And getting value out of it was the best thing that could have happened. However, the incendiary responses and the personal e-mails come with the territory of having a blog, submitting it to aggregators only increases that. HN or not, this is the internet - and everything that comes with it.

A worst case scenario is you got no responses. At least this way you know people are reading what you write, and actually care enough to say anything to you at all. This, as my boss always says, is a "happiness problem."