Yeah honestly the community doesn't come off as sincere or genuine, so I've never felt compelled to participate or even visit the site more than a handful of times.

Man it feels good to hear somebody else say this. I feel like I'm shooting myself in the foot sometimes business-wise by not participating regularly in Product Hunt but I find that it's just not inviting. I don't feel a part of the club. I browse, find cool products, click through, and that's about it.

But I rarely comment as it just feels forced, like I'm standing next to a circle of people having a conversation at a networking event and I'm a few inches outside the circle, and it's clear I'm not a part of that circle.

Well, our method showed less than 1% of posts having a collusion ratio higher than 0.5. I personally think it's very reasonable for such a large community.

I think my perception came from the side of submitting products. For the longest time they were hand picked and you had to 'know someone' to get on the site. Which is fine, it's not a public good, the PH team is free to use it as they wish. Nowadays I see so many 'guides' on how to get on PH and how to maximize potential when you do get on PH.