I’ve used Product Hunt for years and have always believed that it’s a place where real community support matters. But our recent launch made me question whether the platform still reflects true engagement.
We brought in over 4,000 real users, received over 150 thoughtful comments, and added hundreds of new followers. Yet only a small portion of it appeared in the final score. Many of our customers told us that their comments or reviews never appeared publicly, even though they could see their posts when they logged in. This was a disincentive for those who took the time to register and give genuine feedback.
It increasingly feels like Product Hunt heavily weights long-time PH accounts while discounting the thousands of genuine supporters who join for the first time. The result is that a small group of insiders can outnumber a large outside community. It no longer feels like discovery.
Support responses were generic and didn’t explain what actually happened. I even tried to raise it in the forum, but the post never got reviewed. Despite being factual and non-disgusting.
I still believe Product Hunt can be an important platform for creators, but it needs far more transparency about how votes, comments, and trust weights work. Real users shouldn’t feel invisible. And founders shouldn’t leave launch day confused as to why real engagement doesn’t count.
Right now, it’s hard to tell if Product Hunt is still serving makers — or slowly moving away from what made it valuable.