Show HN: Send Coal to Congress • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#11

Post by jamescun » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 3:49 PM UTC

ScottWhigham wrote: post #10

Heck, at least half the people on HN won't get why coal was chosen. Perhaps an answer as to "Why coal?" would be appropriate on the home page. Also, there is no call to action (or it's not clear enough). I clicked through to the cart and it gives me a three-step explanation but no links or buttons that say "Click me to get started". I was on the cart page and, at the bottom, it just says "It appears that your cart is…

As someone who does not get why coal was chosen, I was hoping you would explain why coal was chosen in lieu of waiting for the website to update.

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#12

Post by piqufoh » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 3:56 PM UTC

jamescun wrote: post #11

ScottWhigham wrote: post #10

Heck, at least half the people on HN won't get why coal was chosen. Perhaps an answer as to "Why coal?" would be appropriate on the home page. Also, there is no call to action (or it's not clear enough). I clicked through to the cart and it gives me a three-step explanation but no links or buttons that say "Click me to get started". I was on the cart page and, at the bottom, it just says "It appears that your cart is…

As someone who does not get why coal was chosen, I was hoping you would explain why coal was chosen in lieu of waiting for the website to update.

Not big on my US history (not being from the US and all) but my guess is this is something to do with Roosevelt and the coal strike

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Strike_of_1902

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#13

Post by dragonwriter » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 4:00 PM UTC

jamescun wrote: post #11

ScottWhigham wrote: post #10

Heck, at least half the people on HN won't get why coal was chosen. Perhaps an answer as to "Why coal?" would be appropriate on the home page. Also, there is no call to action (or it's not clear enough). I clicked through to the cart and it gives me a three-step explanation but no links or buttons that say "Click me to get started". I was on the cart page and, at the bottom, it just says "It appears that your cart is…

As someone who does not get why coal was chosen, I was hoping you would explain why coal was chosen in lieu of waiting for the website to update.

The reference to "The Naughty List" makes it clear why coal was chosen: Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior ("naughty" or "nice") and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve. [1]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#14

Post by dragonwriter » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 4:03 PM UTC

_stuart wrote: post #9

What does sending coal to a congress member do? Why not donate the money to the candidate you think you should be in congress?

> What does sending coal to a congress member do?

Makes money for the person selling the service of sending coal to members of Congress (and, secondarily, for the coal industry.)

> Why not donate the money to the candidate you think you should be in congress?

Because there is no way for someone to throw up a quick service to make money off of that.

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#15

Post by jamescun » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 4:28 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #13

jamescun wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who does not get why coal was chosen, I was hoping you would explain why coal was chosen in lieu of waiting for the website to update.

The reference to "The Naughty List" makes it clear why coal was chosen: Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior ("naughty" or "nice") and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve. [1] [1] http://en.…

My first thought was obviously that of Santa Claus, and leaving coal in the stockings of naughty children. However the commentary here and the text on the website lead me to think it was perhaps referring to something more localised to America or its politics.

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#16

Post by bradleyland » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 4:42 PM UTC

jamescun wrote: post #15

dragonwriter wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reference to "The Naughty List" makes it clear why coal was chosen: Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior ("naughty" or "nice") and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve. [1] [1] http://en.…

My first thought was obviously that of Santa Claus, and leaving coal in the stockings of naughty children. However the commentary here and the text on the website lead me to think it was perhaps referring to something more localised to America or its politics.

I thought of the Santa Claus connection as well... but it's not Christmas. Not even close. Satire is humor, and with humor, context is important.

If this really is a "you get coal for xmas" joke, then it's going to fall flat for a lot of people.

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#17

Post by SoftwareMaven » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 5:37 PM UTC

Please sort the list of states in the filter. Reading each of 50 entries to find my state is suboptimal.

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#18

Post by ensignavenger » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 5:38 PM UTC

coal2congress wrote: post #6

jrobertfox wrote: post #2

this is pretty awesome, do you make a profit off of this? how many orders so far?

I'll make a small margin if I get I bunch of orders, but haven't had many orders yet. Any improvement suggestions?

You should add an option to send coal to the President, as well. I know it is Coal to Congress... but we should give credit where credit is due!

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#19

Post by BigTuna » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 5:39 PM UTC

This plan crashes and burns at Step 3. Hope you make money though.

Re: Show HN: Send Coal to Congress

#20

Post by TheCowboy » Wed, Oct 16, 2013, 6:03 PM UTC

coal2congress wrote: post #8

showerst wrote: post #4

FWIW packages sent to member offices get scanned by a mail processing center off site, I'm not sure if they'd actually deliver the coal on to the office or not =P.

I looked into that some and it didn't sound like coal was an item that'd get flagged

Coal contains things that are considered toxic.

The dust of coal itself can also have adverse health affects if inhaled. You might want to properly shrink wrap the coal. You don't want some poor unpaid intern to get a whiff of coal in their lungs between when they open the package and throw it in the trash. The workers who inspect all packages might not appreciate it as well.