Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#1

Post by jaytee_clone » Thu, May 20, 2010, 7:49 PM UTC

I love HN.

But HN is so news oriented it doesn't give me the kind of hacker/entrepreneur community that I'm envisioning.

What are some other sites where hackers/entrepreneur go to just to ...

- discuss early stage startup ideas

- brainstorm implementations and solutions

- give each other feedback on prototypes

... as suppose to commenting on news? I guess like a forum?

Reading news gets old after a while and makes me feel like I'm just a follower not a leader.

I'm planning to start a web community if there isn't one. I did a survey to see if people would be interested here:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1358654

But that post quickly got drown out by the noon news flood, which is part of the problem that I'm talking about.

(P.S. I do go to real-life meetups of hackers/founders. Those are great but scarce. The only good one I have been to so far in the Bay Area is "hackers and founders". And they don't even meet that often in San Francisco.)

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#2

Post by icey » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:07 PM UTC

I've started going back to reddit, the subreddits seem to do a pretty good job of staying on-topic these days.

Other than that, http://allyourstartuparebelongto.us/ looks like it might be a promising alternative (although I hate the domain name with a passion).

If you like the ISV space, The Business of Software forums are good: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz

I would like something close to HN from 2 or 3 years ago if anyone happens to find it:

http://web.archive.org/web/20071031003304/http://news.ycombi...

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#3

Post by epi0Bauqu » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:12 PM UTC

icey wrote: post #2

I've started going back to reddit, the subreddits seem to do a pretty good job of staying on-topic these days. Other than that, http://allyourstartuparebelongto.us/ looks like it might be a promising alternative (although I hate the domain name with a passion). If you like the ISV space, The Business of Software forums are good: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz I would like something close to HN from…

If you want the HN of 3 years ago, http://allyourstartuparebelongto.us/ is for you. I'm looking for a better domain name. Suggestions are welcome. I've been trying to get startup.co and techstartu.ps, but so far no luck.

The submission/banning criteria is actionable startup advice for tech startup founders. Relevant tech is OK as long as it directly relates to or is obviously useful to startups. No news. And no politics, economics, science, etc. unless it meets the startup criteria.

The site is running open source reddit, so there is ample opportunity to hack it as well. I've done a few minor things, and I plan to add email notifications as well. Feel free to fork reddit on github and play around.

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#4

Post by steveplace » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:20 PM UTC

Are you going to the "new" posts and upvoting the topics you feel deserve to be on the front page?

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#5

Post by tjoozeylabs » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:21 PM UTC

redit

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#6

Post by david927 » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:21 PM UTC

After almost four years here, I've definitely felt recently that HN has jumped the shark. I'm also looking for alternatives. allyourstartuparebelongto.us looks promising.

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#7

Post by vaksel » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:21 PM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #3

icey wrote: post #2

I've started going back to reddit, the subreddits seem to do a pretty good job of staying on-topic these days. Other than that, http://allyourstartuparebelongto.us/ looks like it might be a promising alternative (although I hate the domain name with a passion). If you like the ISV space, The Business of Software forums are good: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz I would like something close to HN from…

If you want the HN of 3 years ago, http://allyourstartuparebelongto.us/ is for you. I'm looking for a better domain name. Suggestions are welcome. I've been trying to get startup.co and techstartu.ps, but so far no luck. The submission/banning criteria is actionable startup advice for tech startup founders. Relevant tech is OK as long as it directly relates to or is obviously useful to startups. No news. And no polit…

tartups.com is available, so you can do what delicious did and have s.tartups.com

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#8

Post by blizkreeg » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:22 PM UTC

As a (almost)first-time, solo entrepreneur who is bootstrapping (yes I have almost everything going against me!), I would really value a community/forum like this.

There are times when I'd like to discuss things, seek support, and learn from what others are doing in a more casual setting. HN is great for learning but as a community for informal discussion, it seems just a tad heavyweight.

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#9

Post by pchristensen » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:23 PM UTC

vaksel wrote: post #7

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want the HN of 3 years ago, http://allyourstartuparebelongto.us/ is for you. I'm looking for a better domain name. Suggestions are welcome. I've been trying to get startup.co and techstartu.ps, but so far no luck. The submission/banning criteria is actionable startup advice for tech startup founders. Relevant tech is OK as long as it directly relates to or is obviously useful to startups. No news. And no polit…

tartups.com is available, so you can do what delicious did and have s.tartups.com

I want to both punch you and give you a medal for that suggestion.

Re: Ask HN: HN Alternatives?

#10

Post by icey » Thu, May 20, 2010, 8:25 PM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #3

icey wrote: post #2

I've started going back to reddit, the subreddits seem to do a pretty good job of staying on-topic these days. Other than that, http://allyourstartuparebelongto.us/ looks like it might be a promising alternative (although I hate the domain name with a passion). If you like the ISV space, The Business of Software forums are good: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz I would like something close to HN from…

If you want the HN of 3 years ago, http://allyourstartuparebelongto.us/ is for you. I'm looking for a better domain name. Suggestions are welcome. I've been trying to get startup.co and techstartu.ps, but so far no luck. The submission/banning criteria is actionable startup advice for tech startup founders. Relevant tech is OK as long as it directly relates to or is obviously useful to startups. No news. And no polit…

These are all available:

  startuphacker.com
  hackerbusiness.com (or hackerbiz.com)
  businesshacker.net
  hackerventure.com
  foundernews.com
  foundermaker.com
  beafounder.com
  techstarting.com
  techmaker.com
  founderstart.com
  makerstart.com

(As an aside, I'm always impressed at how quickly you respond to criticism, even minor nits like domain names)