# FRE-632: HN Karma Building Plan (If Needed)

**Trigger:** No qualified HN account exists (karma <50 or account <30 days old)  
**Owner:** CMO  
**Timeline:** 7-14 days to reach 100+ karma  
**Status:** ⏳ On standby (awaiting founder response)

---

## Overview

If no team member has a qualified HN account (100+ karma, 30+ days old), we need to build karma before submitting Show HN. This plan ensures we're ready within 7-14 days.

---

## HN Karma Basics

**How Karma Works:**
- Upvotes on your submissions: +1 per upvote
- Upvotes on your comments: +1 per upvote
- Downvotes: -1 (can go negative)
- No karma for upvoting others

**What Gets Upvoted:**
- Insightful technical comments
- Relevant article submissions
- Helpful answers to questions
- Authentic participation

**What Gets Downvoted:**
- Self-promotion (especially early)
- Shallow comments ("Great post!")
- Obvious marketing
- Controversial takes without substance

---

## 14-Day Karma Building Plan

### Week 1: Foundation (Target: 50+ karma)

**Daily Time Commitment:** 30-45 minutes

#### Day 1-2: Profile Setup + First Comments

**Actions:**
- [ ] Create HN account (if none exists)
  - Username: Professional (real name or company)
  - Email: Personal Gmail (not company domain)
  - Profile: Real name, company affiliation, brief bio
- [ ] Read HN Guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- [ ] Browse front page, identify relevant threads
- [ ] Comment on 3-5 threads (quality over quantity)

**Comment Topics (High Relevance):**
- Screenwriting software
- Writing tools
- Tauri (Rust-based desktop apps)
- SolidJS (frontend frameworks)
- SaaS pricing models
- Real-time collaboration tech
- CRDT/operational transformation
- SQLite/edge databases (Turso)

**Comment Quality Checklist:**
- [ ] Adds value to conversation
- [ ] Shares specific experience/insight
- [ ] Asks thoughtful follow-up questions
- [ ] No self-promotion
- [ ] 2+ sentences (substantial)

#### Day 3-5: Consistent Participation

**Actions:**
- [ ] Comment on 5-7 threads/day
- [ ] Submit 1-2 relevant articles (not about Scripter)
  - Examples: "New Tauri 2.0 features", "SolidJS performance benchmarks"
  - Source: Tech blogs, GitHub repos, official docs
- [ ] Engage with replies to your comments
- [ ] Track karma progress

**Article Submission Guidelines:**
- Must be genuinely interesting (not promotional)
- Technical content preferred
- Official docs/blog posts work well
- GitHub release pages

#### Day 6-7: Momentum Building

**Actions:**
- [ ] Continue 5-7 comments/day
- [ ] Submit 1-2 more articles
- [ ] Review top comments for patterns
- [ ] Adjust strategy based on what resonates

**Week 1 Target:** 50+ karma ✅

---

### Week 2: Acceleration (Target: 100+ karma)

**Daily Time Commitment:** 45-60 minutes

#### Day 8-10: Deep Engagement

**Actions:**
- [ ] Comment on 7-10 threads/day
- [ ] Focus on threads with high engagement
- [ ] Provide detailed technical insights
- [ ] Answer questions in your expertise areas

**High-Value Comment Types:**
- **Technical deep-dives:** "Here's how CRDTs work in practice..."
- **Experience sharing:** "We migrated from Firebase to Turso, here's what we learned..."
- **Comparative analysis:** "SolidJS vs React for our use case..."
- **Helpful resources:** "For anyone interested, this deep-dive covers..."

#### Day 11-14: Peak Participation

**Actions:**
- [ ] Maintain 7-10 comments/day
- [ ] Submit 1-2 more articles
- [ ] Engage in Show HN threads (comment on others' launches)
- [ ] Build relationships with active community members

**Show HN Engagement Strategy:**
- Comment on 3-5 Show HN posts/day
- Provide genuine feedback
- Ask thoughtful questions
- Share relevant experience
- **Do NOT** mention Scripter yet

**Week 2 Target:** 100+ karma ✅

---

## Content Calendar

### Week 1 Topics

| Day | Comment Topics | Article Submissions |
|-----|----------------|---------------------|
| 1 | Tauri, desktop apps | - |
| 2 | SolidJS, frontend | - |
| 3 | Screenwriting tools | Tauri 2.0 announcement |
| 4 | SaaS, pricing | SolidJS performance blog |
| 5 | CRDT, real-time | - |
| 6 | Writing software | Screenwriting tech article |
| 7 | Edge databases | Turso/SQLite post |

### Week 2 Topics

| Day | Comment Topics | Article Submissions |
|-----|----------------|---------------------|
| 8 | Show HN feedback (3 posts) | - |
| 9 | Show HN feedback (3 posts) | - |
| 10 | Technical deep-dive | GitHub trending project |
| 11 | SaaS growth | Indie hacker success story |
| 12 | Show HN feedback (3 posts) | - |
| 13 | Collaboration tools | Remote work research |
| 14 | Final push | - |

---

## Tracking Progress

### Daily Log Template

```
## Day X - [Date]

**Time Spent:** [minutes]
**Comments Posted:** [count]
**Articles Submitted:** [count]
**Karma Gained:** [+X]
**Current Karma:** [total]

**Top Comments:**
1. [Thread title] - [brief description, karma if visible]
2. [Thread title] - [brief description]

**Learnings:**
- What worked:
- What didn't:

**Tomorrow's Focus:**
- [ ] [specific goal]
```

### Progress Milestones

| Day | Target Karma | Status |
|-----|--------------|--------|
| 1 | 5-10 | ⏳ |
| 3 | 20-30 | ⏳ |
| 5 | 40-50 | ⏳ |
| 7 | 50-60 | ⏳ |
| 10 | 80-90 | ⏳ |
| 14 | 100+ | ⏳ |

---

## Risk Mitigation

### Risk: Slow Karma Growth (<5/day)

**Causes:**
- Comments not resonating
- Wrong topics
- Low visibility timing

**Solutions:**
- Shift to more popular threads (front page)
- Comment earlier in thread lifecycle
- Focus on technical depth over breadth
- Ask for feedback from experienced HN users

### Risk: Negative Karma (Downvotes)

**Causes:**
- Perceived self-promotion
- Controversial takes
- Low-effort comments

**Solutions:**
- Review downvoted comments for patterns
- Avoid any mention of Scripter until 100+ karma
- Focus on helping, not promoting
- Apologize if you misstep ("Fair point, I misunderstood")

### Risk: Time Constraints

**Causes:**
- Competing priorities
- Underestimating time needed

**Solutions:**
- Block 45 min daily on calendar
- Batch comment writing (20 min sessions)
- Use HN mobile app for quick engagement
- Delegate to another team member if needed

---

## Success Criteria

### Ready for Show HN Submission When:

- [ ] Karma: 100+ (minimum 50)
- [ ] Account age: 14+ days (30+ preferred)
- [ ] Comment history: 30+ quality comments
- [ ] Article submissions: 5-10 relevant posts
- [ ] Profile: Complete with real info
- [ ] No recent downvote streaks

### Submission Checklist:

- [ ] Karma target met
- [ ] Account age acceptable
- [ ] Profile complete
- [ ] No promotional history (clean record)
- [ ] Show HN post draft ready
- [ ] Technical review complete with FE

---

## Resources

**HN Guidelines:** https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html  
**HN Search:** https://hn.algolia.com/ (find relevant threads)  
**Karma Tracker:** Check profile page daily  
**Best Times to Post:** 10 AM - 2 PM PT (highest traffic)

---

## Trigger Decision

**If founder response = "No qualified account":**
- Start Day 1 immediately
- Target: 100+ karma by May 10-14
- Adjust HN submission date to May 14

**If founder response = "Qualified account exists":**
- Archive this plan
- Proceed with May 7 submission (with Product Hunt)

---

**Status:** ⏳ On standby awaiting founder response  
**Next:** Execute Day 1 if no qualified account exists
