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Is Product Hunt losing its edge?

I came across a post (see here) complaining that the Product Hunt community has essentially become a positive echo chamber, and doesn't actually offer any constructive feedback.

So, my question is, aside from an uptick in traffic (and potentially sales), what benefits did you see from your ProductHunt launch?

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    Yes, it has lost its edge. It's just like linkedin now.

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    Whenever anyone launches on ProductHunt, they usually promote it actively in the first 24 hours. If that intensity of promotion is replicated across platforms every day, most products will see better chances of success. That's one positive takeaway I had. :)

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      That makes sense! Thanks for your feedback Rohan.

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    I think there are 2 separate questions here:

    (A) Is ProductHunt still a reliable source of high quality products?
    (B) Is ProductHunt still a good place to promote your startup?

    I can't speak for (B), but it seems to still hold true, from the stories I'm seeing on IndieHackers and other communities.

    (A) however... I 100% agree. It's an absolute popularity contenst of useless landing pages, reboots and unremarkable half-baked apps.

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      Nice way to divide my initial post, you're spot on. Part of me is still tempted to try launching. Have you done a launch any time recently?

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        No, not yet! Just 2nd-hand from others.

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          We bit the bullet and posted on PH anyway! Would love your feedback and support, if you're willing :) https://www.producthunt.com/posts/the-chatty-mammoth

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    To answer your questions: yes, ProductHunt is primarily for driving traffic to your project.

    I have been scrolling through ProductHunt for as long as I can remember, and I can't find myself in the "positive echo chamber".

    Of course, most upvoted comments will be positive, as launching your product on PH is a massive milestone for many companies.

    However, I have seen many comments (which usually require some scrolling through the comments) where people ask good critical questions about the product or leave some feedback.

    Personally, I would rather send the team my feedback via a Twitter DM or their contact/info email when I have feedback.

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      Thanks for the detailed response! Good to hear that there is still some high-value engagement on Product Hunt. Have you done any / many releases on Product Hunt? I'm interested to see what the trend in traffic is like. I had an acquaintance mention that, on their launch day, their PH traffic only accounted for 3% of their total website traffic.

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        We are launching on pH tomorrow and are putting up a 24h tracking public site to understand the traffic funnel and some other data. I'll share the link here - might be helpful for you.

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          That would be fascinating! Thank you.

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              We ended up launching as well! I'd love your feedback, if you're open to it! https://www.producthunt.com/posts/the-chatty-mammoth

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                Lovely work! you got my upvote :)

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              Wow, that is a seriously impressive tracker. I was imagining a very crude site, not that! Kudos.

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        I have watched a couple of PH launched from up close, and it highly depends on the day and the number of (genuine*) upvotes you receive. Most of them failed to get a significant traffic spike (due to low ranking), but some got enough traffic to get their project off the ground.

        *Sure, it helps to ask your audience, friends, and family for some upvotes, but that also means that sometimes you get projects on the front page that the PH community doesn't care about and thus doesn't get many clicks.

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          Hmm, I like your insight; nothing is better at marketing itself than a genuinely good product! Do you mind if I reach out to you in the future about some pointers for Product Hunt? We're considering a launch.

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            Sure, you can find my email via my profile!

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              I just realised that I never emailed you! Times flies...and now we've actually launched! Would love to know what you think of our launch, if you're up for it? https://www.producthunt.com/posts/the-chatty-mammoth

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    It's over-saturated with products, so you don't get much traffic as you were used to getting.

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      Do any similar alternatives come to mind?

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        Betalist and HN are what come to my mind that is worth getting solid traffic.

        But instead of chasing one platform, focus on smaller communities and updating your progress there.

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          We decided to post on PH anyway, before looking into other platforms! Would love to know what you think https://www.producthunt.com/posts/the-chatty-mammoth

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          Nice - thanks for the tips!

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    I think Product Hunt should restrict launches to smaller projects.

    I don't know exactly what the rules should be here, but things just get confusing when an indie hacker is launching their new bootstrap SEO tool next to a huge tech company "launching" a new feature inside their million-user app.

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      I couldn't agree more. Not only does the disparity in resources mean that its harder for a bootstrapped project (that deserves attention) to get exposure, but I don't think new tools is what Product Hunter really want. Have you launched recently? We're considering a launch, even with the above commentary

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        I launched MailThis last year, hit #2 for the day. Launched a few other small things, but not as well-planned as that one.

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          Do you mind if I hit you up on Twitter? Interested to ask about the launches and what you did differently.

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            Go ahead. Maybe you already did?

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