Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Concerns about new accounts and spam

  • Many participants report a sharp rise in low‑effort posts and comments from “green” (new) accounts, often perceived as LLM‑generated “slop” or promotion.
  • Some see patterns of dormant or aged low‑karma accounts suddenly activating with similar low‑quality content.
  • Others note that HN has historically handled spam well but the scale and style of AI‑assisted activity has made moderation harder.

AI‑generated content and detection

  • Strong sentiment that obviously LLM‑generated comments and Show HNs should be bannable; moderators confirm generated comments are generally grounds for bans.
  • Disagreement on detectability: some say blatant LLM style is easy to spot; others warn about false positives and note humans now imitate LLM style.
  • Debate over whether to allow LLM‑assisted writing (especially for non‑native speakers) versus fully generated “zero‑effort” content.
  • Several argue constant “this is AI” comments are themselves low‑value noise unless there’s clear evidence or actionable labeling.

Show HN quality and “AI slop”

  • Many feel Show HN quality has dropped: more vibe‑coded repos, Potemkin projects, and LLM‑generated READMEs and landing pages.
  • Others argue apparent quality is higher but effort per project has fallen due to AI, raising expectations about what counts as “impressive.”
  • There is worry that genuine, high‑effort projects (especially by new users) may be dismissed as AI‑generated.

Policy changes and proposals

  • Moderation has already begun restricting Show HN submissions from new accounts; intent is to require some prior participation.
  • Suggested mechanisms:
    • Age/karma gates for submissions or downvotes.
    • Lower flag thresholds for killing posts from new accounts.
    • Vouching / invite or web‑of‑trust systems.
    • Proof‑of‑work, captchas (including “reverse” ones), or small monetary costs.
    • User‑side filters: hiding green/low‑karma accounts, muting specific users, browser extensions, “LLM spam” flags.
  • Critics note determined spammers can age and farm accounts; added friction may mostly hurt legitimate newcomers and privacy‑conscious users.

Openness vs. community health

  • One camp prioritizes human‑only, high‑effort conversation and is willing to add friction and risk some false negatives.
  • Another fears echo chambers, loss of “author shows up” moments, and death by over‑restriction, drawing parallels to Reddit’s heavy automoderation.
  • Some conclude that perfect filtering is impossible and users will increasingly need personal tools and reputation/trust systems to navigate an AI‑polluted internet.