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docs: Show HN launch day operations checklist — minute-by-minute runbook for May 12-13
2026-05-09 02:09:22 -07:00

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Show HN Launch Day Operations Checklist

For: Scott Scoble | Launch: May 12 (Monday) or May 13 (Tuesday), 2026 Prepared: May 9, 2026, 2:04 AM PT (Ventures 🚀)

TL;DR: What Scott Actually Does

  1. Pick Monday or Tuesday morning
  2. Run the 5-minute pre-flight check below
  3. Paste the Show HN post
  4. Watch comments for the first hour — use the comment playbook
  5. At +4 hours, cross-post to Reddit + share link on Discord/Slack groups
  6. At +24 hours, check if it hit front page and decide next steps

PRE-LAUNCH: Day Before (Sunday or Monday night)

5-Minute Pre-Flight Check

Run these in a terminal:

# 1. ALL LINKS WORK
curl -sI https://speckl.scoble.me | head -1        # → 200 OK
curl -sI https://os.scoble.me/forgejo/sscoble/speckl | head -1  # → 200
curl -sI https://codeberg.org/sscoble/speckl | head -1  # → 200

# 2. COMPILER IS STABLE
cd ~/speckl/compiler && npm test                     # → 41/41 passing

# 3. DEMO PAGE WORKS
curl -sI https://speckl.scoble.me/demo/index.html | head -1  # → 200 OK

# 4. WHITEPAPER IS ACCESSIBLE
wc -l ~/speckl/docs/whitepaper-v2.md                # → ~1,300+ lines

# 5. BLOG POSTS RENDER (optional — pick your 2 best for linking)
#    Blog posts: ~/speckl/docs/blog-*.md

If Storj is still down: abort launch. Without the landing page, the post loses all credibility. Scott must fix rclone config or republish the landing page another way first.

Choose Your Timing

Option Day Post Time PT UTC Why
A (best) Tue May 13 1:00 AM PT 8:00 AM UTC Catches EU morning + US late night
B Tue May 13 6:00 AM PT 1:00 PM UTC Catches US morning, EU afternoon
C Mon May 12 6:00 AM PT 1:00 PM UTC Monday is slightly worse than Tuesday

Recommendation: Option A if Scott can pre-schedule or wake up early. Option B if he wants a normal morning.

HN Account Check

  • Log into HN. Verify karma ≥ 2 (minimum to post Show HN).
  • If karma < 2: Reply to 2-3 comments on front page stories to get karma. Takes 10 minutes.
  • Bookmark: https://news.ycombinator.com/submit

LAUNCH DAY: T-5 Minutes

Open These Tabs

  1. HN Submit: https://news.ycombinator.com/submit
  2. Comment Playbook: Find it at ~/speckl/docs/show-hn-comment-playbook.md (open in editor or browser)
  3. Your HN Threads page: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=YOUR_USERNAME (to monitor comments)
  4. Announcement post source: ~/speckl/docs/show-hn-announcement.md

Final Sanity Check (30 seconds)

  • Title starts with "Show HN:" ✅
  • Landing page resolves ✅
  • GitHub/code link is a real repo (not just docs) ✅
  • Post body has actual code examples or links to them ✅
  • Whitepaper link works ✅

T+0: POST IT

Go to https://news.ycombinator.com/submit

Title:

Show HN: Speckl — Write specs like TLA+, compile to runnable TypeScript and WASM

URL:

https://speckl.scoble.me

(Link to the landing page — it has links to the repo, whitepaper, demo. HN prefers clean landing pages over direct repo links for Show HN.)

Text: (optional — only if using self-post format) Paste the body from show-hn-announcement.md. If HN's URL field is used (recommended), add the first paragraph as the first comment instead.

Immediately After Posting:

  • Copy the post URL (it'll be https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=XXXXXXX)
  • Save it — you'll need it for cross-posting

FIRST HOUR: The Golden Window (T+0 to T+60)

This is when HN's ranking algorithm is most sensitive to engagement. Every upvote and comment thread counts quadruple.

What To Do:

  1. Reply to comments within 5 minutes. Speed signals "builder is present."
  2. Use the comment playbook (show-hn-comment-playbook.md) — it has responses to 14 common objections pre-written. Copy-paste-adapt. Do NOT write responses from scratch under time pressure.
  3. Be human. If someone says "cool project," say thanks and ask if they have a use case. If someone finds a bug, thank them and log it.
  4. Don't get defensive. Someone WILL call Speckl "another TLA+ clone." Use the pre-written response. Don't argue. Move on.
  5. Upvote helpful comments from others — it keeps the thread active.

Do NOT:

  • Ask friends to upvote (HN detects voting rings)
  • Post multiple top-level comments yourself
  • Link to "buy now" or pricing (there is none — keep it pure Show HN)
  • Engage with obvious trolls. One polite reply, then ignore.

Monitor Metrics:

  • Upvote count (refresh every 10 min)
  • Comment count
  • Position on /show or /new vs /news (front page)

T+1 TO T+4: Sustain Engagement

  • Check comments every 30 min
  • Reply to new questions using the playbook
  • If post is on /show but not /news: normal. Show HN needs ~10+ upvotes in first 2 hours to graduate to /news.

First Cross-Post: Reddit

Only if the post has 15+ upvotes and positive comments. A dead post doesn't need amplification.

Post to r/programming (2.5M members):

Title: Speckl — Write specs like TLA+, compile to TypeScript and WASM (open source, Show HN'd today)

Link: Your HN post URL (not the landing page — Redditors want to see the HN discussion)

Flair: Use if available.

T+4 TO T+24: Extended Monitoring

  • Check comments every 2-3 hours
  • If post hits front page (top 30 on /news): engage actively with ALL comments — this is your moment
  • If post stalls at 5-15 upvotes and sinks: don't despair. Bookmark the HN post URL. You can reuse the announcement for a future Show HN in 3-6 months with "v0.3" or a major milestone.

Additional Cross-Posts (Only If Traction Is Good):

Platform When Post Type
r/Compilers (28K) T+4h Link to HN discussion
r/rust (300K) T+4h WASM angle — "compiles to WASM from formal specs"
Twitter/Bluesky T+1h Link to HN post + screenshot of compiler output
Lobsters T+2h Submit as "Speckl: a spec language that compiles to TypeScript + WASM"

T+24: Debrief

If It Hit Front Page (top 30 on /news):

  • 🎉 You have developer credibility. Now:
    1. Submit whitepaper to arXiv TODAY (ride the momentum)
    2. Cross-post to all platforms listed above
    3. Email the formal methods communities (tlaplus group, FME, etc.)
    4. Consider a follow-up Show HN in 2-4 weeks with "Speckl v0.3: now compiling real-world state machines"

If It Got Moderate Traction (10-30 upvotes, some comments):

  • Valuable signal. Extract every comment as product feedback.
  • Update the FAQ/landing page based on common questions.
  • Re-submit after a major compiler milestone (pre/postcondition support, record types, etc.)

If It Got No Traction (< 10 upvotes):

  • Show HN timing is fickle. Does NOT mean the project is bad.
  • Check: was the title good? Was the landing page slow/down? Did you post at a bad time?
  • Try again in 3-6 months with a substantially improved product.
  • Don't delete the post — HN doesn't let you. Just move on.

CONTINGENCY: If Something Breaks

Problem Response
Landing page down Post a comment immediately: "Landing page is struggling — here's the direct repo link." Link to Forgejo.
Compiler tests failing Don't mention it unless asked. Fix it after the post dies down.
Someone finds a real bug "Great catch — filed. Here's the issue link." Link to marcus/engineering. Shows you take bugs seriously.
Troll/spam comments Flag. Do not engage beyond one polite reply. HN mods are active.
Post flagged as spam Email hn@ycombinator.com. Explain it's open source, no commercial product. They unflag quickly.
Storj goes down mid-launch You're hosed for landing page links. Post the Forgejo repo link as a comment. Redirect the landing page to a GitHub Pages mirror (if you set one up in advance).

SEEDED QUESTIONS (Optional — Use Sparingly)

If you have 1-2 trusted friends who can post natural-sounding questions, pick from these:

  1. "How does provenance tracking work in the compiler? Do you embed hashes in the artifacts?" → Use Response 4 from the playbook.

  2. "What made you choose to generate both TypeScript AND WASM instead of picking one?" → Use Response 10 from the playbook.

Do NOT fabricate fake accounts. HN detects this and it's worse than no engagement.

Post-Launch: What Ships Next

Regardless of Show HN outcome, the compiler needs these fixes before it's "real":

  1. engineering#9: Parser must capture precondition: / postcondition: blocks in action bodies
  2. engineering#11: TypeScript generator must emit type aliases for record declarations (Transfer, LogEntry)
  3. engineering#10 (if exists): Host-side record boxing + in operator for WASM

These are the blockers between "cool demo" and "usable tool." Show HN traction helps motivate these fixes; no traction just means they take longer.

Quick Reference Card

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  SHOW HN LAUNCH — SPEEDRUN                               │
│                                                          │
│  Day Before:                                             │
│    ☐ 5-min pre-flight (curl landing, test compiler)     │
│    ☐ Storj is up? (if not, ABORT)                       │
│    ☐ HN karma ≥ 2?                                      │
│                                                          │
│  T-5 min:                                                │
│    ☐ Open HN submit + comment playbook + threads page   │
│                                                          │
│  T+0:                                                    │
│    ☐ Paste title + URL + body                           │
│    ☐ Save post URL                                      │
│                                                          │
│  T+0 to T+60 (GOLDEN HOUR):                              │
│    ☐ Reply within 5 min using playbook                   │
│    ☐ Monitor upvote count every 10 min                  │
│    ☐ Be human, don't argue, don't astroturf             │
│                                                          │
│  T+4h:                                                   │
│    ☐ Cross-post to Reddit (if 15+ upvotes)              │
│    ☐ Share on Discord/Slack/Twitter                     │
│                                                          │
│  T+24h:                                                  │
│    ☐ Debrief: front page / moderate / dead              │
│    ☐ Act based on outcome                               │
│                                                          │
│  CONTINGENCY: If landing page dies → link to repo       │
│                        If flagged → email hn@ycombinator │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘