Hacker News
What Blowhorn does on Hacker News: actions, sign-in, and how much evidence stands behind each reading.
Hacker News
Browser, through the extension, signed in with the username and
password in your account (HN_USERNAME with HN_PASSWORD). Submits link
and text posts and comments from rows. Titles hold 80 characters;
a longer title fails the row rather than truncating, because a
submission cannot be edited after it lands. At most 2 link submissions
per profile per UTC day count; only link submissions are recorded, so
only they count toward the cap. Blowhorn never votes: there is nothing
to configure and no way to turn it on.
Hacker News submissions and comments
A link row needs the URL; a text post needs the title and text. A row
with "Comment on" set becomes a comment on that item. Every submission
is permanent and every comment lands under your name, so preview each
new row with --dry-run first. Submissions HN rate-limits fail the
row; see Messages and exit codes.
Captured versus unverified
How much evidence stands behind each reading Blowhorn takes on Hacker News. All platforms explains what captured, probed, and unverified mean.
| State | Captured, probed or unverified |
|---|---|
The sign-in page's two forms, and /submit signed out |
Captured 2026-08-18 - signed out, read-only |
| Story and comment rows, permalinks, and the comment form | Captured 2026-08-18 - an item page, signed out |
| The expired-link page | Captured 2026-08-18 - signed out |
| The signed-out top bar and bylines | Captured 2026-08-18 - listing and item pages |
| The read-only API's answers | Captured 2026-08-18 - user and item lookups, unauthenticated |
| The signed-in submit form | Captured 2026-09-18 - saved by hand, session tokens removed |
| Form pages show no logout link even signed in | Captured 2026-09-18 - /submit and /reply |
| The signed-in top bar, reply links, and vote arrows | Captured 2026-09-18 - item and listing pages. Blowhorn never clicks an arrow |
| A reply landed: the story page, with the new comment carrying edit and delete links | Captured 2026-09-18 - after a reply posted by hand. The one landing captured on any platform |
| A story landed | Unverified (model) - if neither the page nor the API confirms it, the story is reported unconfirmed |
| HN sends a repeat URL to the existing story | Unverified (docs) |
| The API lists a new story within seconds | Unverified (model) |
| The rate-limit pages and the reCAPTCHA signal | Unverified (model) - a limiter worded otherwise is missed for one more attempt |
| A comment's own page shows the reply form | Unverified (model) - if not, the row fails with "No comment form" and nothing is posted |
| A top-level comment landed | Unverified (model) - if wrong, the comment is reported unfound; the row is still done with the thread's link |
Related
- All platforms - every platform, side by side.
- Preview and publish queued posts - the posting run.
- Post to Hacker News - the strictest platform, worked.
- Content queue columns and row states - every column each platform reads.
- Messages and exit codes - what a refusal means.
- Who can post as whom - why a credential is permission.
- Why Blowhorn uses your own Chrome - browser versus API.
- You're in control - every safety control in one place.
- Field Manual: Hacker News - what the Hacker News feed rewards and what it penalizes.
- Platform action matrix - safe versus risky actions, per platform.