In fairness, the OP did not explicitly ask for upvotes on Twitter, just provided a link to his Product Hunt submission. ( https://twitter.com/aten/status/511904562857254914 ) The difference is that doing that on Reddit or Hacker News will get your post killed and you potentially shadowbanned. And justifiably so, since putting an emphasis on social media popularity in determining ranking takes away from the quality of the submission.
If you don't believe that upvote begging is a problem on Product Hunt, just look at Twitter. ( https://twitter.com/search?q=product%20hunt%20upvote&src=typ... ) Note how most of those have Favorites and Replies from Ryan Hoover himself or another employee.
I doubt this policy will be reversed since it's the reason PH became so popular, but this is the primary reason I'll never take Product Hunt seriously.
Is there a warning on submission that says something like "Please don't ask your friends to upvote your submissions. If you do, your submission may be penalized. The best products stand on their own merits."? If that's the case, then why do you Favorite Tweets from companies begging for upvotes instead of warning them that their behavior is unacceptable?
I personally have received spam asking for Product Hunt upvotes ( http://i.imgur.com/B5hLdYG.png ), and you of all people should be interested in not supporting that.
https://twitter.com/search?q=product%20hunt%20upvote&src=typ...
