Interesting to see there's a profile/follow model...when Product Hunt still doesn't allow anyone to join and comment/submit. That does not help dispel the perception of PH being an elitist Silicon Valley club where the cool kids hang out.<p>And the self-promotion and upvote begging on Product Hunt is getting even worse (<a href="https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=product%20hunt%20upvote&src=typd" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=product%20hunt%20upv...</a>) despite promises for improvement.<p>See previous rant: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8427079" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8427079</a>
A few key things that PH got right from my pov:<p><pre><code> * Requiring a tagline (huge time-saver, s/n!)
* Curation (via the crowd but also via well known product people, s/n!)
* Highlighting Makers (great game dynamic & good for s/n)
* Profiles (& following. It is a community)
* Embracing Twitter (great way to bootstrap & improved social signal, s/n!)
</code></pre>
These things might sound like simple details but when you consider that the magic behind services like PH is the community, attention-span & noise level then they've really nailed it.<p>Of course seeding the community and growing it was important but when you build a system these decisions make or break the whole thing.<p>It also makes me wonder why similar services like HN and Reddit didn't go into that direction/depth sooner.
I guess that I am still skeptical of Product Hunt. I don't get the appeal at all, I'm looking to spend money on less things or reduce the complexity in my life.<p>The other thing that most people seem to dislike about Product Hunt is the exclusivity, which doesn't bother that much. It is an interesting strategy to combat the quality of a site decaying and I curious as to how it turns out.
My suggestion for Product Hunt is to be able to filter by the best of last week, last month, or all time.<p>The top submissions of the past few days are pretty cool, but being able to see the most highly upvoted submissions of all time would be an amazing first-time user experience.<p>Plus, if I go on vacation, I can just quickly see the best of what I missed last week.