What Happened to Indie Hackers?

Question

I was a huge fan back in its heyday but in recent years the site has become a complete disaster. Discussions are dead, nobody that actually makes money posts there, and the newsletter seems like its written by a 16 year old "maker." I could go on and on. I don't get what happened. Am I the only one who feels this way? Did csallen exit?

silb · Accepted Answer

The site became noisy by indie hackers creating products for other indie hackers and using the site for promoting their products.
There's also a community focus on less hackerish topics as paid newsletters and content products.
Also, the whole site is a bit sluggish, which may lead to less engagement in the discussions.

latexr · Answer

It was bought by Stripe four years ago[1]. No idea if or how that&rsquo;s related with what you&rsquo;re observing.[1]: https://www.indiehackers.com/blog/acquired-by-stripe

ezekg · Answer

I actually deleted my IH account awhile back because of this. It turned into... something else. As far as alternatives -- https://www.starterstory.com has some good interviews though not really tech-focused. And I also came across https://console.dev/qa a couple weeks back and it gives me heydey IH vibes, but not everything is a business.

readonthegoapp · Answer

I don't know what it was like back in the day
Other than I tried a time or two and had people shit on my ideas so I bailed
Soft I know
But I've been back for a few months and generally enjoying it and finding it almost semi-useful
Forums generally do seem dead-ish
I would prefer to pay $20/mo -- at least -- to have truly engaged people.
But not sure if charging a small fee would help or hurt.

codegeek · Answer

I did notice that recently there are a lot of "I m building in public" type folks. Also no real interviews since January 2021.