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Comment by jmuguy | Hacker News Reader

I suppose if the author asked a few folks to leave positive comments on the post thats not too crazy. I'd do the same thing if I was trying to promote something. I think I'd draw the line at something more programmatic, like some gray hat creating sock puppet accounts.

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The HN guidelines[1] say:

> Don't solicit upvotes, comments, or submissions. Users should vote and comment when they run across something they personally find interesting—not for promotion.

I believe that means that asking people to leave positive comments on a post is something the guidelines ask you not to do.

But I would agree that, for instance, just posting on your social media "I posted this on HN, check out the comments" by itself should probably be fine, and might result in the same behavior, it's kind of a fuzzy line.

Please don't actually ask people to leave positive comments though. Or post something that you hope people read-between-the-lines the same way.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

The same guidelines that you linked also say:

> Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data.

true!

Hi, I haven't asked anybody. But I did wait with SHOW HN until I sold something and had good reviews and feedback.

They should disclose that, though. Otherwise the feedback is indistinguishable from astroturfing.

Pretty much everything about this guy rubs me the wrong way. The usual cheesy testimonials / vague promises of content which never really gets previewed, the obvious astroturfing, which he continues to respond to as if they're organic genuine comments, etc. Just leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

I am really sorry you feel that way. It's all pure feedback from people I don't know. All organic. And I am replying, because I promised I will be around for discussion.

Testimonials, podcasts appearances, and comments here were not solicited. People just did that on their own.

Jeremy from Software Engineering Radio actually really bought the alpha version, and his invitation to the podcast was out of the blue. Jason didn't buy my book (I think) but wanted to talk about it. Juan sent me his testimonial himself. And I wasn't their friend beforehand either.

> never really gets previewed

I linked two previews, one is a full chapter. I also have like 8 readable screens of good quality on the book page.

Thanks for the explanation. Sorry for the false alarm. My spidey senses started tingling but I should have held back a bit.

As you mentioned, I was flat-out wrong about the previews. Not sure if I scrolled straight past that section or what.

Wishing you the best with your book. And FWIW I like the bash-based approach; I agree with the philosophy of peeling away the abstraction layers.

No problem, I know where you are coming from. I regularly get spammed with "we are not PH" and "we are on HN" posts from people I don't even know, and the hard truth is that for lot of these "marketers" it actually works in the end.

Thank you!

Thanks for your straightforward reply.

The comments could have been seen as odd, but your openness suggests it was just a coincidence.

Also, congrats on writing a full book!

Thank you!

On the other side, I find your comment, and all the other comments that originated from yours, very distracting to the point that I didn't care anymore about the book itself but only about writing this (annoying and distracting) comment.

This is why I never look at the comments on ProductHunt.

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