I was reminded when I read "Better Ways to Read Hacker News" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15310291) that I get almost all my content from HN from hndigest.com, an (awesome!) email that links me to the top articles. I basically never interact with the front page at all.<p>I've also noticed recently that it's becoming very difficult for submitted content to get <i>any</i> votes on the new page, even if it's a damn relevant and thought provoking. I'm not just thinking of my own content that got no votes :-) But I also realize that I'm part of the problem... because I only read the stuff that's already gone to the front page.<p>In previous jobs, I worked at companies where we could say, "we just posted to HN - take a look and consider voting (from LTE!!!)." This content frequently went to the front page. Content where we didn't send this Slack message did not - ever.<p>I'm wondering: with all the passive readers, and potentially more content getting submitted generally, is it still possible to get attention on HN with a great idea alone? My personal conclusion is that it isn't, so I've largely stopped posting unless I'm supported by other humans who promise to cast a few upvotes.
I think HN needs to consider segmenting, like Reddit does with subreddits. This would give more content a chance to get to the front page with a relevant audience.
Sometimes. But the odds aren't good.<p>HN is trying to solve this by getting good articles reposted, but from the viewpoint of somebody running a pipeline that scans everything that gets posted on HN, this is just adding to the noise.