Looking at the ask tab, this is actually somewhat of a loophole people are using inappropriately. Prime examples on the ask page right now that have absolutely no business being there:
A lot of these are actually Show HNs exploiting the longer lifetime of Ask HN posts. That said, I like Show HN projects. Having a separate tab for "Show HN" (similar to Ask) would be nice, giving those projects more exposure.
Ask HN: Invest in Adam | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5688027
Show HN: Elevatr | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5690920
A beautiful self hosted alternative to Basecamp | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5687765
Ask HN: Why was the MeteorAtSO twitter account suspended? | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5686579
A lot of these are actually Show HNs exploiting the longer lifetime of Ask HN posts. That said, I like Show HN projects. Having a separate tab for "Show HN" (similar to Ask) would be nice, giving those projects more exposure.