Launch Day questions
All that preparation you did for your launch will set you up to have the best day possible but sometimes questions come up (mostly if you didn’t read this guide).
This article covers:
Making sense of the leaderboardReporting spam"Someone already hunted your product"Myths about launchingMaking sense of the leaderboard
“That product has fewer upvotes than me. What gives?!” Most of us here at Product Hunt are makers ourselves. We know how stressful it is to watch your product go up and down on the homepage.
The leaderboard changes throughout the day based on the number of upvotes, time since submission, comments, and other factors. We can't give the exact details of how our algorithm works because doing so would make it easier to be gamed. The most important takeaway here is that we want the homepage to remain an authentic place for makers to launch and discover products.
If a product seems dramatically lower than it should be, it’s very possible it was because spam was detected in the upvotes and/or comments. If you run into any concerns about this, you can reach out to our team by using the chat button at the bottom right of the screen.
Reporting spam
If you notice spam on your or someone else’s Launch Page, you can let us know. Click the 3 dots next to a comment or a review and then select “Report.” The team will then review it. Or you can click the “Report” button at the bottom of a post page. Finally, you can reach out to us via the chat at the bottom right of the website if you need assistance reporting spammy behavior.
"Someone already hunted your product"
Sometimes makers are heads down, working on their product. They’re planning to launch… eventually. And then, an enthusiastic community member beats them to the punch and hunts it first.
You have two options:
- Make the most of this opportunity! If you weren’t planning on sharing your product and this early bird has started to gain you some momentum, consider riding the waves, just like Notion did. You can always launch the next iteration of your product when you’re ready.
- Let us know ASAP. We can remove the product and let the community member know a launch is on the way. Just get in touch with our support team using the chat box on the bottom right of the homepage.
Myths about launching
- Maker upvotes count more.
- False. All upvotes are equal.
- Only makers who already have a ton of followers “succeed.”
- False. We work very hard to ensure the community remains authentically engaged and honest about their upvotes, and that makers get a lot of value out of their launch whether or not they make it to the top of the leaderboard.
- Launching on Product Hunt is only worth it if you become #1 on launch day
- False. Everybody wants to be #1, but there are plenty of reasons to launch besides reaching the top of the leaderboard. Also we regularly see products achieve great success after missing that particular accolade.
- Product Hunt penalizes you when you link directly to your product
- False. There is no penalty for linking directly to your product, in actuality, we encourage it!
Up Next
Days after your launch