[Steemhunt] A new Guide for Steemhunt beginners

Hi, @jayplayco here.
Steemhunt has over 2,000 daily active users. More than ten new users are joining our discord channel every day. New hunters have a ton of questions. I would like to share this guide for newbies to make it easier to onboard Steemhunt.

0. Repository

https://github.com/Steemhunt/web

1. Arrived and now?

a. The first thing to read

Source: Daria Nepriakhina

Ok, you found out about Steemhunt, and now it is time to read some articles and text. Let's start with the posting guideline. The posting guideline is something you will see quite often. It is the primary guideline for our moderators to decide if a hunt is going to be verified or not.
A detailed explanation of the posting guideline is here.

You are good to go once you have read the posting guidelines and the detailed article. The next step is to find some products.

b. Find products

Source: Vidar Nordli-Mathisen
As we have now finished reading the posting guideline, it is time to find some products. Some hunters also ask where they can find new products, but I think that is something that can`t be taught. A general hint to get inspirations for your search for new products is :

Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo
Major App stores
Tech related blogs
Tech related newsletters
Tech related exhibitions

Make sure that your product fits into the category of featured products. (posting guideline 2)

c. Post your hunt

When posting your hunt, there are several things to consider.

Make sure to read posting guideline no. 6 first. It is about duplicates. Duplicates are not allowed. It is your responsibility to make sure that you don`t hunt an already featured product. Use the search bar from Steemhunt to search if your product has been hunted or not.
Use the product name, brand name, main keywords and search it. Also, combine these to narrow your search. If you find the product already in the list, you will have to skip your found product, as it was already featured.
Read the posting guideline no. 5. Make sure you write only the product name in the title and use high-resolution screenshots.
Make sure you use the right product link. This is based on the posting guideline no. 3 as only limited product links are allowed for Steemhunt. Usually, E-commerce sites, blog posts, news sites are not permitted as a product link. Also, check if the website is opening. After posting the hunt, please recheck if your link is still working, as Steemhunt puts automatically a "?ref=steemhunt" at the end of each link. Some sites do not support that kind of appendix at the end of a link and give a 404 error. In that case, I recommend to mention that in your post and use a URL shortener like bit.ly.
Make a short comment in "Hunter's comment." Make sure to use your own words as plagiarism of any kind is not allowed at Steemhunt. When you need to mention some text from your source make sure that you use the ">" sign for a quotation mark. Also, cite the source at the end of your quotation.
Example how to write it in markdown.

Result how a correct quotation mark with cited source would look like.

Add some tags and decide if you want to add some contributors. Some hunters are putting themselves as contributors, but that is not needed. I recommend putting at least a 20% contribution for Steem related projects.
Post your hunt.

d. Verification

Source: Melanie Pongratz

After posting your hunt, it gets into the queue of all unverified hunts. The Steemhunt moderators will pick up the hunts based on their schedule hunt by hunt. Our moderators are working around the globe and on a volunteer base. The schedule for a hunt to be verified can vary from immediately to more than 24 hours. You don`t need to worry about that your hunt will miss the KST window. All hunts are automatically listed on the "today's ranking" after verification.

Our moderators are leaving a comment on your hunt. Based on this comment you will know if your hunt is verified, in pending and "requested for an edit" or delisted.

Verified: Great, everything is okay.
Edit request: Make the requested edit and leave a reply on your moderator's comment. Please understand that only the moderator who has moderated your post will be able to verify your hunt again. This can take time, as the moderators have their own modding schedule.
Delisted: You will find the reason for your delist in your moderator's comment. If there is an error in moderation, please join our discord server. Appeal in the channel #mod-appeal. Make sure that you read the pinned messages there and keep the format for appealing.

e. Upvoting

Upvoting is the part all new hunters are asking. The upvoting process of the Steemhunt bot follows your hunter level. Let's imagine that your hunt is not upvoted and check it step by step.

Question
I posted a hunt, but it has not been upvoted by Steemhunt. Why?

Answer

Please check if you had got a comment from a moderator. This will give you clarity if you had been verified or not. A de-listed hunt will not get an upvote from Steemhunt.
Steemhunt runs on KST (Korean standard time). Please check if the current KST window is closed and your hunt was in that window.
Please check your hunters level. (Go to Steemhunt and My Profile to check your hunters level). If your hunters level is under Level 1 on the day of your hunt, Steemhunt will not upvote your hunt.
Please check if your hunt is ranking in the Top 100 hunts. Steemhunt is upvoting max 100 hunts a day between the verified and above Level 1 hunters hunts.
If that is not the case, please check if you may be blacklisted. Blacklisted users are announced in Discord channel #blacklist. If you have been blacklisted the Steemhunt Bot will not upvote you when you are on the list.
Only one hunt per day per hunter is upvoted.

2. Conclusion

Source: rawpixel

It is not easy to understand all the details from the beginning. After watching a lot of new hunters on Steemhunt, it takes a few days. So don`t hurry too much and take your time to read some articles about Steemhunt. Talk also with our community members. It will help to have a soft landing in our community.

"Keep the hunt on"

Thanks for reading!