Matching people to jobs. The current way we do this definitely sucks, but nobody seems to be able to fix it.
What would a "fix" look like?
Ask HN: Things that suck?
21–30 of 102 posts
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#22This isn't a "thing that sucks" so much as a thing that will suck, but California needs to gets its act together with water supply and use. Smarter use is one thing, but it's abundantly clear that we'll also need more of it.
Desalinization technology exists, but is considered to be prohibitively expensive relative to the benefits -- or at least that's the received wisdom we always hear whenever the subject comes up. Would love to know more about this, and whether anyone is working on a more cost-effective and sustainable solution.
On a more day-to-day note, to no one's great surprise, ISPs suck. So do power grids, especially in CA.
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#23I've never had a problem at the DMV in CA when I lived there. It was one of my better experiences with the government. The USPS is great too. Even my experience with the IRS has been great - they saved me many thousands of dollars by pointing out that I put some income under the wrong category. My current frustration is cablecom.ch here where I live in Switzerland. They have two completely different billing systems f…
One quick follow-up... Despite good experiences with the IRS I have to say that the u.s. tax code is majorly fucked up. We spend $3K - $7K/year to have our taxes done by a competent accounting company and they usually end up around 20+ pages in length, and because taxes are lower in Switzerland than in the u.s. we end up paying u.s. taxes despite not living there for 6 years.
US citizenship is like a virus - it infects people that aren't even american if you, for example, marry an american or have a child in the u.s. you have to start reporting your bank account information to the u.s.
I really wish someone would look out for us expats in congress, but of course there's no incentive to do so. We're just normal people, not fabulously wealthy. We live in the most expensive country in the world and still end up sending money to the u.s.
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#24The way the internet is addictive. I still haven't found the discipline to stop wasting time.
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#25Cancelling services (phone, internet, etc.) It took me 40 minutes (mostly on hold) to cancel my internet the other day, a problem I wish I could pay someone else to take care of.
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#261. HTML (no fashionable crap like Bootstrap or flexbox is capable of giving me somethong as simple as XAML's grid, also dozens of quirks - http://wtfhtmlcss.com ). 2. JavaScript (not just dynamic but weak as well + dozens of quirks - http://wtfjs.com ). 3. Node.js and its hype, but at least I can avoid it.
I don't really agree with any of these. JS and HTML are both pretty quirky - it's partially a legacy of their success and origins. But so are most languages - I don't really think that HTML, CSS or Javascript are particularly sucky.
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#27Paywalls across apps. I've got a subscription to the Economist, but I'm not logged in on Facebook, Twitter, whatever HN client I'm using, etc, so it's like I don't.
I happen to have a solution for this problem that this margin is too narrow to contain.
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#28Javascript. It's possibly the worst language I've ever had the misfortune of coming across, and it's gained this cult-like devoted fan base amongst the startup crowd. Everyone tries to cram Javascript into applications it's completely unsuitable for like desktop non-browser 3D gaming or encryption. It is an enabler of pervasive surveillance by marketers and a huge security risk for the privacy-conscious. Not to mention every web developer thinks the pinnacle of web design involves a megabyte of jquery or whatever is fashionable these days, reinventing parts of the browser's functionality like fading content in instead of just letting me scroll the fucking page.
I wish javascript would just die already. I greatly prefer static or server-side dynamic sites. I miss the days when you just had a PHP session, and when you posted your message it didn't show up until a refresh.
My animosity towards javascript and javascript developers simply cannot be overstated.
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#29[deleted]
Don't be a smartass. Loads of things are annoying or rubbish, and the fact that people can get sick and die doesn't change that.
Re: Ask HN: Things that suck?
#30Cancelling services (phone, internet, etc.) It took me 40 minutes (mostly on hold) to cancel my internet the other day, a problem I wish I could pay someone else to take care of.
Unfortunately this is something that is intentionally designed to suck in almost all cases. It's even hard to pay someone else to do the canceling for you since you're generally required to offer up a lot of personal info to verify that it is in fact you that wants to cancel the account. I've personally had this range from phone number all the way up to SSN.