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Ask HN: Is there a best date/time to submit projects to HN?

19 points by uejfiweun ↗ HN
I've been working on a project that I think is really cool over the last couple weeks. I'm busy productionizing the project so that I can submit it to HN in a "Show HN" post, so you folks can all play with it.

I'd like to avoid a situation where my project gets buried under a flood of other posts and nobody sees it. I'd also like to avoid a situation where I submit the project at a time that nobody is active on HN, and nobody sees it.

For folks who have submitted projects, or dang, what is the best time to submit projects to HN for maximum engagement? Thanks.

25 comments

[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 70.9 ms ] thread
ggm
HN is read worldwide. There are obvious peaks and troughs. I would suggest that timing for US west coast breakfast/morning, or Western European breakfast Morning or Asia (Japan-Korea-HongKong-Singapore) breakfast morning wasn't bad, but would obviously favour a demographic who want to see fresh HN with their kibble.

I have never posted any story with regard to time of day. But I've also never felt I had a success flood.

I have been told to consider re-posting after a week or two if it doesn't garner reactions. Inside that timeframe you might be seen as a being a bit over-eager/spammy.

uejfiweun
Roger that. Thank you for the information. I think I'll follow a similar approach.
al_borland
>I have been told to consider re-posting after a week or two if it doesn't garner reactions.

I suspect this had to be done with a fair amount of self awareness. Being realistic about the post got unlucky on timing vs simply wasn’t interesting to people.

throwaway211
'Show' seems 'big' enough for most things to get to /show for a day. Which is super.

Perhaps choose a time where if there's traction, you'll be there on your project to troubleshoot unexpected problems (though it could be 10k hits, or it could be 100 hits, so do have some hope limitation).

If it's really interesting for you, keep posting about it though a blog about a feature; passion burns through fog.

theGeatZhopa
As fellow readers already pointed you to and gave you some answers.. my duty is to raise concerns.

If everyone is going to a place, then the place is nothing special anymore. If everyone wear the same, the wore isn't special anymore. Everyone has the same aim as you. The aim is the same like "when to send the newsletter out, so it has the best reading reach?"

But, if everyone, who want his newsletter to be read, follow some guru tips, they land all in the same inbox at the same time.

So.. what's more important is to have a good catchy subject and actually offer something.

The posting time is irrelevant then.

May be you think twice on marketing. It's good work invested.

Peace.

uejfiweun
Thanks. I think my project is a genuinely useful tool, I've already used it (in a far more basic form) to make a pretty major decision in my life. I hope the functionality of the project speaks for itself. But I definitely don't want to be in a situation where nobody sees it due to poorly chosen posting time :P
leobg
I thought the same way. But I learned that you are allowed to re-post if your post didn’t get much traction.
cpach
I’d say around ~10 am EST.
xspiral
I've been wondering the same! From what I've seen, weekdays, especially Tues-Thurs, are the best. Early morning EST seems to catch the most eyes. Avoid weekends and late nights if you can. Good luck with your project, looking forward to seeing it!
uejfiweun
Thanks! I'm actually planning on introducing a pseudonym for myself for this project, as it is my first major project that I plan to make available to the public, and something about the name "uejfiweun" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, haha. But I hope you see and enjoy it when it releases!
throwaway38375
Something useful, submitted with good intentions, will be received well, regardless of when you submit it.
gmac
Not true, sadly. In my experience there is a big element of luck, and the headline matters a lot.

For example, my most popular ever submission (1341 upvotes) didn't get a single upvote when I submitted 4 months earlier under a slightly different headline.

KomoD
Of course title matters, and your title wasn't "slightly different", it was very different.

"See this page fetch itself, byte by byte, over TLS" - repost

"Annotated Live TLS 1.3 Session" - original

The reposted title was way more interesting

gmac
Well, yes and no. I’d say the new headline was very similar content, albeit pitched a bit differently. :)

I usually try not to repost, because I think it’s rightly frowned on, but I do have a few less extreme examples where the exact same post got to the front page a second time after sinking without trace the first. It seems kind of obvious that the timeline of the first few upvotes is critical, and somewhat random.

sabrina_ramonov
This is why, in marketing, you'll hear mantras like "spend 80% of your time writing the hook (title)"
Leftium
God forbid you need a new account for your project, make sure there is a way to use/preview your app without creating an account. Check out other "Show HN" comments to learn why: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&type=show_hn

Generally, having a guest/anonymous account that can be upgraded to a full account after the user decides it's worth saving their work more permanently is good UX.

Also "Show HN" posts get a slight advantage because they stay alive a little longer on: https://news.ycombinator.com/show

(Currently ~3 days vs. 1 day on front page)

uejfiweun
Thankfully, no account required. It's just an interactive web app, totally free. Although I am planning to support donations because unfortunately, RUNNING the app isn't free.
alphabet9000
post it on lobsters first, then if its good, someone else will probably repost it here without your having to do anything, and then handful of people that saw it over there will likely upvote it on here also. good luck
steph-123
I like lobsters, but I can't join the discussion. Can you invite me? thanks
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