Why Diaspora will fail • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Diaspora will fail

#51

Post by randallsquared » Fri, May 21, 2010, 5:18 PM UTC

anamax wrote: post #22

NathanKP wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like each server is single-profile, though perhaps the server could be shared for a household. But if you want the true privacy of Diaspora then yes you would need to host your own Diaspora server.

"need to" points to biz opportunities. If people actually care, there will be a number of services providing "servers" under various conditions. Some will be advertising supported. Some will be for-pay. Some will be subsidized. Some will be shared. Some will be virtual. and so on.

This is exactly what I assumed. This model would allow the Diaspora developing company to host their own set of servers to jumpstart the network effects.

Re: Why Diaspora will fail

#52

Post by dfj225 » Fri, May 21, 2010, 5:20 PM UTC

cubes wrote: post #17

The reasoning in this article is pretty specious and circular. Some of the author's arguments can be summed up as: * Diaspora will fail because it sounds similar to something someone else tried one time that failed. * Nobody will use Diaspora because it will fail. * Diaspora will fail because nobody will use it. * Nobody will use Diaspora because it will never ship. * Nobody will want to pay for Diaspora because nobo…

I agree that the arguments in the article were not well formed. One big thing they seemed to have overlooked (or consciously ignored) is the timing of the project. I think its obvious by the amount of donations that they received that the announcement of Diaspora certainly had good timing (or luck).

Now the rest really is in the hands of those four to actually deliver. It'll be interesting to see what the reaction is when they "finish" in 3 months. I think its possible that even if they deliver on every promise interest in actually using the product will be limited to the set of those who donated to the project. A lot can happen in 3 months. Depending on how Facebook reacts to the recent privacy criticism, everyone might not care about these issues in 3 months. How many people were still complaining about the news feed 3 months after that was released?

Re: Why Diaspora will fail

#53

Post by dfj225 » Fri, May 21, 2010, 5:22 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #49

I'm sorry, but why are people even talking about this thing? It's...nothing. Hey, guys, I'm going to start a new social networking site and it's going to, uhh...solve all the problems that facebook has! I'll call it "beehive". (Oh, wait, that might actually make sense) Me and my "team" are going to pose around for a bunch of hip shots of us sitting around and being hip. Sorry, I don't mean to sound so harsh, I just d…

I think a lot of the buzz is meta-buzz, especially here on HN. Like you said, there is no product, just an idea. I think what's interesting is that with only an idea they were able to generate a lot of cash through donations.

I don't think any of us here would expect to just have an idea and then see 170 grand fall into our laps.

Re: Why Diaspora will fail

#54

Post by GiraffeNecktie » Fri, May 21, 2010, 10:15 PM UTC

what wrote: post #9

GiraffeNecktie wrote: post #2

Yeah there's no way a bunch of university students can compete with a big, established social networking site! Oh wait ...

I don't think the article argued that they can't compete because they're university students. It mentioned that this idea has been tried in the past and failed. Also that the average Joe won't want, likely even know how, to set up their own seed. People probably don't want to pay to host their own seed. Not mention you're going to go where your friends are. People aren't going to leave Facebook in droves because a co…

Sure, some of the points are valid, but he sure made a big deal of the age and immaturity of the participants as if that's some kind of negative. It could just as easily be a positive if they are at all in tune with the sentiments of their peers. Certainly Facebook is completely out of touch with their user base.

Re: Why Diaspora will fail

#55

Post by cianestro » Fri, May 21, 2010, 11:02 PM UTC

"Now that we have much more money than we asked for, our situation has changed a little." --Diaspora Team O.O

What does HN think about gift donations instead of money as a funding platform? A site that simply allows startups to request the raw materials/skills they need and people pledge those things. Kind of like a potluck but for funding.