Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records • Hacker News Board

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#71

Post by jeebusroxors » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:37 PM UTC

synnik wrote: post #48

milod wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is anyone else mildly depressed by the inequality between money raised and reality here? It's great that these guys are raising money, I'm all for it. They should take what they can get. But, what about all the brilliant open source projects out there, that people are actually enjoying and using today, not sponsored by large organizations that accept donations from the community. I'm willing to bet that _none_ of the…

Is it great that these guys are raising money? I don't know them, but if the issue is a major fundraising effort to replace Facebook, I would think that selecting teams to implement the new system would need some serious due diligence. Should someone raise money? Absolutely. Is it these guys? I honestly do not know. More information is needed...

The fact that more information is needed makes me lean towards the "no" side of the house.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#72

Post by dustrider » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:37 PM UTC

pstinnett wrote: post #45

milod wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is anyone else mildly depressed by the inequality between money raised and reality here? It's great that these guys are raising money, I'm all for it. They should take what they can get. But, what about all the brilliant open source projects out there, that people are actually enjoying and using today, not sponsored by large organizations that accept donations from the community. I'm willing to bet that _none_ of the…

Is that necessarily the case though? I'm hoping to see a lot more open source projects popping up on Kickstarter. While I'm not donating to Diaspora* (yet) I think I would be happy to donate to plenty of open source projects and Kickstarter seems to be a great platform for collecting those donations.

kickstarter isn't about donations, it's supposed to be about microfinancing startups. They are investments.

I'm with GP, these guys wouldn't get an inch with any angel or VC's so why are the general populace giving them their money? just because it's $20 it doesn't mean you shouldn't consider it in the same way as a $20000 investment. A punt is a punt, but you don't put money on a statement, that's what lobby groups are for.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#73

Post by icey » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:38 PM UTC

someone_here wrote: post #64

icey wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, that was me. I thought a little bit more about it and decided that I was mostly wrong. The people who donate money on Kickstarter aren't donating with the expectation of a real return. In a sense, they're "voting with their wallet". I don't think people give Diaspora $20 bucks thinking "hey, this is going to be a Facebook killer!", I think they will donate with the idea that they'd like to see someone give it…

Making a comment, deleting it, and then replying to a comment that agreed with it stating that what they are agreeing with you upon is wrong is an interesting way of creating an argument.

And now everyone will know my secret shame of not being able to make up my mind.

I still don't think it's great for Kickstarter, but I don't think it's as big an issue as I initially did. I was hoping nobody had seen my comment, but they did; and I wanted to explain the reason I deleted my comment.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#74

Post by varjag » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:38 PM UTC

WesleyJohnson wrote: post #51

bcardarella wrote: post #7

This is going to be the most overhyped and underwhelming web project ever. This entire group looks like they have vaporware written all over them.

Am I the only one that finds this statement distasteful? I would understand if you said the project looks like it has vaporware written all over it, but saying the "group" looks like they have vaporware written all over "them" suggests you're basing your opinion on their physical appearance. I expected more out of HN.

The same guys who said "we are four talented programmers" in their statement? There is certain feel of grandeur oozing from them, and no deliveries yet.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#75

Post by jacquesm » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:39 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #66

jacquesm wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diaspora at this point in time is a signal, not a contender. I think facebook, for the next couple of years is unassailable, but they should definitely take note. The facebook brand has been damaged in the last couple of weeks, and the hype around diaspora is damaging it further. That's the only way in which this will have effect. If they pull it off though (even if they just ship) I'll tip my hat to them.

You didn't address my comment at all; you just repeated the same point you've been making everywhere else about Facebook.

I re-read your comment and I don't see where you pick up that diaspora is a couple of google developers away from being big.

They are going to get more 'legs' is not the same as being big. The only thing that I try to convey there is that if they would get a couple of high profile people on board is that the project will gain a lot of legitimacy in the eyes of the the press and the blogs and that will give them yet another round of exposure.

I did not at all mean to imply that they would be 'big' because of that, there are far too many factors against them to even give them a fighting chance. If they play all their cards right they might be a niche player, if there is some kind of act-of-god then they might get a lot bigger. But taking on facebook at this stage is like taking on google or microsoft.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#76

Post by orblivion » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:40 PM UTC

I'm all excited about this too, but does anybody even know these kids? Is anybody out there vouching for so much as their ability to program? 10k is a nice thing to risk at them, but 100k is pushing it in my opinion. 100k towards "a decentralized social network" sounds good, but 100k towards one particular decentralized social network sounds like trouble. At least it'll be open source so somebody else can take it and fix it if they screw up.

On the other hand, perhaps this money is useful for the market signal in itself, that this sort of thing is in demand.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#77

Post by jacquesm » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:42 PM UTC

Kilimanjaro wrote: post #11

To the naysayers, even if they don't deliver, this undoubtedly proves there is place for a facebook competitor. And lots of people with money to back it up. To facebook, you just jumped the shark. Perhaps you will never die, but your days are counted as king of the social web.

Facebook will be the king of the social web for a long time to come. That is maybe not very comforting but I really don't see how it could be otherwise.

They're about to become the #1 website. They have issues, mostly PR problems at this stage, but for every person that has left FB in the last couple of months a much larger number has signed up.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#78

Post by orblivion » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:45 PM UTC

milod wrote: post #36

bcardarella wrote: post #7

This is going to be the most overhyped and underwhelming web project ever. This entire group looks like they have vaporware written all over them.

Is anyone else mildly depressed by the inequality between money raised and reality here? It's great that these guys are raising money, I'm all for it. They should take what they can get. But, what about all the brilliant open source projects out there, that people are actually enjoying and using today, not sponsored by large organizations that accept donations from the community. I'm willing to bet that _none_ of the…

This is about demand. As happy as certain open source projects are making people, people are willing to pay for the hope of seeing an alternative to Facebook.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#79

Post by jacquesm » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:47 PM UTC

joubert wrote: post #19

What programming experience do the Diaspora guys have?

At their age? Not a whole lot. But then again, Zuckerberg was about that age when he built the first version of facebook.

It's not rocketscience. The problem is, there is facebook now.

And that sets the bar pretty high. Going up against the proverbial 800 pound gorilla makes for a great story but it will probably end in some squashed egos. The book rights will be worth something though :)

Just like duck-duck-go isn't going to overtake google tomorrow though, they might find a niche they can exploit.

Facebook exiles most likely.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#80

Post by orblivion » Thu, May 13, 2010, 6:47 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #38

bjplink wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All this proves is that a bunch of nerds got caught up in an open source telethon and gave some money. I highly doubt anyone at Facebook gives a damn... especially if they've watched the "pitch" video in which these guys come off like a bunch of 18 year old goofballs.

Enough people are pledging different stuff besides just money to give them a serious amount of resources to use, all it takes is for one or two experienced systems architects from the big G, skype or some other project to hop on board and they're going to get a lot more legs. Diasporas biggest negative asset at this point is the egos of the founders, judging by their videos. But then again, who wasn't cocky at 18. Th…

All FB has to do to take the wind out of diaspora's sails is to announce they got the message and that they'll default all privacy settings to 'opt-in' from now on and apologize.

I would still give them the finger, I don't trust Mark to keep it that way.