Driving More Users To Stacker News \ stacker news ~meta

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12.6k sats \ 104 comments \ @Jon_Hodl 11 Dec meta

Ever since I founded some territories here on SN, I find myself on here every single day. The biggest issue that have on here is that there's not enough fresh content for me to consume all the time. I often scroll through the home feed only to find old posts too quickly. Many territories don't even get a single post every day.

To solve this problem, we need more users. We don't want just any users though. We need more quality posts to keep us all engaged and we also need more quality commenters in key territories like Bitcoin _Beginners and Bitcoin_Mining, etc to answer all of the questions and then receive zaps for their quality contributions.

Naturally, the most obvious platforms that we could attract talent from are Reddit and BitcoinTalk because these platforms do basically the same thing but they don't have a good incentive model. You can't post images directly in reddit comments and the reply system on BitcoinTalk is so dated and difficult to follow.

Getting "paid" in merit, reddit gold, and upvotes does little to help you in the real world. Pay to post, value for value, boosting posts, and zapping sats has utility beyond the website.

Basically Stacker News is better than both platforms because it has a better UI and a better incentive/reward model.

How can we incentivize more quality posters to make the shift away from Reddit and Bitcoin Talk over onto Stacker news?

One thought I had is that anyone with a BitcoinTalk account could add their referral link to their profile signature.

Does anyone have a BitcoinTalk forum account that we can use to drive traffic here on SN? I do but I don't have enough merit to add images to my signature so any links in my signature are likely to go unnoticed. I know that @Kruw has an account on there and I think I recall @DarthCoin saying that he has an account that he doesn't use anymore.

How much talent could we incentivize to make the switch over here to SN if we just added banners with our SN referral links to BitcoinTalk signatures?

As far as reddit is concerned, I'm not sure how we could get in front of bitcoiners without buying an ad or bribing a mod in r/bitcoin or r/bitcoinbeginners

How do you think we can we get more quality posters and commenters here on SN?

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560 sats \ 13 replies \ @grayruby 11 Dec

Great idea. I am not sure how many of us have a Bitcoin Talk account but I think you are on the right track here. I am going to add an SN link and referral to my Nostr account and the sports territory twitter account.

One of my focuses in 2025 will be how to better market the territory and SN more broadly. Ultimately we want more than just Bitcoiners to join the site but the fact that we can't even seem to convert the low hanging fruit users is puzzling to me. I don't think it is a problem with the site or the content, it is getting people to understand the value proposition and to try it out.

One way that I thought might work well and I briefly tested but admittedly didn't do consistently or enough is finding good posts on other platforms. Reposting them on SN and then contacting the OP on the other platform to say "I reposted this on Stacker News. It earned x amount of sats. I would be happy to zap them to you". I did have one person join SN that way but it wasn't as successful as I expected. Although, granted I only did it 5 or 6 times.

I appreciate you are thinking about these things and kind of spearheading our open source community marketing campaign.

81 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 11 Dec

I was actually going to make this same suggestion.

Perhaps hearing that their posts are earning real money will entice them over. Then again, if I knew what would draw people to SN, I'd be swimming in referral sats.

91 sats \ 3 replies \ @grayruby 11 Dec

I have had some luck with getting people to try SN but they don't seem to stick around. They make a post, get some sats and go. Or join a sports contest and when it ends not come back. It is kind of messing with my paradigm that we just need people to try SN and they will love it.

Maybe I have sold it to them in the wrong way. I need to give it consideration. But look at your Libertarian buddy from nostr. I twisted his arm until he posted on here and I haven't seen him post since. I don't expect everyone to be posting every day but figured they would become semi regulars.

310 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 12 Dec

The ones who you've gotten to try, are they pretty active posters on other forums?

I think SN attracts a certain type of forum participant. I don't think it's great for lurkers, because you don't get the positive feeling of getting zapped for content. It's also not good for doom scrollers because SN isn't giving you the constant dopamine hit. The posts on SN tend to be something you actually have to read (not glance at) in order to extract value from.

I think it's really good for people who actually want to engage, but even then-only for a certain set of subjects that current SN users are interested in.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 12 Dec

Good points

50 sats \ 0 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 11 Dec

Yes, buyers remorse is strong in the noobies!! We have to find something that is very interesting to them, too.

71 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 11 Dec

I like that idea. It might work well for substack and medium writers.

236 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 11 Dec

Definitely a natural fit.

Let's come up with something for 2025. A "You should really be on Stacker News" campaign to recruit quality content posters.

40 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Bookmarked

20 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

One thing I am starting to do on Twitter/X is to reply to questions with relevant links to stacker news posts.

Not only does it answer their question but it also leads others to the platform.

I think I notice more daily referral sats when I do this too so it’s a win for everyone.

40 sats \ 0 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 11 Dec

This might work well. We just have to be making quality posts and replies.

40 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 11 Dec

That's great. I'm with you. There's a sea of thoughts I've inside me on this topic but I better be silent for now.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 11 Dec

I like this, just don’t get shadow banned like @hn 👀

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 11 Dec

This feature request might help

@nout had this idea already in #9716

225 sats \ 4 replies \ @DarthCoin 11 Dec

You know that now you can create personalized invite codes?

You better be careful who you invite.

31 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Yes, I have used a few of these but I believe that only 1 person ever signed up with one and got the sats.

The issue with these is that I don’t have anyone to share these invite links with. That’s why I am thinking of ways we can do something more passive that will get us more users.

We don’t need to worry who we invite when they have to pay to post. If spam picks up, we raise the paywall.

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @Satosora 11 Dec

I think k00b said earlier some people were abusing these or the ability was there to abuse them. Have to be careful.

30 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

I saw that post as well

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 11 Dec

I cant remember exactly what he said. It was one or the other.

217 sats \ 2 replies \ @Fiat_Revelation 11 Dec

IMHO quality content attracts quality content. The more current Stackers are incentivized to make good content, the more people will find their way here. For exampe, I first came across SN by Google searching a Bitcoin topic and I found a really good guide posted here.

Territory owners play a part in this too. Siggy47 does a good job for example, with the weekly newsletters in BooksandArticles.

I'm not saying don't try the other marketing tactics, but encouraging endogenous growth makes our community stronger and will garner interest from outside.

12 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

For example, I first came across SN by Google searching a Bitcoin topic and I found a really good guide posted here.

Agreed. We definitely need more native content on here. I am drafting a basic marketing strategy and campaign. I will be sure to include more long-form content.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fiat_Revelation 11 Dec

Just an observation. Not implying anyone is lacking in their territory upkeep.

151 sats \ 1 reply \ @Shugard 11 Dec

To get more quality posters, I think we need more word-of-mouth. I'm not sure if I would qualify as a quality poster myself, but I was urged to join by @denlillaapan. And it took him almost two months. Since I'm here, I'm trying to push two people from my circle. Maybe if they join we will have two more quality posters. I think that's how we win new good content?

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Word of mouth is always the best way for anything and everything to spread but I am thinking how we can attract the next wave of 100k+ stackers.

I’m thinking that maybe we need to focus on the Bitcoin influencers who already use the platform and ask them to use their referral link to drive more traffic to SN. We already have BTCSessions, Stephan Livera, Love Is Bitcoin, and lots of other influencers so why not find a way to ask/incentivize them to use their referral link more prominently and dominantly.

31 sats \ 2 replies \ @satcat 11 Dec

It's a good question. Unfortunately every single post I make to r/Bitcoin is removed within minutes, mods have totally destroyed that forum.

I took a long break from SN, just got interested in it again the other day, and happy to see improvements and additions. However not much user growth, dispite far superior platform.

Bootstrapping a social network is very hard thing to do. Need users for content, and content for users.

Perhaps Elon will help us out and ban Bitcoin on X soon.

15 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Yeah. r/bitcoin seems to be for memes and nothing but pump talk.

r/BitcoinBeginners is still very wholesome and relevant but not enough people are posting the same Qs here in SN and def not enough people dropping quality replies.

I think we can find some good ways to get in front of Reddit users but I think they will cost money. That will have to wait for now.

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @028559d218 11 Dec

r/bitcoin used to be interesting, a place for stimulating conversation. like during the last so-called bear market.

now it's all exchange-rate talk which is mostly meaningless... in addition to being a hang-out of sorts for day-traders. it's not enjoyable and i rarely look at it or have a reddit account. but i check out stacker news all the time

14 sats \ 2 replies \ @guts 11 Dec

I don't recommend SN to many people for the simple reason many posters here are anti-crypto, it's even more difficult finding quality posters

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @028559d218 11 Dec

let's be honest... SN is built by and for bitcoiners. The whole website/user experience runs on sats for goodness sake. if someone doesnt have at least intellectual 'buyin' to bitcoin... i'm not sure thety will enjoy using stacker news.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Let them come. If their posts suck, we won’t zap and they will go broke after so many posts.

If they’re posting value, they will receive value.

12 sats \ 3 replies \ @030e0dca83 11 Dec

People are looking for either: something free or something with high quality. We can't give them free sats but we can give them high quality posts

Let's make this together

1 sat \ 2 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Agreed.

What sort of content do people want to see more of?

Are you a content creator?

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @030e0dca83 12 Dec

Nope, I'm an average stacker. Came here to study something new about Bitcoin and have fun. If I'll meet here a person who's asking the question I know the answer, I'll try to help him in response

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

That sounds like a perfect plan.

Keep it up. We appreciate your contributions.

11 sats \ 13 replies \ @Satosora 11 Dec

I think SN is better to spread by word of mouth. People that you actually know and interact with. I wouldnt want to invite someone that abuses SN. Once we allow that kind of riffraff in, it will only get worse.

105 sats \ 6 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

With pay to post it doesn’t matter who we let in.

If they’re posting value, they will earn sats. If they don’t produce value, they will go broke and leave.

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @Satosora 11 Dec

When you bring garbage, and then everyone has to sift through that garbage because you arent even on that often.... Is it really better for the community?

20 sats \ 4 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Pay to post prevents the garbage though.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Satosora 11 Dec

It doesnt prevent it, it just limits it.

20 sats \ 2 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

That’s fair but without a constant incentive/reward, they won’t stick around.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 11 Dec

That is why it is better to grow slowly with better people. People that you trust that share the same morals. Or you will have people that will milk the system by posting the similar things day in and day out. I do believe it would be good for SN to grow.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

Yes, I agree. I think the custom invite links are best for inviting people on a more p2p basis and then use some larger more broad methods to bring new users to consume content.

reply on another page

141 sats \ 5 replies \ @satcat 11 Dec

Impossible to keep bad actors out, but no need to, that's what the SN incentives and costs are for.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

🎯

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Satosora 11 Dec

Right, but it is better to minimize it as much as we can before we let them enter. One bad actor can bring in a crowd of unwanted people.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

We want a crowd of people who pay to post.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @satcat 11 Dec

The more the merrier, as they're all paying participants. Same concept as there being no spam transactions.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @028559d218 11 Dec

100% this. hashcash but for content!

114 sats \ 22 replies \ @BlokchainB 11 Dec

I plan on getting some SN merchandise to help spread the word

43 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 11 Dec

I am going to make you a Stacker Sports Blok'd Shots tshirt for Christmas. I won't say which Christmas because it definitely isn't happening this year. Haha

17 sats \ 4 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Awesome.

SN is just low key enough for me to actually wear it in public without worrying too much about OpSec.

21 sats \ 3 replies \ @028559d218 11 Dec

lol noone knows what stacker news is. can we get a color other than yellow please?

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

I need an entire array of dope colors

66 sats \ 1 reply \ @028559d218 12 Dec

black and yellow outfit. you can be a bumble bee.

black yellow and red and you can be germany

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @AGORA 12 Dec

#806036

107 sats \ 15 replies \ @Aardvark 11 Dec

I'd buy merch.

81 sats \ 14 replies \ @denlillaapan 11 Dec

Same

0 sats \ 13 replies \ @AGORA 12 Dec

We did some... would you like to try? https://agora.ftp.sh/cat/stacker-news/ The best we can do is send back the profits to SN reward pool

21 sats \ 12 replies \ @Aardvark 12 Dec

When I go to checkout I get an error

Cannot construct an instance of Automattic\WooCommerce\Blocks\Domain\Services\CheckoutFields because it has not been registered.

0 sats \ 10 replies \ @AGORA 12 Dec

interesting. Thanks for testing, I'll check it asap

@Aardvark where you using coinos or opennode at checkout?

0 sats \ 9 replies \ @Aardvark 12 Dec

i was trying to buy an xl black tshirt with coinos

0 sats \ 8 replies \ @AGORA 12 Dec

Mmm... is the coinos gateway. With openNode should be working

view replies

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark 12 Dec

deleted by author

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @LowK3y19 12 Dec

I’m trying my hardest I referred like 3 people already

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

Thanks for your service.

We definitely need everyone working to drive new users to the platform but we need some large-scale initiatives to bring 10k+ new users per month and then we can weed out the good users with all of the awesome incentives on here.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @kruw 12 Dec

Naturally, the most obvious platforms that we could attract talent from are Reddit and BitcoinTalk because these platforms do basically the same thing but they don't have a good incentive model. You can't post images directly in reddit comments and the reply system on BitcoinTalk is so dated and difficult to follow.

Tbh, you don't want to bring in users from Reddit and Bitcointalk on here. Reddit is ENTIRELY filled with people discussing the price, there is nothing of interest posted there whatsoever.

Bitcointalk's earning model revolves around users selling their signature/avatar space for advertisements, and only veteran members are able to display signatures and avatars. This has driven the quality of posting down massively since users will repeat the same reply as each other in every topic while making sure to expand their posts to exactly 151 characters so they reach the quota required for them get paid.

I don't think that SN's incentive model is the only reason that the content here is of higher quality, there's also the underlying moderation team and algorithm that curates the content.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

Tbh, you don't want to bring in users from Reddit and Bitcointalk on here. Reddit is ENTIRELY filled with people discussing the price, there is nothing of interest posted there whatsoever.

I think r/BitcoinBeginners is still a great place for new users to learn but we need more beginners on here asking questions and more people like you on here to answer questions about things like Wasabi CoinJoin

Bitcointalk's earning model revolves around users selling their signature/avatar space for advertisements, and only veteran members are able to display signatures and avatars.

Yeah, I am only 7 merit away from being able to post images in my signature. Any chance you have any merit you'd be willing to part with? Maybe for a zap?

I don't think that SN's incentive model is the only reason that the content here is of higher quality, there's also the underlying moderation team and algorithm that curates the content.

Yes, there's a lot that makes this place the best but I feel like we need a constant stream of new users who actually want to learn and don't want all the heavy-handed moderation and censorship. It seems like it's always the same 30 people posting and commenting on each other's posts.

21 sats \ 4 replies \ @DesertDave 12 Dec

I agree. I think it's going to happen naturally with time. I do my best to blast out some referral/invite links on nostr once in a while. Which brings a couple People. Hard to say the quality though. They may be just getting the free sats and bailing.. I have never used another site like this but I imagine it's by far the best, because there isn't central control and you earn sats. It will grow naturally for sure. Just like in Bitcoin, we are early. Having a territory is smart I think. Keep being patient.

11 sats \ 3 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

Which brings a couple People. Hard to say the quality though. They may be just getting the free sats and bailing.

That's what I think too. The reddit/hacker news format is not for everyone but I feel like most people know that its a place where you can ask and answer questions in a forum style setting. As soon as people realize they can earn sats for providing value, they are more likely to stick around.

Just like in Bitcoin, we are early. Having a territory is smart I think. Keep being patient.

💯

I came to the same conclusion as soon as I learned that you could found a territory and generate passive sats. It might take me 10+ years to break even but I was gonna hodl that long anyway so I might as well provide some value for the community and stack some sats along the way.

I think we need more people founding communities so they have a vested interest in the long-term success of the platform.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @DesertDave 12 Dec

I agree. And I like the fact that the builders seem focused on this aspect. There is talks that the bar for entry is going to lower into founding a territory. And lifetime is going up. Which makes sense.

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

Hmmm. Maybe I need to found some new ones before they raise the price for lifetime.

Do you have links to where this is discussed?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave 12 Dec

Yessir. #804915

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Roll 11 Dec

Some thoughts as a newbie:

-Create a territory for ex redditer/ex bitcointalker with particular conditions (rewards when coming to SN) with a condition that they have an old account...

-What about some regular articles in Bitcoin websites (Athena, Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin Minimalist, The Daily Bitcoiner.... ) to "promote" SN ?

-To have an option to get SN in diferent languages ?

-Ask to some known speakers to create an article in SN with a special reward, once a month ?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

What about some regular articles in Bitcoin websites (Athena, Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin Minimalist, The Daily Bitcoiner.... ) to "promote" SN ?

Yes, this is an excellent idea. I will try to put together a basic marketing campaign and will be sure to add this one.

70 sats \ 3 replies \ @cryotosensei 11 Dec

I have 47 referrals. I spread the word through PublishOx, my FB acct n my blog.

The thing is, I don’t know where most of my referrals come from. It would have been nice to have Stackers know the nym of the newbies they manage to entice so that they can isolate the marketing efforts that worked for them and shoot cannonballs based on that.

I do think we have to spread the net wider. Don’t shoot me, but I cross-post my stuff here on PublishOx (a writing site that pays in ETH). I know at least three referrals who came here through my referral link there. I won’t doxx their identities here since I don’t know if they are embarrassed to be associated with that site now. Haha.

Alternatively, I know @TNStacker used to invite photographers to his ~Photography territory through Nostr

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

I think this is a good strategy for attracting more users who are attuned to crypto.

Well done and keep up the good work.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei 11 Dec

Okay this is weird. I got another referral 10 mins after I posted my reply

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder 12 Dec

i have also been reading your name as crypto sensei lol

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @cleaningup12 11 Dec

I shared a SN link on nostr and I got a notification from SN saying someone had joined from my link, I didn't realise any link you share has your mark on it!

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Yes. SN has pretty much the best referral system in the world.

Any link you share while signed in is your ref link.

0 sats \ 11 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 11 Dec

Just my impression, but why in the world would you want Reddit inhabitants here? They seem a tad on the unstable side, don’t they? I gave up on Reddit a long time ago, after being involved in several flame wars.

64 sats \ 1 reply \ @Solomonsatoshi 12 Dec

More than a few here are refugees from r/bitcoin...myself included.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

I love that you use the term "refugees from r/bitcoin".

I will be using that moving forward.

43 sats \ 8 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

but why in the world would you want Reddit inhabitants here?

Because there is a lot of talent on reddit but due to bad incentives, r/bitcoin has become a bit of a cespool.

r/bitcoinBeginners is still a great space to newer users to ask questions and get quality answers and they new have 1.1 million members in that sub. Users like BitUsher with over 100k comment karma (https://www.reddit.com/user/bitusher/) does a LOT of work to field questions all day but doesn't stack any sats from his responses.

This is a substantial opportunity for SN and @siggy47. We just need to find a way to create a sort of talent vacuum that draws all of the best posters, commenters, and zappers over here.

21 sats \ 4 replies \ @siggy47 12 Dec

It sounds like bitusher could clean up over here

43 sats \ 3 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

He absolutely could but we would need like 100k people over here asking all the low level Qs.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 12 Dec

Are there really 100k users in that subreddit? I am also a refugee, but I escaped to SN in 2022

43 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

There's 1.1 million members in r/BitcoinBeginners and 7+ million in r/bitcoin

Might be worth looking into advertising your territory on r/BitcoinBeginners

You can search ads that have been displayed on reddit for "inspiration" https://ads.reddit.com/inspiration

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 12 Dec

We have some work cut out for us, I guess

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 12 Dec

Is the problem the same as with the third world inhabitants migrating to the first world? Don’t they tend to chang the first world countries into the third world? So, why bring a cesspool into SN?

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl OP 12 Dec

The problem with bringing the third world into the west is the fucked up incentives where they get free shit for doing nothing at the expense of the nationals who bear the tax burden. If they all had to pay to consume welfare resources, they wouldn’t come.

Stacker News is possibly one of the best free-market incentives I’ve ever discovered.

Pay to post keeps the spammers, trolls, and scammers to an absolute minimum.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 12 Dec

I love it!!! I, also, think that ending all of the free sh*t for everybody is a spectacular Idea! That means no more civilian parasites, but still leaves the state as the big bloodsucker. If we could cut them off without getting shot in the back of the head, that would be great, too.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Coinsreporter 11 Dec

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

Not yet.

We need 100k+ users a month.

I can filter out my own spam and bullshit but we need more people on platform.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinsreporter 11 Dec

So, you're saying you won't accept any award until we reach 100k+ users a month?

That was just a little appreciation to your post. I myself want SN to grow exponentially very soon. You have a plan so I like it.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl OP 11 Dec

🫡