Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Show HN your embarrassing (old) code
First I'll start off: http://pastebin.com/ATdDUStd That was from January 2008. I was young and stupid. I'm probably just as stupid now, but at least I can see now how stupid that was. So let's open up the shame files, and show how far we've come by recognising how bad we used to be.
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Show HN your embarrassing (old) code launched in 2012; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1ME
2018 · boglin.iwarp.com · its alternatives →
- 2
And a fun new game: Too Embarrassed To Answer
2016 · rss.art19.com · its alternatives →
- 3
- 4
Anonymous confessions from programmers
2016 · youtube.com · its alternatives →
- 5ME
2018 · 1946875.tripod.com · its alternatives →
- 6
See what the frontpage looked like the day you joined
2016 · its alternatives →
- 7
Here's a video of it in action https://twitter.com/i/status/1667355251773526016 I didn't end up using it that much back then and no one else seems to have cared it existed, but it was a project I used to derust my programming skills and I'm to this day proud of the flamboyant design. To anyone reading this: you don't have to let your old code rot away in the graveyard of distant memories just because times change. With enough persistence and a little perseverance anything is possible. Code doesn't have an expiration date. -day
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 8
- 9
For the past few years, I've been frustrated at how we document our products. The code can tell you what you ended up doing, maybe why you ended up doing it (if your team is disciplined about comments/documents), but it can't tell you why you didn't do what you didn't do. Time and time again, I've seen teams try to change something to a better way, only to realize why it was done the "worse" way in the first place. Documenting decisions not taken is just really hard, ADRs help but doing it for everything is just too noisy and time-consuming. What's more, most of the decisions just…
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10
Rude, straight to the point advice for coders. Add your own!
2015 · its alternatives →
- 11
Creator here. In a nutshell this extension is a "Like / Dislike" system but for website results. I miss the days of things like the YouTube dislike bar, where you can quickly assess if something is good or not. Currently sitting at ~90 users. To get it off the ground I've scraped the last year of HN to make a set of good links, and used a few content farm blacklists to make a set of bad links. Right now it's semi-useful and should only get better with time. There are some simple measures in place to prevent spam & abuse, but will cross that bridge if it ever comes. All feedback welcome!
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 12
Generate your own excuse in a nifty comic style!
2017 · xkcd-excuse.com · its alternatives →
- 13IB
Hello all, I built about 2 years ago a coding website for kids, teens and adults: https://codeguppy.com Despite my efforts to promote the website it is still not well know. I post almost daily about it on Twitter at https://twitter.com/codeguppy ... but even there I don't have views. The website is fun... although I still have a ton of things to add. I appreciate if you take a look and suggest improvements and most importantly help me with spreading the news about this website. I really need a boost! Thanks all!
2021 · its alternatives →
- 14
- 15
Alleviate your boredom with our web games, quizzes, LOLs & strong opinions. Distractions and debate to make you (❂‿❂), {ಠ_ಠ} or ¯_(ツ)_/¯
2014 · games.usvsth3m.com · its alternatives →
- 16IM
A mildly interesting programming language named after a meme.
2015 · jsnider3.github.io · its alternatives →
- 17LS
Almost eight years ago I launched an online “Linux sysadmin course for newbies” here at HN. It was a side-project that went well, but never generated enough money to allow me to fully commit to leaving the Day Job. After surviving the Big C, and getting made redundant I thought I might improve and relaunch it commercially – but my doctors are a pessimistic bunch, so it looked like I didn’t have the time. Instead, I rejigged/relaunched it via a Reddit forum this February as free and open - and have now gathered a team of helpers to ensure that it keeps going each month even after I can’t…
2020 · its alternatives →
- 18BM
Hey HN crowd! Two days ago I realized I'm almost unable to read a book or a long article without getting distracted by Twitter/HN/Reddit/Work. The situation is so terrible, I'm even getting afraid of big articles, and my ReadItLater list is getting pretty long (shameful I know) ... and I'm pretty sure most of you are in this situation :) Being used to TL;DRs on long reddit posts, I thought it would be great to have these for everything, so I quickly hacked this website: http://www.too-long-didnt-read.com/ Here is an example of TL;DR: http://www.too-long-didnt-read.com/5tropy I would love to…
2011 · too-long-didnt-read.com · its alternatives →
- 19SH
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JtFBkrFNYWk https://www.youtube.com/shorts/z3oZwV78m-c https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Gqta_wJILuE (and so on)
2022 · its alternatives →
- 20
Hey everyone, I'm Fabio, a very long time lurker here. Today I want to celebrate and share with you, again, a game that I conceived more than 8 years ago. I shared it last week with all its history (if you're curious) [1], but it just stayed in the "shownew" and never reached the main "show" page, hopefully this time it'll do better (:crossed_fingers:)! What changed since last week? Today I've also published the mobile apps for both iOS and Android (last week it was just web), which are also my first mobile apps ever. So I believe it's still a worthwhile post and something to show :) I'd…
2024 · fiftygame.com · its alternatives →
- 21
Read an article yesterday about the H.264 codec increasing their licensing fee by an astronomical amount. And as always, my first shot was how hard could it be to try and build a codec which could be that efficient. I've personally been on a drive to improve my ability to one-shot complex features, products, or make even surgical changes. It's been a few months since I've been doing that, and honestly, results have been great for both work and work/life balance. This was a fun experiment. It burned through tokens, but it helped me identify some more improvements I could make to my…
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 22WM
Hi Hacker News! My friend and I [1] would like to share with you something we did this week-end. We really like the idea of game jams like the Ludum Dare, and we’d like to participate, but it’s often complicated for us, as we are often limited by the rules inherent to this kind of competition: we have to be available at specific dates, and the rules doesn’t always work for us. For example: if you want to participate as a team in a Ludum Dare compo, you have 72h instead of 48h, and you are not required to publish your code. We realized that what we really like is: - To work together. - The…
2014 · its alternatives →
- 23
Drop your URL and it will call out your BS (with profanity).
Feb 2026 · shipordie.club · its alternatives →
- 24MP
My weekly(ish) video logs tracking my progress of building a completely sound statically typed language and structural editor. The motivation is to make lots of invalid programs unrepresentable.
2022 · petersaxton.uk · its alternatives →
Also compare
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →