The percentage of Show HN posts is increasing, but their scores are decreasing

Perceived flood of AI-generated “slop”

• Many commenters feel Show HN is being swamped by AI or AI-adjacent projects (“agentic X”, AI skills, AI calculators), often quickly vibecoded with LLMs.
• This is seen as lowering average quality and burying interesting non‑AI projects under a “sea of AI slop.”
• Some fear a broader industry trend: as it becomes easier to build things, mediocre output floods attention channels and devalues careful, deep work.

Experiences posting to Show HN

• Several people report recent Show HN posts getting almost no clicks or comments, even when re-submitted.
• There’s frustration that strong ideas can be overlooked amid AI fatigue and volume.
• Others say this “hit or miss” pattern has always existed: title, timing, and luck matter; repeated iteration is needed.

Show HN mechanics and value

• Confusion exists about whether Show HN posts are disadvantaged versus regular links; clarifications say they appear in both /new and /shownew, with promotion depending on votes and filters.
• Advocates argue Show HN brings a different kind of engagement: more feedback on idea and implementation, less generic debate.
• Critics see Show HN (and Product Hunt) as increasingly self-referential, with creators mostly talking to other creators.

Moderation and “substance”

• Moderators stress that Show HN is not Product Hunt: it’s for substantial, curiosity-worthy projects, not quick landing pages or lead-gen tools.
• “Substance” is defined as real thought and effort, a genuine problem, a meaningful “a‑ha” insight, and something that actually works, even if unpolished.
• Shallow AI-driven projects are explicitly called out as things that will not be promoted; there’s a second‑chance pool for good projects that were initially missed.

Attention, bots, and incentives

• Attention is framed as scarce; with ~1 new submission per minute and hundreds of Show HNs per day, almost no one can evaluate more than titles.
• Some suspect voting bots and organized rings, especially around AI topics; others cite analyses showing more posts and lower scores without clear proof of quality decline.
• There’s concern about a “race to the bottom”: hustling, spammy promotion, SEO-style posting, and influencer effects crowding genuine Show‑and‑Tell culture.