State of Show HN: 2025
blog.sturdystatistics.com
February 16, 2026
7 min read
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53/100
Summary
A comprehensive analysis of Show HN posts reveals macro-economic trends, indications of voting rings and fraud, and behavioral shifts within the Hacker News community. Reproducible code is highlighted as a key interest among users.
Key Takeaways
- The top performing topics on Hacker News in 2025 include DIY Hardware IoT Projects, Open Source Projects, and Error Handling and Debugging.
- The average performance of posts in 2025 shows a significant reduction compared to previous years, with the top topic in 2025 having the same likelihood of receiving 100 points as the average post in 2022.
- A hierarchical topic model analysis of Show HN posts revealed macro-economic trends and evidence of voting rings or fraud within the Hacker News community.
- The analysis indicates that the software job market and increased engagement due to remote work may have influenced the performance of Hacker News posts over the years.
Community Sentiment
Positives
- The community still produces interesting projects, as evidenced by posts that receive significant engagement despite the noise.
- The rise of coding agents has sparked discussions, indicating a shift in content that reflects evolving interests in AI.
Concerns
- The influx of AI-related content has diluted the quality of discussions, making it harder to find insightful commentary amidst less substantial posts.
- There's a growing sentiment that Hacker News has become a target for advertising by coding agent companies, overshadowing genuine discussions.
