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Stop Obsessing Over Comments On Hacker News (2015)

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

#21
post #9

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).

I believe you're saying the devil has many advocates here.

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

#22

This reminds me of something Joel Spolsky said on a podcast several years back. The gist was many newer ideas for startups that turned out to be great, were first met with criticism or labeled bad ideas. Because if the new idea was too obvious, it was probably already done by someone else. (At least that is what I think he meant. Wish I could find the show notes.)

Would be interested to listen to this if you do dig it up!

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

#23

There are so many comments on hacker news of the flavor: "Why would anyone use this when you can build it yourself in five minutes using x, y and z open source tools" completely ignoring how much knowledge you have to have retained in order to build it in five minutes.

Any time I read someone saying something like that I internally replace the subject with food. "Why would anyone buy food professionally made at a restaurant when you could make something similar at home?" Because I want something nice and I'm willing to spend some cash to get it. C'mon..

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

#24
post #9

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).

I believe you're saying the devil has many advocates here.

Yup, that is literally HN's community in a nutshell.

Not passing judgement, mind you, but at least it isn't a Goddamned echo chamber like most other websites. Well, at least, not nearly as bad.

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

#25
This really just puts more strength in the idea that success is largely luck-based.

No one can accurately predict success. Not specialized forums, not specialized workers in the field, and not even VCs whose sole incentive is to make money by investing in great ideas.

Even YC says as much that they have no clear idea as to what will be a success, and their strongest signal is the strength of the founders, and that there should be co-founders. I'm not sure how their experiment went with inducting people into YC just based solely on who they were, without an idea, but that's just further evidence that even people obsessed with finding success basically have no clear idea or signal as to what makes a success.

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

#27
I agree with the gist of the story, but I find the example poorly chosen.

The launch post regarding AirBNB set a tone with it's title that set people up to be critical..."Sleep under my kitchen table.." Even for those that understood the tongue-in-cheek there, the title is self deprecating.

I suspect the thread would have had a more positive tone with a different title.

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

#28
post #23

There are so many comments on hacker news of the flavor: "Why would anyone use this when you can build it yourself in five minutes using x, y and z open source tools" completely ignoring how much knowledge you have to have retained in order to build it in five minutes.

Any time I read someone saying something like that I internally replace the subject with food. "Why would anyone buy food professionally made at a restaurant when you could make something similar at home?" Because I want something nice and I'm willing to spend some cash to get it. C'mon..

This. In short (for me): Because I am lazy and I appreciate it if anyone else does the work for me.

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

#29
Ugh. There really should be a logical fallacy around the fact that Hacker News was incorrect about Dropbox and other companies, and how it's not a license to ignore comments altogether. I really wish people would stop referring to the Dropbox story on HN as an example of "ignore the haters because they are wrong." Dropbox, and the other startups mentioned in the post, are outliers, not typical examples, and also cases that people have learned from since 2008.

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

#30
Meh.

When I submit my project to Show HN it'll be to have the stupid obvious things, or gaping security FU, I've missed ripped to shreds. That's the point to my mind. Same if I were showing it to /r/programming. They're my sanity check before pushing for users.

Hopefully I've already got a good idea of the market before I do that. If I want positive outlook, perhaps equally unrealistic or wrong, I'd submit to whatever non-technical reddit suits the service.

Does anyone submit MVP to HN in the expectation of glowing praise or predictions of success?

e.g. I still don't like Quora, and rarely even visit, especially after the sign-in to view more change.

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