IMHO you've tried promoting too hard using Ask HN.
Apart from several "Show HN" about the project there was "Show HN: Tell and show your most successful projects" pointing to the project, "Ask HN: Do you still build terminal tools for fun?", "Ask HN: Let's learn more about each one, shall we?" and "Ask HN: What the project you're most proud of?" had links to it.
"Ask HN: Tell me, what is your favorite programming language?" was a low-ball question and the first comment included "I don't want to be greedy, but please, if you can, support me by putting a star on the repository" making it seem the question was more about self-promotion.
On https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44518588 your comments were "Are there any Linux fans here?" and "How are you". It looks like attempts to what marketers call driving engagement.
Individually understandable, great projects you have, I like them, but it's been all within a week. You got told to post less (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44535008) but seems to have shifted to variants of promotion. Try an approach of "how can I promote it this week" instead of "today".
> I sent a polite email asking why. No reply.
I've gotten replies same day but sometimes weeks later. HN moderators care, but are overloaded. There's only one^H^H^H two these days.
JohnFen•6mo ago
It may just be that the project isn't interesting to enough people here to gain traction, or that it appeals to a niche audience that isn't well represented here. Just speculating, I don't actually know.
FerkiHN•6mo ago
jasonthorsness•6mo ago
FerkiHN•6mo ago
mtmail•6mo ago
JohnFen•6mo ago
What is your goal with your projects? Unless it's commercial, does it actually matter whether or not they take the world by storm? Almost all of my personal projects (and there have been a lot) I made because they addressed a problem that I was having. A few became very popular. Most did not. I think that's pretty normal. Either way, the value of them was in the doing so they were worth the effort.
Also, a surprising number of projects only gained popularity or relevance a number of years after I released them. Sometimes relevancy is a matter of timing.
FerkiHN•6mo ago