June 5, 2024 — This morning on HackerNews a user posted a comment about a boring, niche product.

However, I happened to work on that boring, niche product at Microsoft, and looked forward to having a constructive conversation about it.

Instead I got the familiar cryptic error message:

You're posting too fast. Please slow down. Thanks.

The HackerNews Guidelines are a great read.

The Guidelines may be the wisest words assembled on running a constructive online community.

I like to reread them every few months.

Nowhere in the guidelines does it say anything about "posting too fast".

The word "speed" does not appear at all.

What is the right speed?

(I am genuinely curious.)

I can't count the number of times YCombinator has said FASTER!

For example, an essay on PaulGraham.com says:

By this point everyone knows you should release fast and iterate. It's practically a mantra at YC...

Fast iteration is the key to success.

I would estimate YCombinator has published thousands of posts and videos, explaining from a hundred angles, why you should move faster.

Apparently they have also discovered there is a "too fast":

You're posting too fast. Please slow down. Thanks.

For that discovery they give 8 words.

This is an interesting discovery! Tell us more!

The HN Guidelines state:

Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says...Assume good faith.

The strongest plausible interpretation of that error message is that you have figured out something important: the optimal speed!

Can you please share with us, your dedicated users^[1], the answer to the question: what is the right speed?

[1] I was one of the first people to join HackerNews, creating my current account on August 24th, 2007, which is about eight months after Paul Graham created it.

I was part of two YCombinator batches, in 2008 and 2009.

YCombinator expelled me in 2022^[2].

Of over 9,000 YCombinator alumni, I am the only founder who was part of both their #1 and #2 ranked batches (out of their ~37).

[2] I disagree with their expulsion and miss Bookface, the secret online forum they have for alums built originally by Garry Tan, but it's probably for the best. I am not yet sure whether I believe secret organized groups are a morally good thing. (Though I definitely miss pondering that moral question while utilizing the financially lucrative benefits of Bookface :) ).