Stop Obsessing Over Comments On Hacker News (2015)

Oh god, this reminds me of the time I told Bram Cohen that Bit Torrent would never work. Of course, I just didn't understand what he was trying to do. Face, meet egg.

Re: Stop Obsessing Over Comments On Hacker News (2015)

#7

Post by sdegutis » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 5:04 PM UTC

Comments on HN can be enlightening as to how people think. Never look here for validation of innovative ideas though. It's just not meant for that kind of discussion.

Re: Stop Obsessing Over Comments On Hacker News (2015)

#8

Post by jaclaz » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 5:05 PM UTC

andrewclunn wrote: post #4

Hasn't this been posted here before? Anyone have a link to the comments on that posting?

Here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10412465 Should be marked [2015] since the above was posted 438 days ago.

Re: Stop Obsessing Over Comments On Hacker News (2015)

#9

Post by DiabloD3 » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 5:06 PM UTC

Oh my God, but without HN, how will I validate my existence?

... said me, while sipping expensive wine out of a crystal chalice that came from the 9th century while sitting on a throne made of the finest organic pasture raised bovine hide, while smoking a Stradavarius (the violin, not the cigar).

Re: Stop Obsessing Over Comments On Hacker News (2015)

#10

Post by awinder » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 5:06 PM UTC

There's a certain amount of insane luck involved in any startup succeeding; you have factors like financing, broader industry investment trends, initial financing that involve just blind luck that is out of your control. To say nothing of all the ways you could control but ultimately screw up, in some way that ultimately kills the company.

Add to that some idea that is not normal and involves actually changing the way society thinks and acts. Or some idea that runs headlong into a highly regulated industry and involves a gamble on winning (zenefits, Uber, lyft). Calling these ideas crazy is basically stating the obvious. The unnormal result is that they actually succeed. And good for them for doing it, and I'm not discounting the skill and ideation or how well these people "earned" the success. I'm just saying let's not discount that they were still lucky and that the ideas were crazy -- this is statistical fact.