Ask HN: I versus We • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I versus We

#31

Post by Semiapies » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 7:48 PM UTC

maguay wrote: post #28

jonschwartz wrote: post #7

Another school of thought on this is if you're trying to look bigger than you are, which alot of startups do, "we" might be more appropriate.

Right, and that's exactly why I've had some tell me to use we in articles and other copywriting. But it just doesn't really feel appropriate always ... if you're just one guy writing a blog, seems like you should make it sound that way. I do see the value in projecting the bigger image, but sometimes it seems like down-to-earthness can go a long ways too...

"Bigger images" go both ways - you can find yourself held to standards and prey to expectations that you don't want.

I've seen this a lot in hobby industries - guys working out of a tiny rented space in a office park find themselves wondering why their customers think they're a big company with a lot of money. This is inevitably due to their trying to look "professional", which tends to be a mingling of actual professionalism and aping the promotional styles of larger companies.

Re: Ask HN: I versus We

#32

Post by xiongchiamiov » Mon, Nov 22, 2010, 8:49 PM UTC

I was reading a post from SmartBear the other day that touches upon this: http://blog.asmartbear.com/how-to-get-customers-who-love-you...

Re: Ask HN: I versus We

#33

Post by widgetycrank » Tue, Nov 23, 2010, 3:30 AM UTC

Keep in mind that if you decide to hire people later on, you may have to go through your site/app and change every instance of "I" to "we". :)

Re: Ask HN: I versus We

#34

Post by eftpotrm » Tue, Nov 23, 2010, 2:35 PM UTC

This may well be a habit inherited from my start in a very small organisation where I was in charge of anything electronic, regardless of how much it looked like a computer, but....

I find when I'm describing a project I've done to anyone outside the organisation (and quite often inside, too), I almost always use We automatically. I may have done it but I did it on behalf (and frequently under the direction) of the organisation - it is an achievement and an asset for the organisation and should be credited as such.