About & rules

XHN (X Hacker News) is a community front page for links, questions, and projects shared by X accounts. It is inspired by Hacker News: short titles, upvote ranking, and threaded discussion.

Board data is stored durably so posts survive deploys and everyone sees the same feed.

• Anyone—Browse Top and New without an account.
• Signed in with X—Submit links, open Ask / Show, vote, and join discussion on a post.

Your display name on posts comes from your X profile when you sign in.

From Submit (requires X sign-in) you can share:

• A link — title + URL (optional short note).
• Ask XHN — text post with a title starting with Ask … and no URL (or empty URL).
• Show XHN — title starting with Show … for something you built or shipped.

Submitting gives your post 1 point (your own upvote). Others can upvote once they are signed in.

Titles should be clear and neutral — describe the link, not a clickbait pitch. Prefer primary sources when you can.

New is reverse chronological: newest submissions first.

Top uses a Hacker News–style score that balances votes with age:

• More points raise the score; time decays it (gravity 1.8).
• A brand-new post needs votes quickly to stay high; older posts need more points to compete.
• You can toggle your own upvote on a post or comment (once per account).

Top only includes posts from the last 48 hours. After 48 hours a post leaves Top automatically. It can still appear on New (and Ask / Show) until it ages out of retention.

• Leaving Top after 48 hours is not deletion — the post remains on the board with its score until pruned by the 1,000 cap.
• When a post is pruned, its votes and comments go with it. Remaining posts keep their point counts.
• Resubmitting creates a new post starting at 1 point — it does not restore an old score.

1. Be civil. No harassment, hate, or personal attacks. Argue about ideas, not people.
2. No spam or vote rings. Don’t flood the board with the same link, or organize fake upvotes.
3. Honest titles. Don’t editorialize or misrepresent the destination. Quote the original title when it is fair.
4. Safe for work. Keep links and comments appropriate for a public tech/community board.
5. One account, one vote. Sign-in is via X; don’t try to game ranking with alts.
6. Respect the law. No illegal content, malware, or phishing links.

Moderators (or the site operator) may remove posts that break these rules. XHN is a small community product — use good judgment.