A User's First Post?
aneesh: I never felt any barrier to posting on HN.  Nearly everyone on this site is pretty welcoming.  Just comment on something that interests you, or that you know something about.By the way, for me, and I suspect many others, it's not really a free rider problem like you describe.  I don't gain much by simply having a collection of interesting links, nor do I feel like I'm doing a service when I post a comment or article.  I gain from the actual discussions around interesting articles, especially when people respond to my comments.