You’ve done it. You’ve finally created something—a story, a product, a whole damn world. You show it to your friends and family, and they smile and nod and say, “It’s great.” But you know that’s a lie. So you do what any desperate creator does: you find the most brutal, honest corner of the internet—Hacker News—and you beg them to “roast” your creation. You’re not seeking truth. You’re seeking attention, dressed up as vulnerability.
Take the case of a creator who built a curious creature called Rilo for a children’s book. The preview was posted to HN with the classic plea: “I’ve hit the stage where feedback from friends and family is useless. Everyone says it’s great. I need proper feedback.” The top comment? “If your audience is 5-year-olds, maybe Hacker News isn’t the best place to get beta testers?” Ouch. But also: duh.
Let’s be honest for a second. You know your target audience isn’t a bunch of tech bros debating the merits of Rust vs. Go. So why are you asking them to rip apart your picture book? Because it’s easier than finding actual 5-year-olds and their parents. Because HN gives you a dopamine hit of “engagement” that feels like progress. The echo chamber you escaped from was your friends—but the one you’re running into is just a louder, more intellectually dressed version.
Here’s the hard truth: feedback from people who will never buy your product is worse than no feedback at all. It’s a false signal. You’ll get clever line-edits from coders who haven’t read a children’s book in 20 years. You’ll get jokes about your font choice. You’ll get a few upvotes. Then you’ll walk away thinking you’ve “validated” your idea, when all you’ve done is waste your time and theirs.
I saw this happen firsthand with a friend who wrote a parenting guide. He posted it to a tech forum and got 200 comments about his website’s load time. Meanwhile, the actual parents he needed to hear from were on Facebook groups and mommy blogs. He never reached them. He was too busy getting validated by the wrong crowd.
So what do you do instead? First, get uncomfortable. Go where your actual audience lives. If it’s 5-year-olds, read your book at a library storytime. Watch the kids’ eyes. If they look away, you have your answer. The brutal truth you’re seeking doesn’t live in upvotes or witty takedowns—it lives in the silence of a bored child. Second, ask specific questions. Don’t say “roast me.” Say “Does the rhythm of this sentence work for a 4-year-old?” The vagueness of “roast” is a trap: it invites performative criticism that makes the critic look clever and leaves you nowhere.
But let’s be real: you know all this. The reason you post to HN anyway is because it feels like doing something. It’s productive procrastination. It’s a way to avoid the terrifying prospect of putting your work in front of the people who actually matter. Stop hiding behind the guise of “brutal honesty” and start facing the boring, essential work of finding your real audience. That’s the only feedback loop that moves the needle. And if you can’t do that, then maybe the problem isn’t your book—it’s your ego.
FAQ
Q: Isn't any feedback better than no feedback?
A: No. Feedback from a demographic that will never buy your product is a false signal that can lead you to optimize for the wrong things. You’ll start fixing font sizes instead of narrative gaps.
Q: How do I find my actual target audience for brutal feedback?
A: Go offline. Read your book at a library or preschool. Record a video pitch and send it to parenting forums. Use social media groups specific to your niche—not general tech forums. Pay a few strangers from your target demographic if you have to.
Q: Isn't posting to HN a good way to get wide exposure, even if it's not my target audience?
A: It can get you exposure, but it’s shallow. Techies might share your post, but their networks are other techies—not parents of 5-year-olds. You’re better off building a small, focused audience of real potential buyers than a big audience of admirers who’ll never open their wallets.