RunEvr
Agentic project management environment for creatives
Start new thread

Product Hunt, I love you. But we need to talk 😹

by
•

I don't know whether it's a good or bad idea to write this here =D
But as a really active user, I'd love to discuss the things you like about Product Hunt and the things you'd love to see improved.

My list of things I love is really long:

  • Priceless community

  • Meaningful conversations

  • Product and self-growth

  • Interesting articles

  • And much much more......

But alongside that, I also have a small list of things where I'd love to see some UX improvements =)

Sorry, PH!

🔔 NOTIFICATIONS

I don't feel like I'm getting very useful notifications.

I actually wrote to the PH LinkedIn page about this too, but didn't get an answer.

For example, I never really know who upvoted my product or thread. I get the bell notification, but when I open it, I can see activity from 9 hours ago.

And I never know who commented what, so I have to manually go through my threads every day to find new comments and reply to people.

⬆️ UPVOTES

I can't see who actually upvoted my product, thread, or comment. I can only see number of upvotes.

I understand that maybe this is part of the PH style, but sometimes you really want to know who supported what you posted.

🤝 REACHING OUT

This one is especially interesting to me.

Let's say I get a notification that James James upvoted my product.

I'd love to be able to click on James' profile right there, see who he is, what he's building, follow him, etc.

Instead, the notification takes me to the thing he upvoted.

And because I can't see the list of upvoters there, I basically lose James James =DDD

It feels like a missed opportunity for discovering and connecting with people.

📱 MOBILE

A couple of things that bother me on mobile:

  • I can't reply to comments correctly. Even when I reply to a sub-comment, my reply appears under the general comment, so the structure and beauty of the conversation gets lost.

  • I can't see which topic a thread belongs to.

Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe there are already solutions to some of these things that I haven't discovered yet.

I'd really love to hear from other active PH users.

What do you love about Product Hunt? And what would you improve?

Share both your good and bad lists here 👇

I'm genuinely curious to see whether others experience the same things.

176 views

Add a comment

Replies

Best

For me, it is the issue with threads getting automated rejections even after re-reading every line and the guidelines multiple times, no idea what's actually triggering it and I would love more clarity there. and yes, completely agree on notifications too, i also don't know who upvoted or commented until i manually check

 You know, my threads have always been rejected in p/general - I checked them scrupulously, but still... =D

I started this thread in p/producthunt because I thought it was the most relevant topic, and I even added a sentence like, “if PH approves this...” - but they still rejected it. =D

But I have my safe place now - p/runevr =)))

   The most frustrating part of those thread rejections for me is that they don't point to a specific problem with the post, just a generic guidelines link. When I was trying to ask support I got automated AI replies pointing to the guidelines again, and I wasn't able to reach a person although I tried several times.
By the way, threads from new users in p/general usually get almost zero attention, so I just accepted that it's not a channel worth posting to anyway.

   Yeah exactly, same experience, just a generic guidelines link with zero specifics on what actually triggered it.

What channel have you found actually worth posting to then, if p/general gets ignored for new users?

   I only got 2 threads accepted: one in p/general and another in p/vibecoding. The second instantly got views and comments (16 now). What I said about p/general is my observation rather than experience.

I feel like PH is a great community in general, but a bit "disconnected".

The fact that I can't see who upvotes my threads, comments, or product is frustrating. The only way to connect with others (seeing their profile and talking to them) is by looking at the comments on my threads or commenting on others'. It's a real missed opportunity, like you said.

I don't know if it's done on purpose, but for me it makes PH less of a real community, like I can't really connect with a lot of people who spend time here but are not that active and just upvote without commenting or creating threads. I would really love to see it changed!

 I like that it isn’t classic social media, and for me, it’s totally fine that there are no DMs.

I really like this approach to the makers and creators community. But still, when I have no opportunity to follow someone who upvoted me, it feels like a gap.

I have a feeling that I do not receive all notifications :D

 Yes, that exists... =/

Oh! I thought no notifications with someone's comments is because my account being blocked or the problem of my internet 0O0
I feel the same as you and I wish these problems can be solved. I almost missed an important conversation.

 Yes, the notification problem exists =D

There is another problem that I've noticed by accident - invisible comments. I wrote a comment in someone's thread, count jumped to 1 and then back to 0, but I was able to see my comment as posted. Then I checked that thread from another browser where I wasn't logged in - it wasn't there. Then I checked some other comments where there was no reaction from the person who asked a question - also invisible. Usually the comment becomes visible within a minute or two, probably because of some automated checks. But again - if it's not shown to others then I would greatly appreciate a notification about it, rather than wonder why people don't reply.
There are also discussions on Reddit about this

 There are similar things on Product Hunt. For example, some reviews don’t count, and some upvotes don’t count either.

I actually think this can be a good thing in some cases, because it makes it harder to generate fake upvotes and support.

i like the networking point most. when someone supports a product it can be the start of useful connection. Could PH make that discovery easier without turning upvotes into a popularity contest?

 Yes, networking is definitely the best part of it all. Are you active on other platforms as well? And where do you have the most connections?

I see the same issue with comments. A notification that opens the exact new reply would save a lot of time. Could PH also add a simple filter for unread activity so active users do not miss conversations?

 It’s good to know I’m not the only one struggling with notifs =)

Oh, and refreshing your post increases your views count

 Yes, I think that’s about optimistic updates. That can exist =)

Totally agree on most of these points

  • Notifications - you're almost penalized for having a large community or for following people who are engaged / supportive - oftentimes valuable responses / comments get bogged down in a sea of notifications about X upvoted or Y hunted but what I care about most is my personal engagement with the community and (in full transparency) my products / prospects / feedback.

  • Outreach - Like I mentioned elsewhere - I would like the idea of a wall or something to that effect but I think at a minimum having what you said - a place to check in on those folks who organically supported your product / expressed interest (maybe even like... a place where they can say - WOULD BE INTERESTED IN USING THIS ** vs simple being a supportive community member. Oftentimes I will upvote and support products that I would never even know how to use ahah. But there are times when I think oh that might be valuable so even for me to have a way to

    1. Have a shortlist of products I could use in my stack / marketing / or even just review later to see what they've built

    2. Have those users get access to that same list of folks who said "I might use this" or "interested in this" vs just here to support the community at large.

    Mobile is simply an experience to keep the streak going for me - I don't have much need for amendments on there really - its a desktop first exp as far as I am concerned.

    ---

    A few things that bug me:

  • Inability to amend domains - ex: we changed our product name but kept the launch and now my domain / product thread cannot be changed (still have yet to hear back from the team on this one hint hint!)

  • flagging of forums (or lack of visibility for those that get approved) - I actually like the previous forum iteration much more than the one that currently exists - I'd rather sift through 15 a day to find the ones I want - with mine getting a chance of increased visibility vs PH determining what stays featured for a long time. My point - I would prefer 100 forums with 10 comments instead of 10 forums with 100 comments - i think that encourages much more engagement and community.

  • Less nesting in general - getting into someones product forum sounds great in theory but I think this is a launch / marketing tool coupled with community so the product centric stuff post launch feels like... maybe a little too nested and if people have real concerns or want to engage in discussions about a product... unlikely they will come to PH - create and account and then engage?

  • took away the chat with a human feature

    A few things I am a big fan of:

  • I love the new(er) search for products

  • Launch experience feels more cohesive - less spammy

  • love that they added a fundraise part of the launch - not sure how many eyeballs it gets but - interesting none the less

  • Like that they've got the change log visible

 Wow, thanks for such a detailed comment!
It’s good to know I’m not alone in trying to “make the world a better place” =)

And laughed a lot reading your phrase: “you’re almost penalized for having a large community” =DDD