Cool idea. Theres a possible significant blindspot.
The best time to submit a story appears to be 8:30 pm, but that may be because a higher number of stories that were popular during the workday (which is probably when HN gets the most traffic) have been pulled down by gravity enough that newer stories have a better chance of getting in.
But don't those new stories peak during a time that presumably, HN's traffic is at a low? And can peaking at 10PM be enough to carry a story through to the top of the next day's new popular stories?
TLDR: Does being popular in the off-hours offset by the presumably lower traffic to HN?
I think you have to consider that not all submissions are equal. Some stories are likely to shoot to the top of the front page regardless of their competition. For those, you would want the post to peak when there are the most readers, which requires posting during competitive slots. But for more run-of-the-mill submissions, posting during a time of less competition is probably a bonus.
The best time to submit a story appears to be 8:30 pm, but that may be because a higher number of stories that were popular during the workday (which is probably when HN gets the most traffic) have been pulled down by gravity enough that newer stories have a better chance of getting in.
But don't those new stories peak during a time that presumably, HN's traffic is at a low? And can peaking at 10PM be enough to carry a story through to the top of the next day's new popular stories?
TLDR: Does being popular in the off-hours offset by the presumably lower traffic to HN?