HN Explorer

Ask HN: A User's First Post?

17 points by ckjohnston ↗ HN
I've been an active HN reader for a while now. This whole time I've been sitting on the sidelines contributing nothing to the discussion; I only recently created a profile.

I'd imagine there's a lot of HN readers like me. It's the classic "free rider" problem. So today I've decided to start adding to the discussion. But is it just me or is your first HN post/comment a little intimidating?

Anyway, considering the bigger picture, there are a lot of other community-based sites (e.g. Yelp, Wikipedia, etc.) that have the same free rider problem. I'm curious if there's any data out there on the percentage of members that actually contribute to these sites in the form of comments, postings, reviews, etc. And also, have you seen these sites do anything to actively encourage someone to leave their first post? I'd imagine that's the biggest barrier.

17 comments

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inerte
Google for 80-19-1
ckjohnston
Unfortunately, I went to business school and remember the Pareto principle (80% of something comes from 20% of the population). The Feld post on 80-19-1 was a great read though b/c it talked about it in the context of user-generated content sites.

Basically the post says, at sites like Judy’s Book or Digg, 80% of users will always be passive, 19% of users sit on the fence, and only 1% of users are active and contribute.

I’m wondering what strategies these sites have come up with to tip that 19% over the fence to actively contribute, if there are any.

tvon
Amusingly enough, this comment is #3 in the results.
tokenadult
On one email list I moderate, I tell all participants in an automated welcome message that they are encouraged to introduce themselves to the list, and that once they have, they will be taken off the moderation of submitted messages that is the default on that list. Over time (four years), about a third of the subscribers have posted, as I can tell from how many users are no longer on moderation. There are almost 500 subscribers on that list, all sharing a membership in a state organization of which I am president.
ckjohnston
I think that's a great idea. And 33% is a hell of a lot more than 1%. I think basically you found a clever way to convince a lof the people that Feld would say are "on the fence" to become active users by breaking down the biggest barrier, the first post.
jakewolf
Start them off with a hideous default avatar and intro post. Cheney pic and you fill in the rest. Look at a default wordpress install. You have to take immediate action to not publicly look like you're lazy.
aneesh
I never felt any barrier to posting on HN. Nearly everyone on this site is pretty welcoming. Just comment on something that interests you, or that you know something about.

By the way, for me, and I suspect many others, it's not really a free rider problem like you describe. I don't gain much by simply having a collection of interesting links, nor do I feel like I'm doing a service when I post a comment or article. I gain from the actual discussions around interesting articles, especially when people respond to my comments.

ckjohnston
Aneesh, it sounds to me like you've been part of the 1% club for a long time. I applaud you for that. Without people like you, HN wouldn't be my homepage.

But the point is that the vast majority of HN users are likely not contributors. Instead, they're passive visitors to the site. With respect to that group, unless you don't want those users contributing, there's definitely a free rider problem.

Although I certainly don't think the barrier is unique to HN (although downvoting adds some pressure to come with something decent). I was just wondering what creative strategies people have used to get people to leave their first post or comment. Because I think once you get that first comment, you get the user hooked (b/c then they experience the added value of the discussion you mention).

TheAmazingIdiot
It's great to finally find an interesting community of (somewhat+) like minded individuals. I've spent my time on digg, reddit, and slashdot trying to recreate early usenet culture.

I've been searching for a while for something 1/10 of 1% of the breadth and deepness of Usenet, aside the alt hierarchy. This place comes close to the wonderful moderated rooms of the comp groups.

I've lurked here long enough though. It's high time I at least said hi.

ObOntopic: I check out hackaday.com for interesting circuit/design and control ideas. I've had months of fun by reverse biasing leds for usage of data transfer. You can use a track of them as a track-sensor for a dimmer control, assuming you have access to a PIC programmer.

+I'm a young guy, but learned from old guys. My elder friends were all hams and old school circuit hackers. One of them even built their own vacuum tubes. Programming is interesting to say the least, but not really my forte. It's always been circuits and rf for me. Sorry for sounding conceited, as it wasn't my intention.

ivankirigin
I almost never spend time on a community without contributing. If the other users are annoying, I stop, e.g. reddit. I still vote there though.
ryanwaggoner
Yes, posting and commenting here is intimidating at first. The combination of very smart people + strong opinions + all the web rockstars who hang out here gives one pause when commenting. I first wandered over to HN about six months ago from Reddit (and Digg, sad to say). For the first few weeks, the ratio of comments I wrote to comments I posted was about 2:1, because I was afraid of putting my foot in my mouth. Perhaps that's just me, though.
donaq
Out of curiosity, what was the root cause of the fear? Getting downvoted?
ryanwaggoner
Nah...it's more that I live in SF and I have a startup and I'm increasingly meeting more and more of the people on HN, so I don't want to look like an idiot.

I think of HN as online equivalent of a lounge at a university where a lot of really interesting people swing by to hang out and talk about things they care about. If I stop to think about how I might respond in such a setting, if the types of people who are on HN were sitting next to me, I'd probably run most things through my head before they left my mouth :)

kyro
Why is posting here intimidating? There's this perception of this community being full of super serious users who are always in a ready position to pounce and criticize others. There are a handful who are like that, but for the most part, if you post anything that carries even the smallest ounce of intelligence, and are respectful, which really isn't hard to do, people will welcome you.

I think people are more likely to post here because there is something to be gained from the discourse that happens. I can walk away learning something new, whether it be through argumentation, or an 'Ask IN' post. You don't get that on Digg.

rjurney
Don't try and play genius, just add what you have to say when you know something worth sharing. Takes the pressure off, and works better anyway.
andrewl-hn
Yes, I was a passive reader for about nine months before creating an account, too. I'm also a Redditor (although my username is different) and one thing I found that works for me: if you're very emotional about the subject it's better to wait till it shows up on Reddit and post your opinion there. Redditors love emotions and controversy - so your post will perfectly add up to a discussion there. Alternatively you can just wait for a while and post your comment later: you wording will get more neutral at that time and you'll be pleasantly surprised with how well-formed your answer is.

But if you know something extra about the subject then it's much better to through that information into discussion earlier to let others see a bigger picture.

And of course - just ignore the karma thing. Personally I have no idea what is rating on either of those websites, I just write when I want to write.

Good luck anyway and very warm welcome to HN!

kirubakaran
Just post "correlation != causation" in some thread and get it over with :-)