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
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?
@chrismessina IMO, Product Hunt forums are better when it comes to quality, and this seems to be because of the active moderating from the side of the PH team. However, as you mentioned, this can become harder to handle over time.
So far it is good (just my perspective) but I think that people (Users) would need a little bit of guidance on how to write those posts because many are discouraged (e.g. their convo wasn't approved). I still believe many people can contribute to a solid discussion but many of them have a problem with structuring the topic or are not aware of the rules.
@rajiv_ayyangar thanks for that.
Any plans to improve the types of moderation controls that are available to makers and product community members? That is, could a maker deputize a community member to run their product forum?
Reddit succeeds at providing community managers with different types of mod controls. I know Product Hunt needs to start out simple, but the current moderation approach is a black box, especially when there's no place to review the outcome of abuse reports, nor are there workflows to support petitioning if someone feels like they've been unfairly moderated.
I suppose the vibe currently feels more like a magazine, where Product Hunt staff tightly control the experience. In the future, it could be interesting to explore designating members in good standing as product reps, etc.
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.
@busmark_w_nika It can be both good and bad depending on the amount of members a community has. If a community has less members, it's better to be less restrictive. If it has more then it can be beneficial to have slightly more restrictions. The goal is to keep the ratio of number of high quality posts to low quality posts high.
I actually think it’s a great approach, but I had to get used to it at first since it’s quite specific. It definitely makes the discussions more valuable, but it also means you can’t just post any random thought, you have to put more effort into making it engaging and unique. That being said, I like that it encourages deeper conversations rather than just surface-level posts. 🚀
@hussein_r It is hard to create something that will get through and it seems I need to prepare in advance. Still at a risk that my discussions despite of preparation will not be shown.
Discussions can improve quality and keep on track, but they might also limit creativity and spontaneous engagement. It all comes down to how the rules are enforced.
@ansel_bastian What do you mean by limiting creativity in this case?
@cameron96 Do you have any suggestions for improving the discussion posts (forums)?
Re: "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."
While it may be more challenging to come up with unique topics, raising the bar could spark creativity and lead to innovative discussions. It's an opportunity to think critically and potentially uncover insights that could drive product improvements or new ideas.
@nikkielizdemere Sure thing, that's why it is harder. In AI era when I give ChatGPT prompt: "Hey, create some constructive arguments." it is difficult to cover things that ChatGPT will not cover. And I think that exactly this type of conversation is needed there. Because 95% of things can be discussed with ChatGPT. And I am trying to find and apply those 5% here.
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.