2 months ago
- Hacker News is a news aggregator and forum created by Y Combinator, launched in 2007 as 'Startup News' and rebranded to focus on hacker topics.
- The site uses custom jargon like upvote, karma, hug of death, and shadowban, with specific voting rules (e.g., downvoting requires 500 karma).
- Posts can be link or text (Ask HN, Show HN, Tell HN), have an 80-character title limit, and can be edited within two hours.
- Ranking is based on points, time decay, and penalties for text-only posts; the algorithm has evolved to prevent gaming.
- Moderators (dang, Scott Bell, Tom Howard) handle shadowbanning, second-chance pool for overlooked posts, and anti-spam measures.
- Name colors indicate new users (green), YC alumni (orange), and high-karma users can change the top bar color.
- Search has been provided by Octopart, Algolia, and Trieve; the Firebase API launched in 2014 for programmatic access.
- Demographics show a US-heavy user base (32-56%), with significant European usage; active user count has been trending upward.
- Notable posts include the Dropbox announcement and the 'Putnam' comment; the site also has anti-procrastination features like noprocrast.