Ask HN: Why do small voting or ranking projects get flagged as spam so easily?
9 comments
> What surprised me is how quickly these kinds of projects get treated as spam across communities, even when there’s no monetization, no ads, and no growth hacks involved. In some places, just mentioning “I built a small ranking tool” seems enough to trigger suspicion or moderation.
Because most places don't want you to post self promotion and leave, that's spammy.
> I’m not trying to promote anything here.
You are, that seems to be your only intention. Your first 2 posts (out of 3) were about promoting your site and now your third post is complaining about unsuccessfully promoting your site.
You promoted your site and then left.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
> Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity.
Because most places don't want you to post self promotion and leave, that's spammy.
> I’m not trying to promote anything here.
You are, that seems to be your only intention. Your first 2 posts (out of 3) were about promoting your site and now your third post is complaining about unsuccessfully promoting your site.
You promoted your site and then left.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
> Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity.
To be fair, lots of people don't like to comment on sites.
So imagine you read HN for a while, but never register a nym because you don't really like to do social media. Then, you are inspired to do a project and think the community would enjoy it, and get hit with hostility.
I suspect sometimes that's a trend that plays out, not saying it's the case in this particular instance.
So imagine you read HN for a while, but never register a nym because you don't really like to do social media. Then, you are inspired to do a project and think the community would enjoy it, and get hit with hostility.
I suspect sometimes that's a trend that plays out, not saying it's the case in this particular instance.
I appreciate this perspective.
I think that tension between sharing and promotion is real,
especially for people who don’t post often.
Fair point.
I can see how my posting pattern comes across that way, even if that wasn’t my intent.
HN’s norms are stricter than I accounted for.
Thanks for the direct feedback.
Your last post https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46270436 is not flagged. It's just that nobody upvoted it. It happens sometimes, for good and bad projects. It's hard to know the reason, the hivemind is mysterious...
Some feedback, more mean than usual, but I hope it helps:
When I arrive to ypur site, I get a lot of text in Korean and no explanation. Add some explanation and add an option to filter only post in English [or perhaps 1) Everything 2) English 3) Korean 4) Others.] It's very difficult to get traction here if the site is not in English (or at least is easy to switch.). [Hi from Argentina! Remember to add Spanish if you get enough users from here.]
Is it possible to create a new post? Did I create a new one https://rankiwiki.com/archives/6109 ? Did I create a new one! I didn't want to create one. Luckily it wrote something silly and not mean. Anyway, why does it have no options? Do you have some filter or moderation?
Can I upvote without login in? Is it possible to make some anonymous pools? (yes, they will be full of multiple votes and other nasty things, but it's easy to get anonymous users, at least block double votes using cookies, that is easy to bypass for advanced users.)
Why I can't see the comments?
In your last post you say "Designed for small groups where the ranking is a starting point for discussion, not a final verdict.". How is that implemented in the site? I guess online polls are not binding. Are some polls closed to a few "friends" accounts?
---
My recommendation is to get a friend or something similar, and ask them to use the site without a detailed explanation. Something like "Just create/vote a pool about fruits."
You sit back like 1 meter behind your friend, shut up and cross your hands on your back. Zero helping. Watch how they interact with the site and where they get stuck. After some time give help, so your friend doesn't get angry. Thanks your friend, and go to fix where they get stuck.
Now find another friend ... fix where they get stuck.
Now find another friend ... fix where they get stuck.
Some feedback, more mean than usual, but I hope it helps:
When I arrive to ypur site, I get a lot of text in Korean and no explanation. Add some explanation and add an option to filter only post in English [or perhaps 1) Everything 2) English 3) Korean 4) Others.] It's very difficult to get traction here if the site is not in English (or at least is easy to switch.). [Hi from Argentina! Remember to add Spanish if you get enough users from here.]
Is it possible to create a new post? Did I create a new one https://rankiwiki.com/archives/6109 ? Did I create a new one! I didn't want to create one. Luckily it wrote something silly and not mean. Anyway, why does it have no options? Do you have some filter or moderation?
Can I upvote without login in? Is it possible to make some anonymous pools? (yes, they will be full of multiple votes and other nasty things, but it's easy to get anonymous users, at least block double votes using cookies, that is easy to bypass for advanced users.)
Why I can't see the comments?
In your last post you say "Designed for small groups where the ranking is a starting point for discussion, not a final verdict.". How is that implemented in the site? I guess online polls are not binding. Are some polls closed to a few "friends" accounts?
---
My recommendation is to get a friend or something similar, and ask them to use the site without a detailed explanation. Something like "Just create/vote a pool about fruits."
You sit back like 1 meter behind your friend, shut up and cross your hands on your back. Zero helping. Watch how they interact with the site and where they get stuck. After some time give help, so your friend doesn't get angry. Thanks your friend, and go to fix where they get stuck.
Now find another friend ... fix where they get stuck.
Now find another friend ... fix where they get stuck.
Thanks, this is actually very helpful feedback.
You’re right about the language issue and the lack of upfront explanation, that’s on me. The accidental post creation is especially painful to hear, but useful.
I like your suggestion about silent user testing. I’ve mostly tested it myself, which probably explains a lot.
You’re right about the language issue and the lack of upfront explanation, that’s on me. The accidental post creation is especially painful to hear, but useful.
I like your suggestion about silent user testing. I’ve mostly tested it myself, which probably explains a lot.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.
I’ve shared this project and these questions in a few places, but this is the first time I’ve received such concrete, thoughtful feedback.
I appreciate both the critical and sympathetic perspectives. There’s a lot here for me to reflect on and improve.
Yeah, i have the same experience.
The problem is that Facebook Groups decimated online forums. Those used to be great for thematic communities but became deserts and I think that whenever someone introduces something they did, whether paid or not, is now treated as spam or something one should pay for instead of discuss it(imagine how much technical talk could be had about a project you made) because the volume of messages became so low that any type of self promotion gets a lot of exposure(imagine that a forum gets 10 new posts per week, your post would then be shown for a quite some time until it would fall off the lists of recent posts) and search bots have time to index it.
FB Groups on the other hand became monetised, despite it breaking FB rules. So any link you post is instantly deleted, and you'll likely be banned, unless you pay for it to the administrator beforehand. It took these admins years to build these groups so they will not risk letting anyone use it to self promote without paying.
It's a total shitshow out there. Don't think it's just you. It's not. The internet just really sucks nowadays.
The problem is that Facebook Groups decimated online forums. Those used to be great for thematic communities but became deserts and I think that whenever someone introduces something they did, whether paid or not, is now treated as spam or something one should pay for instead of discuss it(imagine how much technical talk could be had about a project you made) because the volume of messages became so low that any type of self promotion gets a lot of exposure(imagine that a forum gets 10 new posts per week, your post would then be shown for a quite some time until it would fall off the lists of recent posts) and search bots have time to index it.
FB Groups on the other hand became monetised, despite it breaking FB rules. So any link you post is instantly deleted, and you'll likely be banned, unless you pay for it to the administrator beforehand. It took these admins years to build these groups so they will not risk letting anyone use it to self promote without paying.
It's a total shitshow out there. Don't think it's just you. It's not. The internet just really sucks nowadays.
Yeah, that matches what I’ve been experiencing elsewhere too.
It feels like the space for small, exploratory projects to be discussed has shrunk a lot.
What surprised me is how quickly these kinds of projects get treated as spam across communities, even when there’s no monetization, no ads, and no growth hacks involved. In some places, just mentioning “I built a small ranking tool” seems enough to trigger suspicion or moderation.
I’m not trying to promote anything here. I’m genuinely curious about the dynamics:
- Do voting/ranking tools have a bad reputation because they’re often used for manipulation or low-effort engagement?
- Is the problem the format itself (polls, rankings), or the way they’re usually introduced?
- From a community’s point of view, what would make an experiment like this feel acceptable rather than spammy?
If you’ve built or moderated communities, or shipped small experimental tools, I’d really like to hear how you think about this.