Stricter Discussions (Forums) on the Product Hunt – Bad or Good?
A few days ago I saw some posts here about:
– the number of discussions is decreasing,
– sometimes they are approved later,
– that there is "other community growth" – I don't know what was meant by that and I'm just guessing.
Yes, the conditions have changed – Forums are more moderated and rules are strict, hoping to bring more value and engagement of active (real) users.
https://help.producthunt.com/en/articles/10478791-product-hunt-forum-guidelines
In general:
discussion shouldn't be "egocentric" but should invite to be a part of it (actively discuss)
should bring a value – something to learn, find out
shouldn't be replicable – not something, that can be easily found on the internet
= It should result in quality and genuine discussion with interactions.
I also find it harder to come up with a new topic that is unique while sticking to the rules, but I assume it raises the bar.
How do you perceive this updated Forum format and its new rules?
Just a few quick tips to create discussions that have a chance to be shared:
Ask questions: Opinions, experiences, lessons learned.
React to news, new situations in the world, and discuss current events.
Follow up on other people's forums, referencing their questions that prompted other questions.
Talk about products, their gaps, improvements, and useful use-cases. (That's what product forums are for.)
@konrad_sx absolutely. i had to re-write my post 3 times and the guidance wasn't particularly helpful. tbh I gave up on my last post only to find it being commented on the following day
@konrad_sx Is this for just one post or you're consistently seeing the same pattern?
Some of my posts were immediately approved as posted and some a bit late depending on what time of the day I posted. So it appears to be a manual approval depending on the availability of the person on the backend.
@konrad_sx I remember when some posts (before implementation of discussion forums) were approved sometimes even after a half-day. But I suppose that back then, it was because of implementation of new features and changes so old Discussions weren't a priority.
@konrad_sx @rohanrecommends I also think it is manual. At this points it is maybe bearable, but later with growing audience and discussion posts it will be less manageable. Maybe that is the point when it will be co-moderated by human + AI.
@konrad_sx Got it, thanks for sharing. :)
@busmark_w_nika yeah, if not AI, then just approve regular folks haha :D
Hi Nika,
Those are good tips on creating threads! 😊
Regarding moderation:
I believe the delay in post approvals may discourage community members from engaging further. If they don't see their post live immediately, they might leave or return later, reducing participation.
An alternative approach could be to pre-approve regular contributors who consistently share valuable content. This would help maintain quality while fostering a more active and engaged community.
It’s an unspoken truth that Product Hunt values curation and conciseness. Rather than viewing it as a typical social media platform or Reddit, it may be more accurate to see it as a community-driven media outlet with carefully selected contributing authors or contributions.
On SEO:
From an SEO perspective, there’s a possibility that Google may start indexing Product Hunt under the “Discussions and Forums” category in search results.
For this to happen, the platform would likely need to maintain an open forum with diverse voices, supported by strong technical SEO practices.
I also noticed that the PH team is seeding discussions, which could indicate the direction they envision for the platform’s discourse.
@rohanrecommends Hey Rohan, thanks for contribution. I think that your points are pretty valid and I like point no. 2. There is a question if once that person is approved, will not misuse their position. But I do not think so as it could harm his/her reputation. :)
@rohanrecommends +1 on the second point. Maybe when you hit a certain points threshold on your profile? In the immediate terms I'd just crowdsource misuse via flagging, then a moderator can review/approve.
@dan_difr Yes, flagging is a good option which already exists. I am sure there must be a mechanism for pre-approval.
Points based approval sounds interesting. That can make kitty points / coins actually useful haha :D
@taniabell they do! we have fewer people online then so it may be a moment as they work on other tasks.
Currently, the rules are quite generic, and I think they will improve over time. I asked Rajiv (founder of PH) about this during Forum launch, as a couple of my posts were not approved, and here is his response.
"We're working on better notifications but if you email hello@producthunt.com with examples we can give you feedback."
@gamifykaran Some site with No-No posts and good posts maybe helped. I think that concern is maybe in the fact that there used to be a lot of posts from fake accounts (they were a low quality) so at the beginning they can be suspicious. That's why it is important to show up every day and be visible as well.
It's probably worth consider whether Product Hunt Forums aspire to be more like Hacker News (a single leaderboard of items interesting to that audience) or Reddit (many smaller forums with their own communities, cultures, and rules).
I'm not sure Product Hunt can support the latter (yet), and the former will take a much harder approach to moderation in order to inspire higher level and higher quality engagement, especially when 1) engagement farming is a scourge and 2) AI slop permeates across Product Hunt.
Product Hunt leadership (cc @rajiv_ayyangar!) should spell out which direction it intends to pursue, or if there is a third option, and then engage the most authentically engaged members of this community to support that direction (presuming we agree).
Thoughts?
Sider for iOS 2.0
I just wanted to start a discussion. I originally wanted to ask about creating my own product forum, but I was rejected.
I didn't give up and went to the Help Center to check the reason for the rejection and find the answers to my questions.
I found that the official guidelines did not provide clear answers.
I know my question might seem silly, but I think the current approach definitely raises the threshold for use. I hope there could be an AI customer service that makes it easier for me to get answers to such trivial questions.