Writing code to make the browser drop the job ad and slide #31 up to #30 isn't hard. The code for HN's 'hide' feature does something similar already. That's probably your best bet.

toomuchtodo
I agree entirely. Those who want to see the job ads will see them, those who don’t will find a way not to, and that’s reasonable for everyone.

I might add: is this the best way for HN to give back to YC, through ad slots? If so, carry on, it just feels like there might a more optimal way to pair potential candidates with potential startups (as you’re relying on quite a bit of luck that the right candidate will be on the front page at the right time interested in that particular role, job ad decay and all that). Without context, I’m unable to propose alternative methodologies, so I could be entirely wrong and these ad slots are objectively the optimal way.

Thanks for the reply, I am not unappreciative of the forum or the work you folks do.

tomhoward
> you’re relying on quite a bit of luck that the right candidate will be on the front page at the right time interested in that particular role

Often the way job ads get to people is that somebody happens to see an ad and thinks "that looks like a great job for my [friend|relative|etc]" and passes it on. So it's a wider net than you perhaps realise.

Also, people actively job-hunting will go to the jobs page to see all active listings. But having the placement on the front page serves as an ongoing reminder to people that the job listings exist.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
bcrosby95
They aren't that common. And are easy to ignore. It's not like they have a banner constantly taking up the top 4-5 spots. Or popups. These sorts of posts aren't even on the front page more often then not.
muzani
Sure but as with other forms of advertising, it should be relevant. There are lots of other good YC companies too.
wizzwizz4
If you really want to hide it, you could write a CSS rule with the :has selector. Probably won't be too long 'till that's standardised and implemented. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:has

But, as the only thing really funding Hacker News, I think unobtrusive, easy-to-identify job ads are a worthy price to pay.

rapnie
> the only thing really funding Hacker News

Wouldn't YC also get value - maybe enough to fund HN - from analysing usage data (upvotes, downvotes, link clicks, maybe PII even, etc.), e.g. to perceive market trends, other topics of interest for services they provide their startup ecosystem?

kristianc
> Wouldn't YC also get value - maybe enough to fund HN - from analysing usage data (upvotes, downvotes, link clicks, maybe PII even, etc.), e.g. to perceive market trends, other topics of interest for services they provide their startup ecosystem?

That kind of thing isn’t so popular around here.

rapnie
You are being ironic, I presume. When near everyone who matters in SV / IT / tech is a user on your platform, I gather there is something of interest in the data trail they leave behind.
kristianc
I mean, that argument could be used for any kind of data exhaust at all - data mining still has a massively negative reputation, particularly on HN.
rapnie
Ah. Yes, sure, I very much share that opinion. Its done everywhere nevertheless.

I don't know the people at YC (other than dang from his comments.. a great mod) and their moral/ethical stance. But they are in the business of trying to raise unicorns though, with potential multi-billion valuation.

muzani
I think the only data they're interested in is whether this person makes a good founder. They link HN accounts to the YC application.
tedivm
Are these actually funding Hacker News? I just thought since YC owns Hacker News they were giving out free job postings to the companies they fund.

IMO hacker news basically pays for itself with all the publicity it gives YC and the various YC companies. I'm sure other companies would be willing to pay a fortune for that kind of marketing (although it can obviously be a mixed blessing).

kristianc
> ‘IMO hacker news basically pays for itself with all the publicity it gives YC and the various YC companies.‘

‘I’ll just take this soda, the grocery store can afford it.’

tedivm
No one is stealing anything here, and I didn't even advocate for blocking the job postings (which I also pointed out I'm not sure are even paid). I simply questioned whether the job postings are even paid at all.
kristianc
HN says that they are the ads on the platform - they’re a perk for the companies who have been accepted to YC and want to attract talent to their startup.

If blocking them does not financially impact HN, blocking them would certainly make the life of that startup harder than it needs to be. Particularly as none of the arguments that routinely get used against trackers actually seem to apply here.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
tedivm
Those are really good points, and would have been a much better response than the soda can thing.
redmattred
Not sure why YC would build a feature to limit the audience of their job postings on a platform they own and operate
jacquesc
You could argue that it might even increase the audience if specific users can hide companies they won't be working at and as a result they'd see more job postings from other places.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
the_watcher
There's a "hide" button on every post on HN, including job posts.
thrower123
It's extra helpful on the 1st of every month. There seems to be more and more varieties of the "Who's X-ing?" posts every month.

The hide button is a great way to unobtrusively clear out stuff you don't care about. One of the best features.

dang
I'm glad you like it. I was going to remove it at one point, but a two-initialed founder of this site who shall remain nameless protested strongly against that idea.
dickeytk
One thing: I push that an flag on my phone on accident all the time. Have you guys thought about a way to maybe hide it better?
itronitron
I think a lot of companies post job openings as a form of advertising. I'm not saying that is what is happening here, but there always seems to be a set of companies that have the same positions listed for over a year, despite being relatively small companies.
rco8786
As anecdotal support, I used BuildZoom for a recent home build solely because I saw their job postings on HN.

(The experience was just ok, but we did find a builder we love through them)

JMTQp8lwXL
When I see a position that's been open for awhile (one company has popped up here on and off for what feels like ~2 years), it seems to raise a red flag. If you can't fill the position, something is off.
hamandcheese
Growth stage startups, as well as any engineering org above a certain size (a few hundred maybe?) are perpetually hiring.
whalesalad
Alternatively it would be cool if comments could be open on job posts so that folks who've had experience applying, interviewing or working at the company can leave notes for others.
ianai
Cool idea but highly unlikely to go anywhere constructive. Lots of anon accounts at the least.

I’d like it, but it’s doubtful.

badrequest
The funny thing is, I've noticed these too, and all I come away with is the impression that nobody wants to work for ZeroCater. I can't imagine that impression bodes well on recruiting.
pmiller2
If you have LinkedIn Premium, you can see they've grown from 188 to 248 employees in the past year. Of those, 8 have been engineers. Overall, it looks like they have about 57 engineers in total now.
toomuchtodo
How many people have left in that period of time? Churn is a valuable metric.
pmiller2
It doesn't say, but their average tenure is listed as 1.5 years.
dang
The job ads are already staggered so that a company's ad can't appear on the front page until it has fallen off https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs. That's why you're seeing a week or two elapse between any of those posts.