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Comment by gnicholas | Hacker News Reader

Aren't Show HNs supposed to link to the actual product for people to play with, not a blog post about making money? There's nothing wrong with sharing wins here, or new products. But it feels 'off' to me to see a Show HN next to a braggy blog title (I'm used to seeing plenty of either on their own, though!).

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Sorry if I misused the Show HN.

In this case, I want to show the journey and the story more than the product, and want to let people know I'm available for any questions like other Show HN posts.

(I don't think the product itself is very interesting for the HN crowd)

I find your post very interesting. I don’t care what the “rules” about Show HN are, this is a good read and that’s it. Thanks for sharing.

I agree - this post is really interesting as I've been following Black Magic for a while and doesn't bother me that much but perhaps it doesn't belong in the Show HN section as it's not showing anything new technically

Post is interesting, I give you that. But why should we ignore categorization all of a sudden? "Show HN" is strictly about something people can use or play around with, not just read, this is defined in the rules/guidelines of HN itself. For the same reason good titles are enforced, so it gets easier to navigate everything.

I stand corrected, I agree with you now that I see it that way. Thanks for the perspective.

IMHO, "Show HN" is to show your creations. You should put the title without "Show HN" when you're linking to a blog post, even if it is about a product that you've created.

Well noted, thanks!

There's [Tell HN] for posts like these. This post got engagement /despite/ the wrong tag, try not letting the unnecessarily negative tone of the original comment get to you (I'm sorry).

And thanks for the great share.

Thank you for the support! I definite should have used Tell HN.

I agree. OP should have used "Tell HN:"

On the "Show HN" page that shows all the Show HNs, there is a link in the top to the rules for Show HN, in case you've missed it. It's pointing to https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

TLDR is:

> Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. HN users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread.

> Off topic: blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists, and other reading material. Those can't be tried out, so can't be Show HNs. Make a regular submission instead.

I've been on HN for many years and also wouldn't have thought of this distinction. The post was interesting and relevant, thanks for posting it!

He’s showing us the money.

yes but sometimes I feel like a bit of context about why or how someone makes a product helps.

If you would have known the author - you would know he is one of the most humble indie hackers out there.

Maybe the title is misleading but totally deserves the upvotes, comments and attention. Just one more click away from the product is not a big deal...

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