Their site, their property, their business.<p>There are plenty of sites where you can post pretty much whatever you want. HN likely frowns on self-promotion, as it would fast turn an informative news site into a bunch of &quot;look at me!&quot; content few are interested in.<p>Publicly-accessible privately-owned sites are still private, just like stores &quot;open to the public&quot; - you&#x27;re welcome to come in and participate as the business sees fit, but promoting yourself (unless that&#x27;s the point of the site) is usually frowned on and not leaving when requested is punishable trespassing.<p>No, they&#x27;re not &quot;killing your electronic life&quot;. Go to networksolutions.com (or wherever), register your own domain, and publish whatever you want (a few generally-accepted legal limitations aside, like libel or obscenity or state secrets). Promote it thru advertising, Twitter, Facebook, etc insofar as you&#x27;re not violating their standards for objectionable&#x2F;deniable content.<p>Freedom of the press does <i>not</i> mean freedom to use someone else&#x27;s press as you see fit.