Hacker News Reader

Comment by davnicwil | Hacker News Reader

A negative reception to putting a product out there is actually a really great outcome. It shows you are doing something right if this happens.

The expected and typical outcome is to be completely ignored - crickets. This is perhaps the main reason you should not fear shipping!

I have a post which elaborates on this if it's interesting for anyone: https://davnicwil.com/negative-feedback-is-positive/

View on HN

Unfortunately those two things often come together, in which the only bit of attention is a single negative comment. Social media sites (forums included) are optimized to reward criticism, no matter how small, instead of positivity.

Supposedly this is because upvotes are intended to replace comments like "Great!" or "I really like this, good job." But obviously that doesn't work out in reality.

I see this on HN frequently. Someone posts their thing and you get some low quality banter about the name choice or hosting provider or whatever, and then the top thread is a big unsubstantiated criticism plus some pilers on. You never really know what to make of it but it feels pretty much the same as if the post was just ignored.

I agree with you—particularly about shipping.

I used to worry about shipping because I thought “you only get one chance to make a good impression.”

But as long as you use negative feedback to improve, you will always[1] get another chance! Statistically speaking, 0% of the world has seen your product.

[1] Obligatory disclaimer that if you really fuck up, you don’t get another chance. But that’s super rare.

Yes, I think if someone cares enough to leave negative feedback, they found it interesting enough to at least try it out, and they're (often) at least invested enough to see if their feedback has any impact or makes a difference. They will look again.

The people who see your thing as useless and don't even try it are the people you never hear from.

I totally agree with negative reception! It means that people give enough of a shit to feel about your product. Which means that with more development - either in product or in market - you’ll find people who love what you made.

Negative feedback is a signal, yet not a guaranteed good. It could also just mean someone stumbled into your product and found it fatally flawed. Sometimes one needs to hear hard things.

Then again when building only for myself all feedback (or lack thereof) is irrelevant!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com