# Thoughts & Lessons from Experience
This article is a blend of observations and reflections — sparked by a recent debate over **Product Hunt (PH)** rankings, and some broader thoughts about product creation and visibility.
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## Background: Product Hunt & Ranking Obsession
A group discussion today touched on PH ranking events, which prompted me to speak at length.
Recently, many Chinese AI products going global have become **fixated on climbing PH leaderboards**. True, PH is good for exposure — but **chasing short-term ranking glory** can be misleading. Often, “ranking” simply reflects “vote boosting,” reminiscent of fake transactions and reviews that plagued some domestic platforms years ago. This could lead to PH being swamped by low-quality products.
**Risk:**
- Quality products remain unseen
- Poor products dominate
- Developers invest years, attract minimal traffic — even from their own clicks or accidental loops in code
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### 📌 Case Study: Cloudflare `useEffect` Bug
Cloudflare’s **Tenant Service API** suffered a critical outage, cascading into downtime for various APIs and the Cloudflare Dashboard.
**Cause:**
- A flawed `useEffect` in Dashboard code
- An object in the dependency array was recreated on every state/props change
- React saw the object as “new” each render
- API calls triggered repeatedly during one render instead of once
Combined with a service update, this overwhelmed Tenant Service, breaking authentication across APIs.
🔗 Read more: [Cloudflare’s Sept 12, 2025 outage deep dive][2]
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## Reflections: Beyond Rankings
**Key takeaway:**
There is no “eternal top 3.” Rankings fade. **Community influence** sustains momentum.
**Paths to Visibility:**
1. **Money-driven ads** – work if budget allows, but results vary
2. **Trend-driven “mutation”** – identify pain points, ride trends, potentially skyrocket
> I once caught such a trend ~3 years ago, but failed to convert traffic into profit.
> If curious, check:
> - [Traffic Password: Some Thoughts on ChatGPT Open Source](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzIzNjE2NTI3NQ==&mid=2247485598&idx=1&sn=164ea1a34757e54092d7c624d091a7ea&scene=21#wechat_redirect)
---
### Community & Distribution Tools
In the age of visibility, tools that marry **creation + distribution** matter.
**[AiToEarn](https://aitoearn.ai/)** enables creators to:
- Use AI for content generation
- Publish across Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, X/Twitter
- Track analytics
- Rank AI models ([Model Rankings](https://rank.aitoearn.ai))
Ideal for sustaining influence beyond temporary leaderboard boosts.
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## Open Source Highlight: 35k+ Stars ChatGPT Desktop App
Two product growth paths:
1. **People follow the product** – community built around a product’s reputation
2. **Product follows the person** – audience built around an individual; each project benefits from the personal brand
**Global channels:** Product Hunt, X/Twitter, GitHub, Reddit, Hacker News
**Domestic channels:** WeChat Official Accounts, Bilibili, Douyin
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### My Approach
- Share tech insights on **X**
- Publish AI news & thoughts on **WeChat Official Account**
- Example: **Noi** gained traction thanks to prior traffic from my [ChatGPT Desktop App][4]
**Lesson:**
Always direct traffic to a consistent destination; without consolidation, audiences forget quickly.
**Personal IP Matrix:**
- Difficult but powerful long-term strategy
- Requires persistence
- Sporadic posting is fine if sustained over years
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### SEO Considerations
PH’s SEO is strong — but so are X, GitHub, Reddit, and Hacker News.
Example: Early 2023, searching “chatgpt” on Google ranked my GitHub project **#5/470M results**.
**GitHub reality:**
- Not just for code — recipes, resource lists, and more
- Closed-source products can use GitHub for visibility & community feedback
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## AI Programming Insights
**Conclusion:**
AI coding struggles with **non-standard, highly targeted outputs**; requires real development experience for debugging.
For beginners:
- AI lowers programming barriers
- GitHub trending projects are goldmines for learning concepts like RAG, workflows, prompts
- Examples: [n8n][5], [cline][6], [codex][7], [Gemini CLI][8], [Open WebUI][9]
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## Technology + AI Relationship
**Point:**
You can’t effectively use AI without understanding the **boundaries of technology**.
Key skills:
- Blend aesthetics, art, code, and human understanding
- Creativity is often cultivated through persistent learning, not magic inspiration
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## Tauri vs Electron
**Trending debate:**
- Many complaints on X are superficial (window problems, drag issues)
- True challenge for Tauri is **system WebView uncertainty**
**Why Electron still leads:**
- Cross-platform stability & dev friendliness
- Despite package size, ecosystem support matters most
**Forecast:**
Tauri may adopt *Verso[10]* as WebView replacement — confirming earlier predictions.
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## Platforms vs Tools
- 🚀 **Platform:** Many modules, rich ecosystem — e.g., Electron
- 🛠️ **Tool:** Few modules, focused scope — e.g., Tauri
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## Conclusion
**Life lesson:**
Reality often diverges from ideals. Strength is smiling despite disillusionment.
Value is not in sponsorship amount — but in genuine thought behind it.
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## References & Resources
[1]: https://www.producthunt.com/
[2]: https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-september-12-2025-dash-api-outage
[3]: https://github.com/lencx/Noi
[4]: https://github.com/lencx/ChatGPT
[5]: https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n
[6]: https://github.com/cline/cline
[7]: https://github.com/openai/codex
[8]: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
[9]: https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui
[10]: https://tauri.app/blog/tauri-verso-integration
---
**Extra Tip:**
Platforms like **[AiToEarn官网](https://aitoearn.ai/)** integrate AI content creation, cross-platform publishing, analytics, and model ranking — offering creators a scalable avenue to monetize across Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, Bilibili, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, and X (Twitter) simultaneously.
