Is Show HN Dead? No, But It's Drowning
A few days ago I posted to Show HN. I had good fun building that useless little internet experience. The post quickly disappeared from Show HN's first page, amongst the rest of the vibecoded pulp. And to be clear, I'm fine with that.
The behavior on Show HN was interesting to see though. So I pulled the data.
What's Happening
Show HN of course isn't dead. You could even say it's more alive than ever. What has changed is the volume of posts and engagement per post. It's only natural when more projects are being built in a single weekend. There's less "Proof of Work".
From the business side of this, Johan Halse recently called this the Sideprocalypse: the end of the small indie developer's dream. Every idea has been built, marketed better, and SEO'd into oblivion by someone with more money.
Some cool projects aren't getting through this noise, which is a pity. Here are a few I thought were interesting:
I just upvoted them!
Now, let's look at some data.
Volume Is Exploding
The Graveyard Is Growing
Show HN started out better than regular submissions. Now it's significantly worse.
The Shrinking Window
How long does a Show HN post stay on page 1 before being pushed off? During peak hours (US daytime):
Discussion Is Dying Too
So Is Show HN Dead?
No. There's just more noise, and less opportunity to get attention and have a discussion with other folks on HN about your project. Some gems go completely unnoticed. Maybe something for HN to think about: how do these subjective "gems" get more spotlight? How does HN remain the coolest place to talk about the coolest tech?