If you are posting this on HN, accepting users, and (presumably) taking payments, then you have already publicly launched, and you should have done this already.
This seems like an overly stringent requirement for Show HNs. The guidelines say no such thing[0], and in fact they say the opposite:
A Show HN needn't be complicated or look slick. The community is comfortable with work that's at an early stage.
I thought what drew people to HN in part was the ability to see fun and possibly unfinished/amateur but interesting and thought provoking content.
I agree that merely posting on HN doesn't constitute a public launch.
But what about meeting all three of the conditions I laid out in the sentence you quoted: (1) marketing the site to the public, (2) accepting users, and (3) taking payments.
Arguably, at that point, you have veered out of hobby project territory and have publicly launched a business -- and that's where my criticism lies.
Comments
I'm not a "legacy" HN user or anything but
This seems like an overly stringent requirement for Show HNs. The guidelines say no such thing[0], and in fact they say the opposite:
I thought what drew people to HN in part was the ability to see fun and possibly unfinished/amateur but interesting and thought provoking content.
[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html
I agree that merely posting on HN doesn't constitute a public launch.
But what about meeting all three of the conditions I laid out in the sentence you quoted: (1) marketing the site to the public, (2) accepting users, and (3) taking payments.
Arguably, at that point, you have veered out of hobby project territory and have publicly launched a business -- and that's where my criticism lies.
A bit late but I do agree with that sentiment, (3) in particular. Taking payments is certainly a threshold