Understanding User Profiles on Hacker News

The Hacker News MCP Server provides comprehensive access to user profile information, allowing you to explore contributor histories, activity patterns, and community reputation. Each Hacker News user maintains a public profile that includes their submissions, comments, karma score, and optional biographical details—all accessible through simple requests to your AI assistant.

Retrieving Basic Profile Information

To access a user's profile, simply ask your AI assistant about a specific Hacker News username. For example, you might request "Show me the profile for user 'pg'" or "Get information about the Hacker News user 'tptacek'." The server will retrieve the user's profile data, including:

• Username and account age: When the user joined Hacker News
• Karma score: A measure of community reputation based on upvotes received
• About section: Biographical information the user has chosen to share
• Submission count: Total number of stories and comments posted

This basic information provides immediate context about a user's standing and history within the community.

Accessing Submission History

User profiles contain a complete record of everything a person has posted to Hacker News, including both story submissions and comments. You can request to see a user's recent activity by asking questions like "What has user 'dang' posted recently?" or "Show me the latest submissions from user 'todsacerdoti'."

The submission history reveals:

• Stories shared: Links and discussions the user has initiated
• Comments made: Contributions to ongoing discussions
• Timestamps: When each item was posted
• Engagement metrics: Scores and response counts for each submission

Analyzing Activity Patterns

By examining user profiles over time, you can identify patterns in posting behavior, areas of expertise, and engagement style. Ask your assistant to summarize a user's activity or identify their most popular submissions. This is particularly useful for:

• Identifying subject matter experts in specific technical domains
• Understanding thought leaders' perspectives on emerging technologies
• Researching prolific contributors to particular discussion areas
• Tracking engagement from company representatives or project maintainers

Practical Applications

User profile retrieval becomes especially powerful when combined with other server capabilities. You might research users who frequently comment on topics relevant to your work, track activity from employees of specific companies, or identify knowledgeable community members who could provide valuable perspectives on technical decisions.

Simply describe what you're looking for in natural language, and let the server handle the technical details of fetching and organizing the data.