Ask HN: How can I get feedback about my GitHub side project?

3 weizhenchu 7 8/28/2025, 7:32:24 AM

My GitHub side project got 36 stars and 3 forks so far. I’d love to hear some advices or discuss my project with the users. But I have only one user in my discord server, being offline for most of the time. Is this normal? What can I do to get more suggestions?

Comments (7)

eimrine · 12h ago

Don't ask about asking, just ask. This website is the right place to show some FOSS. For example, you could name this topik "Show HN: my amazing work". From my experience, if the work is important despite being little-knowed, admins tend to place the topic into the main page or at least in "show", especially if the work is anything written in Lisp. This question will never be escaleted because there is nothing interesting here.

weizhenchu · 11h ago

Thank you for your reply! You're absolutely right. I posted a "Show HN" and shared my project across a few other channels to showcase what I built. Since then the GitHub repo has gained visitors and stars, but I haven't been able to connect with those people — I don't know whether they're actually using the project, what their experience is, or whether they have any suggestions. Do you have any advices?

mmarian · 11h ago

See who's starred & forked your project, send them a message through whatever means they prefer. Post on relevant forums / subreddits.

weizhenchu · 10h ago

Thanks for your reply! I tried that. But it seems that GitHub doesn’t have a DM feature and most people don’t list an email, so I can’t reach out directly; I’m basically stuck waiting for folks to find and join our Discord. I also tried self-promoting on relevant subreddits, but my Reddit account got suspended shortly after. If you have any other outreach ideas or low-friction ways to ask for feedback without sounding spammy, I’d really appreciate them. Thanks again!

JohnFen · 6h ago

> basically stuck waiting for folks to find and join our Discord

You may want to expand and not rely just on Discord. Any such platform acts as a filter. There are people who simply don't use any given social media outlet at all, and they aren't likely to sign up for a specific one just to talk with you.

mmarian · 10h ago

> GitHub doesn’t have a DM feature and most people don’t list an email

They sometimes list their socials (LinkedIn, Twitter, personal site), not sure if you tried those avenues.

> self-promoting on relevant subreddits, but my Reddit account got suspended shortly after

That's very odd. People rarely flag FOSS projects. What did you do specifically?

> other outreach ideas or low-friction ways to ask for feedback without sounding spammy

Try to find people using similar projects as yours, ask them for feedback. Write blog posts where you genuinely add value, share them in the relevant communities.

weizhenchu · 10h ago

Yes — it felt odd. I was mainly self-promoting in places like r/sideproject and the mega self-promo threads. Maybe that I didn’t clearly label it as FOSS is the reason. I submitted an appeal a couple of days ago and hope to get the account back. I’ll also start writing blog posts to share my work and thoughts — thanks for your tips!