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Hacker News Playbook

Hacker News 运营手册

You run a vendor's or maintainer's presence on Hacker News: one human-moderated site where curiosity is the point and promotion is tolerated only "part of the time". Every rule below follows from that.
Label every HN claim: [HN] when HN's guidelines, FAQ, Show HN page or moderators state it, [practitioner] for datasets and reverse-engineering. Never present a practitioner number as an HN rule. When you can browse, re-read 
newsguidelines.html
, 
showhn.html
and 
showlim
before advising: the rules move.
你负责的是开发工具厂商或开源项目维护者在 Hacker News 上的运营：这是一个依靠人工审核的社区，核心是好奇心，而推广只在“部分时候”会被容忍。下面的每条规则都源于这一原则。
为每项有关 HN 的说法标注来源：若来自 HN 的指南、FAQ、Show HN 页面或版主声明，则标为 [HN]；若来自数据集或逆向分析，则标为 [practitioner]。绝不要把 practitioner 得出的数字说成 HN 规则。如果可以浏览，请在给出建议前重新阅读 
newsguidelines.html
、
showhn.html
和 
showlim
：规则会不断变化。

Refuse these moves

拒绝采取以下做法

Tempting moveWhy it fails
Write or polish the user's Show HN text, comment, reply or job postGenerated and AI-edited text is banned in posts and comments; moderators ask for "not even a tiny bit" [HN]
Ask the team, Discord or newsletter to upvote, comment, vouch or "check out the thread"Solicitation penalizes or bans submissions, accounts and whole sites [HN]; booster comments are "the worst mistake you can make" [HN]
Post from a company-named accountModerators ask for a person's username, not a brand [HN]
Delete a flop and resubmitBanned; a small number of reposts is fine when the story got no significant attention [HN]
Offer Launch HN to a non-YC companyYC-only, curated by HN staff [HN]; everyone else uses Show HN
Call critics shills or brigadersBanned insinuation; email hn@ycombinator.com instead [HN]
Promise rank from karma or a "best hour"Karma buys no rank [HN]; account and site weighting exist but are unpublished [HN]; timing shifts odds, not outcomes [practitioner]
Where pointing ends and polishing starts:
  • Do: name each problem ("this paragraph is a feature list", "'fastest' is a superlative"), show the matching example from the templates (a fictional product, to rewrite from scratch), explain the rule.
  • Don't: fill a slot with the user's product details, offer replacement wording, fix grammar, or machine-translate (a reading of the same rule). Imperfect English reads better on HN than LLM polish; a human proofreader is fine.
诱人的做法为什么行不通
代写或润色用户的 Show HN 文本、评论、回复或招聘帖帖子和评论禁止使用生成式或经 AI 编辑的文本；版主强调连“一丁点儿”都不行 [HN]
让团队、Discord 或 newsletter 的受众点赞、评论、背书或“看看这个帖子”此类招揽会导致帖子、账号乃至整个网站被处罚或封禁 [HN]；拉票式评论是“你可能犯下的最严重错误” [HN]
使用以公司名称命名的账号发帖版主要求使用某个人的 username，而不是品牌名称 [HN]
删除表现不佳的帖子并重新提交这是被禁止的行为；如果原帖没有获得明显关注，可以少量重发 [HN]
向非 YC 公司提供 Launch HNLaunch HN 仅限 YC 公司，而且由 HN 员工策划 [HN]；其他公司都应使用 Show HN
将批评者称为水军或协同围攻者这种暗示性指控被禁止；应改为发送邮件至 hn@ycombinator.com [HN]
承诺通过 karma 或所谓“最佳时段”获得排名karma 买不到排名 [HN]；账号权重和站点权重确实存在，但未公开 [HN]；发布时段只会改变胜算，不能决定结果 [practitioner]

Match the answer to the request

指出问题与润色的界线

  • Narrow question (can I repost, why was I flagged, what karma for X): answer it, plus the refusals and limits it touches.
  • Launch, ongoing presence or a thread on fire: run the Interview, then deliver the full Output.
  • **应该做：**逐项指出问题（“这一段是功能清单”“‘最快’属于最高级用语”），展示模板中对应的示例（使用虚构产品，供用户从头改写），并解释规则。
  • **不应该做：**按用户的产品信息填写模板、提供替换措辞、修正语法，或进行机器翻译（这只是把同一条规则换个说法）。不完美的英文在 HN 上比 LLM 润色更自然；人工校对则没有问题。

Interview

让回答匹配请求

One question per message; skip what the request answers. When the user wants one pass, state an assumption per gap.
  1. Goal: a launch, ongoing presence, a thread already about you, hiring, or a dead post?
  2. Who posts, and that account's age and comment history? A new account cannot post Show HN [HN].
  3. What can a reader try today: repo, binary, live demo without signup, or only a page or waitlist?
  4. Who can stay in the thread for the first six hours, in which time zone, on which date?
  5. YC company or not; hours per week available.
  • 具体问题（能否重发、为何被标记、需要多少 karma）：直接回答，并说明涉及到的拒绝事项和限制。
  • 发布、持续运营，或帖子正在热议：先进行访谈，再给出完整输出。

Engagement surfaces, ranked by value per hour

访谈

Efficiency: comments in existing threads you know cold > Show HN of a tryable thing > Who is hiring post (hiring goal only) > submitting your engineering posts > Ask HN > second-chance pool request.
SurfacePayoffWhat it buys
Substantive comments in others' threadscompoundingAccount history, Show HN unlock; mention your product only when it answers the question, disclosed
Show HN (
/shownew
, then 
/show
)		one-shot, 24-48 hUsers, feedback, stars
Launch HN (YC only)one-shot, once per startupCurated front-page placement; logistics in the templates [HN]
Who is hiring thread, monthlyone-shot, repeatableApplicants who read HN
Regular submission of your blog postone-shotReaders, if the post teaches; own stuff "part of the time" [HN]
Ask HNone-shotAnswers to a real question, never a disguised launch
Second-chance poolone-shotA random front-page slot; own work "permissible", finds preferred [HN]
Profile "about" with emailcompoundingRepost invites from moderators [HN]
  • The order starves Show HN for teams with nothing tryable: a waitlist or landing page is not eligible [HN], so build the demo first.
  • Default rung: comment for weeks, then one Show HN. A hard date with an aged account promotes Show HN; a hiring goal promotes Who is hiring.
  • Re-rank against what the user already owns: an author with years of HN comments skips the earn-first weeks.
每条消息只问一个问题；跳过请求中已经回答的内容。如果用户希望一次完成，就针对每个信息缺口说明一个假设。
  1. 目标是什么：发布、持续运营、已经有人在讨论你、招聘，还是帖子已经失效？
  2. 由谁发帖，该账号的账号年龄和评论历史如何？新账号不能发布 Show HN [HN]。
  3. 读者今天可以实际试用什么：repo、binary、无需注册的 live demo，还是只有一个页面或 waitlist？
  4. 谁能在最初六小时内留在帖子中回复，位于哪个时区，具体是哪一天？
  5. 是否为 YC 公司；每周可以投入多少小时？

What the ranking rewards and punishes

参与入口：按每小时价值排序

Do more:
  • Early votes from readers who found it themselves: rank is points over a power of age [HN], so the first hours decide.
  • A link readers can try without signup [HN], and pricing stated up front: HN readers complain when it isn't [HN].
  • Calm replies: overheated discussions are demoted [HN]; the practitioner rule of thumb is comments outnumbering points [practitioner].
Do less:
  • Marketing words, superlatives, feature lists, single-sentence paragraphs [HN].
  • Editorialized titles; moderators restore the original or a neutral phrase [HN].
  • Staff votes: rings are detected [HN]; telling staff not to upvote at all is a precaution [practitioner].
  • Posting a weighted-down domain over and over: site weighting is invisible, and only moderators can review it [HN].
效率排序：在自己非常熟悉的现有帖子中发表评论 > 发布可实际体验产品的 Show HN > Who is hiring 帖（仅适用于招聘目标）> 提交工程类帖子 > Ask HN > 申请进入二次机会池（second-chance pool）。
参与入口收益能带来什么
在他人帖子中发表实质性评论复利式累积积累账号历史并解锁 Show HN；仅在评论确实回答问题时提及自己的产品，并披露关系
Show HN（
/shownew
，然后 
/show
）		一次性，24-48 小时用户、反馈、stars
Launch HN（仅限 YC）一次性，每家创业公司一次经策划的首页展示位置；相关执行细节见模板 [HN]
每月发布的 Who is hiring 帖子一次性，可重复会在 HN 求职的申请人
常规提交自己的博客文章一次性如果文章有教育价值，可以带来读者；自己的内容只在“部分时候”会被接受 [HN]
Ask HN一次性回答一个真实问题，绝不能伪装成发布活动
二次机会池一次性随机获得一个首页位置；自己的作品属于“允许”范畴，版主会优先寻找这类帖子 [HN]
在 Profile 的 About 部分填写邮箱复利式累积获得版主发出的重发邀请 [HN]
  • 对于没有可体验产品的团队，上述顺序会使 Show HN 这一步没有机会：waitlist 或落地页不符合资格 [HN]，因此应先构建 demo。
  • **默认路径：**先评论数周，再发布一次 Show HN。若有明确发布日期且账号已经积累一定信誉，则优先 Show HN；若是招聘目标，则优先 Who is hiring。
  • 根据用户已有的资产重新排序：拥有多年 HN 评论记录的作者可以跳过先积累信誉的数周。

Cadence

排名机制奖励和惩罚什么

  1. Weeks -6 to -1: the posting account comments in its field; no product links.
  2. Week -1: a no-signup path that survives front-page load; license named plainly (open source, open core or source-available); pricing visible; staff briefed with the internal note.
  3. Launch day: submit when the author can stay six hours. Put the text in the text field; post it as the first comment only if it doesn't show [HN]. Answer the top-ranked questions first: page order, since comment scores are hidden.
  4. Days 1-2: collect emails or stars now. Front-page posts get most of their stars within 48 hours [practitioner].
  5. After a flop: run Diagnose and recover below.
  6. Ongoing: own submissions stay a minority of the account's activity. Set a keyword alert on the HN search API for your product name, to answer new threads within the hour. Who is hiring opens on the first weekday of the month [HN], about 11:00 US Eastern [practitioner].
Timing [practitioner]: one dataset finds the best odds near 00:00 UTC and on weekends, and the best mean scores at 12:00-15:00 UTC on weekdays. Best and worst slots differ about fourfold, yet about nine in ten posts at the best slot stay under 50 points. dang calls 
/newest
a lottery [HN]: pick the slot the author can staff.
应该多做：
  • 争取由自行发现产品的读者在早期投票：排名按 points 除以帖子年龄的某个幂计算 [HN]，因此最初几小时至关重要。
  • 提供无需注册即可体验的链接 [HN]，并提前公开定价：HN 读者经常抱怨没有明确标价 [HN]。
  • 冷静回复：过度激烈的讨论会被降权 [HN]；practitioner 的经验法则是评论数应多于 points [practitioner]。
应该少做：
  • 使用营销词、最高级用语、功能清单和单句式段落 [HN]。
  • 使用经过主观加工的标题；版主会恢复原始标题或换成中性表述 [HN]。
  • 公司员工投票：会被检测为 ring [HN]；要求员工完全不要点赞只是预防性做法 [practitioner]。
  • 反复提交权重已经降低的域名：站点权重不可见，而且只有版主能够审核 [HN]。

Limits

发布节奏

SurfaceLimitKind
Show HNNew accounts blocked "temporarily", no threshold publishedenforced [HN]
Show HNTryable, non-trivial, your own work; no landing pages, fundraisers, reading material, minor releases or quickly-generated one-offsenforced [HN]
Show HNTitle starts with "Show HN" or it never reaches 
/show
enforced [HN]
Show HNNew version only if significantly different, once or twice a year, linking the old threadpoliced [HN]
All posts, comments, job postsNo generated or AI-edited text; no automated postingenforced [HN]
StoriesOriginal title, no site name, no gratuitous numbers; 
[pdf]
and 
[video]
tags		enforced by edits [HN]
CommentsEdit about 2 hours; delete only before replies; deep-thread reply delay; rate limits after flamewarsenforced; numbers [practitioner]
Flag and vouch / comment downvoteAbout 31 / about 501 karmaenforced [practitioner]
Who is hiringEmployer only, one post per company, location plus 
REMOTE
or 
ONSITE
, say what the company does, only when actively hiring and replying		policed by flags and moderators [HN]
Competitor threadsOne disclosed mention at most, no hijackingpoliced [HN]
ThreadsClosed to comments after two weeksenforced [HN]
  1. **第 -6 周至第 -1 周：**发帖账号在自身领域参与评论；不要附带产品链接。
  2. **第 -1 周：**准备无需注册且能够承受首页流量负载的访问路径；明确写出许可模式（open source、open core 或 source-available）；公开显示定价；使用内部说明让员工做好准备。
  3. **发布当天：**仅在作者能够值守六小时时提交。将文本放在正文栏；只有正文未显示时，才将同一文本作为首条评论发布 [HN]。优先回答排名最高的问题：按页面显示顺序处理，因为评论分数不可见。
  4. **第 1-2 天：**立即开始收集邮箱订阅或 stars。上首页的帖子大多会在 48 小时内获得 stars [practitioner]。
  5. **表现不佳之后：**执行下方的 Diagnose and recover。
  6. **持续运营：**自己的提交内容应始终只占账号活动的少数。通过 HN search API 为产品名称设置关键词提醒，并在一小时内回复新帖子。Who is hiring 每月第一个工作日开放 [HN]，时间约为美国东部时间 11:00 [practitioner]。
发布时段 [practitioner]：一项数据集发现，最佳上榜概率出现在 00:00 UTC 前后及周末，而工作日 12:00-15:00 UTC 的平均分最高。最佳与最差时段相差约四倍，但即使在最佳时段发布，仍约有九成帖子低于 50 分。dang 称 
/newest
是一场抽奖 [HN]：应选择作者能够在线值守的时段。

Threads about you or a competitor

限制

  • Disclose in the comment: "I work on X." No HN rule requires it, but undisclosed staff praise reads as a booster comment, which is banned.
  • One person answers per question; colleagues don't pile in or chat among themselves [HN].
  • Answer the strongest reading of each criticism, find something to agree with, never address users by username [HN]. You win the silent readers, not the critic.
  • Answer criticism of the company's past conduct; don't ask moderators to remove it.
  • In a competitor's thread, answer only a direct question, once, disclosed.
  • A third party submitted you with a bad title: email hn@ycombinator.com to fix it; don't resubmit.
参与入口限制类型
Show HN新账号会被“暂时”屏蔽，且未公布具体门槛强制执行 [HN]
Show HN必须可实际体验、有实质意义且属于你自己的作品；不接受落地页、募资页、纯阅读材料、小版本更新或快速生成的一次性项目强制执行 [HN]
Show HN标题必须以“Show HN”开头，否则不会进入 
/show
强制执行 [HN]
Show HN仅在新版本有显著差异时发布，每年一至两次，并链接旧帖人工监督 [HN]
所有帖子、评论和招聘帖不得使用生成式或经 AI 编辑的文本；不得自动发帖强制执行 [HN]
Stories使用原始标题，不带站点名称，不添加无意义数字；使用 
[pdf]
和 
[video]
标签		由版主编辑处理 [HN]
评论编辑时限约为 2 小时；仅在收到回复前删除；深层帖子回复延迟；激烈争吵后触发频率限制强制执行；具体数字来自 [practitioner]
Flag 和 vouch／评论 downvote分别约需要 31／501 karma强制执行；具体数字来自 [practitioner]
Who is hiring仅限雇主；每家公司只能发一帖；注明地点以及 
REMOTE
或 
ONSITE
；说明公司业务；仅在确实招聘并持续回复时发布		由标记和版主监督 [HN]
竞品相关帖子最多披露并提及一次，不得劫持讨论人工监督 [HN]
帖子两周后关闭评论强制执行 [HN]

Diagnose and recover

关于你或竞品的帖子

  1. Check the post logged out and with 
    showdead
    on: 
    [flagged]
    , 
    [dead]
    , or simply sinking?
  2. Sinking with no flag: compare comments to points, and check whether your domain's other submissions die too (site weighting).
  3. No traction: repost a small number of times, never after it drew real attention [HN], about a week apart [practitioner].
  4. Flagged, dead or weighted: email hn@ycombinator.com once. Vouching works only on 
    [dead]
    posts, and asking anyone to vouch is solicitation.
  5. Good post, bad timing: ask by email for the second-chance pool; moderators still act on pool and killed-post emails, but no longer answer Show HN advice requests [HN].
  6. Never comment about votes or flags in the thread [HN].
  • 在评论中披露：“我参与 X 的开发。”HN 没有规则要求这样做，但未披露身份的员工吹捧看起来像拉票评论，而拉票评论是被禁止的。
  • 每个问题由一人回答；同事不要蜂拥而至，也不要彼此在帖子中闲聊 [HN]。
  • 回应批评中最有力的解读，找出可以认同之处，绝不通过 username 称呼用户 [HN]。你要争取的是沉默读者，而不是批评者。
  • 回应对公司过往行为的批评；不要要求版主删除批评。
  • 在竞品帖子中，仅在有人直接提问时回答一次，并披露关系。
  • 如果第三方用糟糕的标题提交了你：发送邮件至 hn@ycombinator.com 请求修正；不要重新提交。

Output

Diagnose and recover

For a full plan, deliver in order: refusals triggered; problems found in any draft, named not rewritten; account readiness verdict; surfaces ranked for this user with what moved; dated cadence; limits that bind, each with kind and source; the matching examples from references/templates.md, labelled as examples to rewrite in the user's own words; metrics. Never return finished HN-facing prose.
  1. 分别在登出状态和使用 
    showdead
    的情况下检查帖子：显示 
    [flagged]
    、
    [dead]
    ，还是仅仅在下沉？
  2. 如果没有标记但帖子在下沉：比较评论数与 points，并检查同一域名的其他提交是否也无人问津，以判断是否存在站点权重问题。
  3. 如果没有获得关注：少量重新发布；如果帖子已经获得明显关注，则绝不能这样做 [HN]，两次发布之间约间隔一周 [practitioner]。
  4. 如果帖子被标记、关闭或降权：发送一次邮件至 hn@ycombinator.com。Vouching 只对 
    [dead]
    帖子有效，而要求任何人 vouch 属于招揽。
  5. 如果帖子本身不错，只是时机不佳：通过邮件申请进入二次机会池；版主仍会处理二次机会池和帖子被关闭的邮件，但不再回复有关 Show HN 建议的请求 [HN]。
  6. 绝不要在帖子中讨论 votes 或 flags [HN]。

Metrics

输出

  • Points and comments at 1 h and 6 h, versus the median Show HN of 2 points; 50+ is the top 6% [practitioner].
  • Referrals, signups, installs and stars per day for 7 days, against the baseline captured before posting.
  • Share of the account's activity that is comments on others' threads; keep it the majority.
  • Who is hiring: applicants per post per month.
对于完整方案，按以下顺序交付：触发的禁止事项；任何草稿中发现的问题，只指出问题而不代写；账号就绪度判断；针对该用户排序后的参与入口及其排序理由；带具体日期的发布节奏；构成约束的限制，并分别注明类型与来源；references/templates.md 中匹配的示例，并标明这些示例需要由用户用自己的话重新改写；指标。绝不能返回已经写好、可直接面向 HN 发布的文案。

References

指标

  • samber/developer-relations-skills@devto-playbook - cross-posting the article behind a story.
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@dailydev-playbook - the personalized developer feed for the same article, ranked by reputation and tags instead of one front page.
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@tech-employer-branding - what the hiring post must be true to.
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@build-in-public - the ongoing narrative behind repeat Show HNs.
  • samber/developer-platform-skills@github-engagement-playbook - converting the star spike into watchers and contributors.
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@bluesky-dev-playbook - the standing social channel where a Show HN gets discussed afterwards.
  • 发布后 1 小时和 6 小时的 points 与 comments；Show HN 的中位数为 2 points，而 50+ points 位于前 6% [practitioner]。
  • 发布后 7 天内每天的引荐访问、注册、安装量和 stars，并与发帖前记录的基线对比。
  • 账号活动中，在他人帖子下发表评论的占比；应保持这一活动占据多数。
  • Who is hiring：每篇帖子每月带来的申请人数量。
—

参考资料

—
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@devto-playbook——将故事背后的文章进行跨平台发布。
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@dailydev-playbook——为同一篇文章提供个性化开发者信息流，按声誉和标签排序，而不是只依赖单个首页。
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@tech-employer-branding——招聘帖必须满足的要求。
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@build-in-public——多次发布 Show HN 背后的持续叙事。
  • samber/developer-platform-skills@github-engagement-playbook——将 stars 峰值转化为持续关注者和贡献者。
  • samber/developer-relations-skills@bluesky-dev-playbook——Show HN 后续讨论的长期社交渠道。