Show HN: LaunchPact - Get upvotes for your Product Hunt launch
LaunchPact is a service where users join a network to exchange upvotes for Product Hunt launches. Members commit to upvoting each other's products, aiming to boost visibility and traction on launch day.
Background
- **Product Hunt (PH)** is a popular platform where tech products, apps, and startups launch publicly. Getting many "upvotes" on launch day determines visibility and ranking — the more upvotes, the more attention and traffic a product receives.
- **LaunchPact** is a new service that offers to boost a Product Hunt launch by providing a network of users who will upvote your product. Essentially, it's a paid upvote-for-upvote or direct upvote service, similar to buying followers on social media.
- **The controversy**: Product Hunt's guidelines explicitly prohibit vote manipulation, paid upvotes, or "exchange circles." Services like LaunchPact operate in a gray area — they risk getting both the product and the service banned from PH. The creator is openly pitching this on Hacker News (Show HN), which has sparked debate about ethics, fairness, and whether it undermines the authenticity of PH rankings.