Product Hunt is dead

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Perceived Decline & Was It Ever Good?

  • Many say Product Hunt (PH) has been “dead” or irrelevant for years, with dates ranging from ~2015 to “a few years ago.”
  • Some recall an early phase where it felt like a genuine community for discovering cool new products.
  • Others claim it was always “artificial” or grifty—basically a feed of ads and vanity launches rather than real product discovery.

Gaming, Grift, and Paid Upvotes

  • Multiple founders report being approached (often via LinkedIn) by services selling PH upvotes, YouTube views, and “engagement packages.”
  • There are claims that upvotes come from low-paid click farms and that packages can include fake traffic and video views.
  • One commenter notes that scammers might even fake their role in “rigging” votes and just take the money.
  • The consensus: the ranking system is easily gamed; once some cheat, everyone feels pressured to cheat.

Launch Experiences & Lack of Impact

  • Several founders describe stressful all‑nighter launch days, spam, cyberattacks, and retaliatory negative comments after refusing paid-promotion offers.
  • Reported traffic from good rankings is low and shrinking (e.g., top‑10 placements leading to only a few dozen visitors).
  • Many say PH launches bring more spam and bots than real users, and cohorts from PH have very poor retention.

Audience Confusion & “Dead Internet” Feel

  • Commenters struggle to identify who actually browses PH as a user; most exposure comes from seeing “#1 on Product Hunt” badges elsewhere.
  • PH comment threads are described as full of generic congratulations, rocket emojis, and shallow engagement rather than real product critique.
  • Some frame this as a broader “dead internet” or Web 2.0 problem: fake activity, bots, and marketer-to-marketer signaling.

Shift in Role: From Discovery to SEO Badge

  • PH is now seen primarily as:
    • an SEO/link-building tool,
    • a resume line (“launched #1 on Product Hunt”),
    • or a vanity metric for founders and PMs.
  • Several say it’s “pay to play” in practice, even if the money flows to third‑party vote brokers rather than PH directly.

Broader Product Discovery & Alternatives

  • Many argue that true discovery now happens elsewhere: search engines, niche communities, Discords, Reddit-style forums, or direct email lists.
  • Some see PH’s trajectory as an example of how open product directories and voting systems inevitably devolve under self‑promotion and misaligned incentives.