I have been following YCombinator’s News section almost since its inception. I have seen the YC community in action; from the switch of “Startup News” to “Hacker News”, to the disappearance of nickb and his return. It is one of the best sites on the web for startup information. The members are passionate about the community they have built, the articles are often right on par and spam is kept to a minimum.
I recently noticed a shift of the material making its way to the front page. Almost a quarter of the Top 30 submissions were “Ask YC” questions (aka Ask HN and Ask PG). Instead of posting an article from the web, members ask each other startup advice. This is why YC News is a step above other article submission sites. Digg, Reddit, Yahoo Buzz and Sphinn all have a dedicated community, but not the level of involvement and support that YC members provide.
At a time when sites are doing whatever they can to grow, Paul Graham and the YC community make an effort to keep the population small and focused. This allows the material on the site to remain at such a high level instead of bogging it down with volume. That in it self is a lesson to every founder on the site. Volume instead of quality is a common objective that startups focus on that led them down the wrong path from the beginning.
