Lobsters Platform Help

Helps with everything related to Lobsters (lobste.rs) — an invite-only, computing-focused link aggregation and discussion community. Founded by Joshua Stein (jcs) in July 2012, currently administered by Peter Bhat Harkins (pushcx). Open-source Rails app with 4,600+ GitHub stars.

Step 1 — Gather context

Ask the user:

What are you trying to do on Lobsters?
- A) Share my developer tool or project
- B) Get an invitation to join
- C) Share a blog post or technical article
- D) Understand the community norms before posting
- E) Compare Lobsters with Hacker News or other communities
- F) Something else — describe it
What's your product/project?
- A) Open-source developer tool
- B) Commercial SaaS / developer tool
- C) Blog post or technical writeup
- D) Language/framework release
- E) Not a product — just want to participate
Are you already a Lobsters member?
- A) Yes — I have an account
- B) No — I need an invitation
- C) Not sure / just learned about it

If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step. Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

If the request maps to another skill, route:

Multi-directory launch planning → /sales-launch-directory
Product Hunt launch → /sales-producthunt
Hacker News Show HN → /sales-launch-directory (covers Show HN in third-party table)
Indie Hackers engagement → /sales-indiehackers
Landing page optimization → /sales-checkout

Otherwise, answer directly from the Lobsters knowledge below.

Step 3 — Lobsters platform reference

Platform overview

Lobsters is a computing-focused link aggregation and discussion site, similar to Hacker News but smaller, invite-only, and more focused on technical depth. The community actively resists marketing, self-promotion abuse, and off-topic content. It rewards deep technical content, open-source contributions, and genuine community participation.

Key differences from Hacker News:

Invite-only — every member was invited by an existing member, with a public invitation tree
Mandatory tagging — every submission gets categorized with predefined tags
Transparent moderation — all mod actions are public with moderator identities disclosed
No shadow banning — banned users are notified and bans are public
Hats system — verified authority markers (e.g., project maintainer, company employee) for credible responses
Smaller, tighter community — higher signal-to-noise ratio, but less traffic

Invitation system

Lobsters is invite-only. The invite system exists for spam control and community acculturation, not elitism.

How to get invited:

Ask someone you know — the fastest path. If you recognize someone from the site, reach out directly.
Invitation queue — submit your name, email, and a brief note (GitHub profile, blog, etc.) at lobste.rs/invitations. Logged-in members can browse and invite from the queue.
IRC/chat — enter the community chat channel and ask. If someone's around, they'll vet you and send an invite.
Be a content author — if a link to your work was submitted to Lobsters, mention that in your invite request. The community actively wants content creators to join.

New user restrictions (first 70 days):

Cannot send invitations
Cannot submit from previously unseen domains
Cannot flag content
Cannot use certain tags: meta, rant, job, ask
Green username identifies new members

Accountability: The public invitation tree means if you spam or misbehave, your inviter may lose invite privileges or face consequences. This creates natural self-policing.

Posting norms and self-promotion

The <25% rule: Self-promotion should be less than a quarter of your total stories and comments. Authors participating genuinely in the community is welcomed — treating the site as a write-only announcement channel is not.

What works on Lobsters:

Technical blog posts with real depth (design decisions, benchmarks, tradeoffs)
Open-source project releases using the release tag
"Ask" posts seeking community input on technical problems
Content that would still be interesting 5-10 years from now

What gets flagged or downvoted:

Product marketing disguised as technical content
Commercial product announcements (use release tag sparingly — it's overwhelmingly for FLOSS)
Entrepreneurship, management, company news, investing
Low-effort link drops with no context
Content marketing blog posts from companies

The "authored by" signal: When you submit your own content, it's marked "authored by" rather than "via". This is visible to the community — be honest about it. The community gives a tiny ranking boost to author-submitted content.

Tagging system

All submissions must be tagged from a predefined list. Key tags for product/project sharing:

Tag	Use for
`release`	Software releases (overwhelmingly FLOSS)
`show`	Show the community what you built
`ask`	Ask for feedback, advice, or recommendations
`practices`	Development practices, workflows, methodologies
`web`	Web development, browsers, HTTP
`rust`, `c++`, `python`, `javascript`, etc.	Language-specific content
`linux`, `networking`, `databases`, `security`	Domain-specific content
`vibecoding`	AI/LLM coding tools and workflows

Multiple tags per submission are supported. Choose the most specific tags — good tagging increases visibility to interested readers.

Moderation

Public mod log — every action is visible with moderator identity
Flagging requires 50+ karma. Two flags trigger mod review
Story flags: Off-topic, Already Posted, Broken Link, Spam
Comment flags: Off-topic, Me-too, Troll, Unkind, Spam
No shadow banning — bans are explicit with notification
Less than 1% of content gets flagged — the invite system handles most quality control

Hats system

"Hats" are verified authority markers. If you're a maintainer of a project being discussed, or an employee of a relevant company, you can speak with a Hat that shows your affiliation. This adds credibility without requiring moderator intervention.

API

Lobsters has an informal JSON API — read-only, no authentication:

Append .json to any URL (e.g., lobste.rs/newest.json, lobste.rs/~username.json)
25 results per page with pagination
Unofficial wrappers exist in Rust, Python, and Java
No write API — you cannot post or comment programmatically

Lobsters vs Hacker News

Factor	Lobsters	Hacker News
Access	Invite-only	Open registration
Size	~10K+ daily views	~5M+ monthly visits
Focus	Computing/programming only	Tech + startups + general interest
Moderation	Public mod log, transparent	Opaque (dang)
Tags	Mandatory predefined tags	None
Self-promo	<25% rule, author-flagged	Informal, Show HN for launches
Tone	Technical, measured	Varies widely
Marketing tolerance	Very low — commercial content flagged	Low but higher than Lobsters
Backlink	DR unconfirmed	DR91 dofollow
Best for	Deep technical content, FLOSS releases	Broad tech launches, Show HN

Pricing

Tier	Cost	What you get
Free (invite-only)	$0	Full access — posting, commenting, voting, RSS, JSON API

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Based on the user's situation:

For sharing an open-source project:

Get a Lobsters account (invitation queue or ask someone you know)
Spend 2-4 weeks participating genuinely — comment on others' posts, share interesting links you find
When ready, submit your project with the release or show tag + relevant technical tags
Write a substantive submission — not just a link, but context about what it does and why
Be present in the comments to answer questions — author engagement is expected and rewarded
Keep self-promotion under 25% of your total activity

For sharing a commercial developer tool:

Be cautious — Lobsters is hostile to commercial marketing. Your tool needs genuine technical merit.
Frame it as technical content, not an announcement — write about the engineering challenges, architecture decisions, or novel approach
Use a blog post format (e.g., "How we built X" or "Why we chose Y architecture") rather than a product page
If your tool is open-source or has an open-source component, lead with that
Engage genuinely in the community first — the <25% rule means you need ~3 non-promotional contributions for every 1 self-promotion

For getting a Lobsters invite:

Check the invitation queue at lobste.rs/invitations — submit your name, email, and a link to your GitHub/blog
If you have existing connections in the community, ask them directly
Join the IRC/chat channel and ask — be ready to explain who you are and what you'd contribute
If your content has been posted to Lobsters before, mention that — content creators are actively welcomed

Gotchas

Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about community norms that may shift.

Invite-only is real. You cannot create an account without an invitation. The invitation queue exists but can be slow — direct outreach to a member is faster.
Anti-marketing culture is strong. Even well-intentioned product shares can get flagged if they feel like marketing. The community has discussed banning self-promotion entirely (consensus: don't ban it, but keep the <25% rule).
"Release" tag is for FLOSS. Technically not restricted, but proprietary/commercial releases posted with the release tag are frequently flagged as spam.
70-day new user restrictions. Fresh accounts can't submit from new domains, can't flag, can't use meta/ask/job/rant tags, and can't send invites. Plan accordingly — don't create an account and immediately try to post your product.
Your inviter is accountable. If you abuse the platform, your inviter may face consequences. This means invite requests from obvious marketers are less likely to be fulfilled.
Traffic is modest. ~10K daily views is small compared to Hacker News (~5M monthly). Set realistic expectations — Lobsters is a credibility and community play, not a traffic source.
DR is unconfirmed. Lobsters' domain rating and dofollow/nofollow status haven't been independently verified in our research. Don't rely on it for SEO backlinks.
No public email. The admin (pushcx) and founder (jcs) don't have public contact emails. Community contact happens through the site's chat or GitHub issues.

Related skills

/sales-launch-directory — Coordinate launches across 20+ directories including Lobsters. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skills sales-launch-directory
/sales-producthunt — Product Hunt platform help (largest launch platform, DR91 dofollow)
/sales-indiehackers — Indie Hackers platform help (founder community, 165K+ entrepreneurs)
/sales-peerlist — Peerlist platform help (weekly Launchpad, 203K+ users)
/sales-devhunt — DevHunt platform help (developer tools, GitHub-authenticated voting)
/sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skills sales-do

Examples

Example 1: Share an open-source CLI tool on Lobsters

User says: "I built an open-source CLI tool for database migrations and want to share it on Lobsters" Skill does:

Confirms this is ideal Lobsters content — FLOSS dev tool
Recommends getting an account via invitation queue with GitHub link
Advises 2-4 weeks of genuine participation before posting
Suggests release + databases + cli tags
Recommends writing a brief technical description, not just dropping a GitHub link
Emphasizes staying in comments to answer technical questions Result: Complete Lobsters submission plan with community integration strategy

Example 2: Understand Lobsters norms before posting

User says: "I just got a Lobsters invite — what do I need to know before posting?" Skill does:

Explains the <25% self-promotion rule
Covers the 70-day new user restrictions (can't submit new domains, flag, or use certain tags)
Describes the tagging system and how to choose tags
Warns about the anti-marketing culture — frame technical content around engineering, not product
Recommends starting with comments and non-self-promotional links Result: New member onboarding guide with specific dos and don'ts

Example 3: Compare Lobsters and Hacker News for a dev tool launch

User says: "Should I post my developer tool on Lobsters or Hacker News?" Skill does:

Compares the two: HN is open, much higher traffic (~5M/mo vs ~10K/day), broader audience
Lobsters is invite-only, technical-only, hostile to marketing, but higher signal-to-noise
For open-source tools: both work, Lobsters is more receptive if you participate first
For commercial tools: HN (Show HN) is more tolerant, Lobsters will likely flag
Recommends using both if possible — Lobsters for community credibility, HN for traffic Result: Platform comparison with clear recommendation based on product type

Troubleshooting

Post flagged as spam or off-topic

Symptom: Submitted a project link and it was flagged or downvoted quickly Cause: Lobsters has a low tolerance for marketing content. Common triggers: product page URL (not blog post), commercial tool without open-source component, account with no prior community participation, or using the release tag for a proprietary product. Solution: Reframe the submission as technical content — write a blog post about the engineering behind it, not the product itself. Build community participation first (comments, sharing others' work). If your tool has an open-source component, lead with that. Respect the <25% self-promotion rule.

Can't get a Lobsters invite

Symptom: Submitted to the invitation queue but haven't received an invite Cause: The queue depends on existing members browsing it and choosing to invite you. If your profile/note doesn't signal genuine technical interest, members may skip you. Solution: Make your invitation request compelling — link to your GitHub profile, blog, or a specific technical project. Mention if your content has been posted on Lobsters before. Try direct outreach: join the IRC/chat channel, or reach out to a Lobsters member you know. Having a visible technical presence online increases your chances.

New account can't submit to a domain

Symptom: Trying to submit a link but getting an error about unseen domains Cause: New users (first 70 days) cannot submit from domains that haven't been submitted before. This is a spam prevention measure. Solution: Wait until the 70-day restriction lifts, or ask an established member to submit the link on your behalf. If the domain is your personal blog, this restriction is particularly frustrating — the workaround is to participate in other ways first.

sales-lobsters