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Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

gofreakingdoit.com

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Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#71

Post by masukomi »

ignoring the tech, i think many folks here are missing the point. Assume you really want to quit smoking right now, and you are also pro choice. With a system like this you can say "I will quit smoking in 2 months or this $5000 will go to an anti-abortion charity." now THIS system doesn't do that BUT the core point remains, if you can attach "significant" loss to NOT achieving a goal it can help motivate people (not all people, but you get teh point).

this system is limited in that it can only do "money" for significance. it can't also tie it to something you loathe. I don't think any of the available things ( https://www.beeminder.com/ was mentioned by someone ) can do this, but you can do it with a friend you trust.

to those who suggested having the money go to charity: Having the money go to a charity you LIKE is a terrible idea because then if you fail in your task "well at least my favorite charity is getting money" You actually have incentive to fail.

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#72

Post by MichaelScarn69 »

jesperht wrote: post #59

Awesome job building your idea! Took at a look at the source code an found a few bugs and put them here in a post: https://medium.com/@jesperht/dont-go-freaking-do-it-5da4df4d... Feel free to get in touch with me if you need a hand fixing any of this!

what a jerk

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#73

Post by losteric »

kbutler wrote: post #37
supermdguy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is kind of awkward that a business that exists to help you get things done is paid whenever you fail.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies are supposed to help you be healthy, but make more if you're ill long-term. Banks, credit card companies, and brokerages all make more money if you make poor financial decisions (fees, interest, and active trading, respectively). Auto mechanics and car companies make money if your car doesn't work or doesn't last past the warranty period. Even piano teachers only make money if you…

Those problems also outline a potential business model based on verified long-term reviews.

If a doctor's treatment record and long-term ROI follows them around, or if piano students can track their proficiency over time, the market can act on that information. Without it, we're all flying blind so of course we get suckered into bad exchanges.

It also reflects opportunities for stronger regulations... For example, financial advisor were required to act in the best interest of their customers (until Trump repealed Obama's executive order)

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#74

Post by sincerely »

darepublic wrote: post #53
danpalmer wrote: post #47

I don't really understand the trend of solving all problems with "smart contracts". This just seems to limit the potential market to people who care about smart contracts, and complicate an otherwise simple arrangement, without providing any benefits. You still have to find a supervisor your trust, why not just give money to a friend instead?

This app reminds me of the cartoons where a character says 'lock me in here and don't let me out no matter what say'

The app is basically the exact plot of one of the schemes from Nathan for You s2e6

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#75

Post by dreeves »

mgberlin wrote: post #35
CrossWired wrote: post #6

>> and will keep the funds otherwise. If I'm possibly going to give my money away, why would I want to do this to some random contract, instead maybe a Charity or somewhere other than directly to the contract?

If you really want it to motivate, the funds should be sent to some group you detest if you fail. I.e. the DNC for a staunch republican, or the NRA for someone who believes in gun control.

Our (Beeminder's) counterargument: https://blog.beeminder.com/anticharity/

Excerpt:

Take my thoughts on this with a huge grain of salt, given my conflict of interest, but I really dislike commitment devices that destroy things — either information or other forms of value. StickK’s anti-charities seem the most egregious, actively harming the world. I’m certainly motivated to not allow the world to become a worse place, so it’s not that it would be ineffective as a commitment contract. Just that I’m also motivated to prevent things that don’t make the world worse in any way, like paying money to a third party (who’s not evil).

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#76

Post by gnicholas »

danpalmer wrote: post #47

I don't really understand the trend of solving all problems with "smart contracts". This just seems to limit the potential market to people who care about smart contracts, and complicate an otherwise simple arrangement, without providing any benefits. You still have to find a supervisor your trust, why not just give money to a friend instead?

Agree. This seems like Stickk [1], but with "smart contract" branding. There may be other differences (and I'd be interested to know more about them), but I had the same initial reaction as you.

1: www.stickk.com

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#77

Post by dreeves »

gnicholas wrote: post #76
danpalmer wrote: post #47

I don't really understand the trend of solving all problems with "smart contracts". This just seems to limit the potential market to people who care about smart contracts, and complicate an otherwise simple arrangement, without providing any benefits. You still have to find a supervisor your trust, why not just give money to a friend instead?

Agree. This seems like Stickk [1], but with "smart contract" branding. There may be other differences (and I'd be interested to know more about them), but I had the same initial reaction as you. 1: www.stickk.com

Here are all the other similar such apps we know of: http://blog.beeminder.com/competitors

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#78

Post by suanmeiguo »

I had the exact same idea years ago. Eventually I found there are some shortage about it so I ditched the idea:

- How to verify people achieved their goal (this website introduces "supervisor" but I'm not sure that's gonna work well)

- You gain nothing from achieving goals, v.s. you lose money if you didn't

- The gain (goal achieved, which can be done without losing money) is much less than lose (lose real money), so no incentive for people to use this service.

This website will face the same challenge.

I'm happy to see there are someone out there having the exact same idea, I hope they can do well sincerely.

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#79

Post by gnicholas »

dreeves wrote: post #75
mgberlin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really want it to motivate, the funds should be sent to some group you detest if you fail. I.e. the DNC for a staunch republican, or the NRA for someone who believes in gun control.

Our (Beeminder's) counterargument: https://blog.beeminder.com/anticharity/ Excerpt: Take my thoughts on this with a huge grain of salt, given my conflict of interest, but I really dislike commitment devices that destroy things — either information or other forms of value. StickK’s anti-charities seem the most egregious, actively harming the world. I’m certainly motivated to not allow the world to become a worse place…

> StickK’s anti-charities seem the most egregious, actively harming the world.

That assumes that (1) there are "good" charities and "bad" charities, and (2) that most of Stickk's users are good people who end up benefiting "bad" charities when they fail.

Point (1) seems hard to prove and point (2) is impossible to prove without detailed info about how Stickk is used.

It seems like you're in this market, so perhaps you have data like this. Do you? If not, how do you justify the above assertion?

Re: Show HN: Go Freaking Do It – Smart contract for reaching your goals

#80

Post by heptathorp »

mpeg wrote: post #40

Since setGoalFailed is public (because you want it to be callable by the person trying to achieve the goal, and the contract owner is the supervisor) and does no checks, seems like anyone can mark a goal as failed and the money held in the smart contract will go to the contract owner? Shouldn't that check that msg.sender is either goals[_hash].owner or owner ?

It also doesn't appear to be checking if a goal has already been set as failed, so someone could fail their goal repeatedly and drain the contract of all its funds.
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