Remix clone Hacker News

Serious question: Why does it appear that pages from this URL very often end up on top of HN? I don't find the content particularly special compared to the average HN post. Does the algorithm prefer certain URLs?

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simonw 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

If anything HN is getting harder for me to get stuff on these days. Most of my self submissions of my content have failed to chart over the past few months: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=simonw

You can see submissions from my domain by other people here: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=simonwillison.net

It's weird what DOES make it. I had high hopes for my piece on ChatGPT memory yesterday - https://simonwillison.net/2025/May/21/chatgpt-new-memory/ - and it got nowhere. This Gemini piece was much more of a throwaway note, I mainly wanted to mark the release of an influential new model on my own site.

The reason I get content on here more than most people is that I write a LOT more than most people. So far this year I've published 45 long form blog entries and 274 short form (link blog) entries - this Gemini piece is one of those.

I try to always add something new - for this Gemini piece that was the video of it running, the references back to a similar demo from Cerebras and (updated since I first posted) a couple of quotes Hacker News comments to help explain diffusion LLMs better.

I wrote more about my approach to blogging here: https://simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/22/link-blog/

The sad truth is that very few people produce long-form writing online these days! Most people who publish regularly are doing tweets, LinkedIn posts and short-form video instead.

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SalariedSlave a day ago | parent [-]

How much of your time do you spend in writing for your blog? Do you do this full time or is it more of a side gig?

Your shout that "more people should do this" is resonating with me - I have some interest in similar short form posts covering various topics of interest (even if only for my own reference), but I am not sure if I can manage this on the side.

I'm curious about the time required for this volume of content output. Do you use AI to help with writing?

	▲	simonw a day ago \| parent [-]
		Probably between an hour and an hour a half a day - or two hours on days when I publish something long form. No AI for the writing itself but plenty for things like research, finding the right word, getting feedback on if what I've written makes sense. Definitely a side gig! I make maybe $200/month off ads from it.

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ealexhudson 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Perhaps your content quality meter needs a recalibration?

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beernet 2 days ago | parent [-]

How so? What makes this blog stand out in terms of quality? I prefer a constructive discussion over personal questions, maybe you should, too.

	▲	lcnPylGDnU4H9OF a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It's the name at the top. This particular author has been active with LLM posts at least since the popularity explosion of ChatGPT and all of their posts on that topic seem to be well-informed (and they are otherwise community-famous for co-authoring Django). To your point, the content is only as special as the author's reputation makes it, which will be different from reader to reader. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Willison
	▲	cbeach a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		His posts on AI are often very insightful and, unusually for someone so involved in AI, he's not connected to any of the big AI companies. Therefore he is impartial.