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Ask HN: best time to submit a story?

14 pointsdavidbnewquist8 comments
On HN

When does readership generally peak on a daily and weekly basis?

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Readership peaks midweek, midday (US). But that doesn't mean it's the best time to submit a story, because there's also more competition. On a weekend, 2 points will keep you on the frontpage for a significant time. On a weekday it might not get you on at all.

The best time to submit a story?

When you have something relevant and interesting to share!

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

This feels like the beginning of the end.

I remember seeing these same threads start to show up on Digg a few years ago.

From what I've seen, it only takes 1 upvote to hit the front page, and stories (if they aren't killed) tend to stick around for at least 24 hours. My hypothesis is that there isn't a best time.

"only takes 1 upvote"

I would say it only takes one quick upvote. A submission with 2 or 3 quick votes after submission gets a big boost.

This might not be the best barometer for submitting a story, but take a peak at http://www.hackrtrackr.com/, I was surprised (still am) how many people participate from within middle[skewed easterly] america. I've always operated under the assumption that HN activity scales according to eastern standard time.

it could go either way but in general x seconds after reading it (YMMV) and judging it HN worthy. i have found submitting stories prior to reading them, or even knowing that they exist, to be an inferior method.

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