[mrsegev]

For starters, it has a single list and not a "featured" list and "the list no one looks at".

Also, poroduct orders are randomized to ensure fairness and eliminate popularity contests.

And finally, no VC money that influences what visitors get to see on the home page. Simply cool products.

[klntsky]

Good ideas. Reduces biases as well. However, are you sure real product hunters want exactly that?

[Etheryte]

There is value in curation though, no? I don't know if you've ever checked out the newest submissions list on HN [0], but a lot of it is either self-promotion, common reposts, or just clickbait. The front page meanwhile is usually pretty engaging and has a lot of good content. This is the result of people voting, flagging, etc and that curation and moderation is what makes the HN front page good. Simply listing everything that has been submitted is a race to the bottom.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/newest

[mrsegev]

Absolutley.

The problem is that a lot of hard working builders products never get to see the day of light.

[vidyesh]

I know what you mean by popularity contests. Launching on PH has become just a game of whom you know to get the first big push.

But do you really think randomization is good thing? There is value in curation, upvotes have values, we upvote as a sign of approval, ranking based on upvotes has the benefit of visitor engagement which is not only good for your site but also the products that are highly voted!

People have very little time to engage with websites they visit daily, upvotes need to have more value than just being displayed.

Low upvotes doesn't always have to mean they are not "launched" successfully but most times those low upvotes also mean the product is bad or as you might say its not a cool product.

[threeseed]

> whom you know

Or who you are willing to pay.

I know of a few people who earn most of their income from getting their network to launch and promote products on PH.