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“Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

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Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#81

Post by mindcrime »

sp332 wrote: post #23
CJefferson wrote: post #2

This is the kind of deep investigation of a super specific issue I always enjoy reading. This is what I thought the internet would be, 20 years ago.

It's a sign of a "cognitive surplus", because we have more educated people now than we have jobs for them to do. Also it's a sign of how these sites get people to work for them for free, and concentrate huge amounts of other people's work for their own benefit. This poster got nothing for all that work, but SE still gets advertising revenue driven by interest in the content.

This poster got nothing for all that work

What's your basis for this claim? I can see saying "this poster received no financial compensation for all this work" but that's a different claim. It seems to me that the poster must have received somethingp[1], or they would not have put the effort forth in the first place.

[1]: where "something" could be self-satisfaction, ego-boost, intellectual gratification, or any number of other non-financial rewards.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#83

Post by beaconstudios »

sp332 wrote: post #79
beaconstudios wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you don't go for the venue, but others do - the asker and the answerer who generated the content in the first place. You're just getting the benefit of their exchange due to SE's existence. I don't understand why you have an issue with SE hosting content in exchange for permission to advertise on it. I have to pay amazon/digitalocean to host my content - if it costs something for a host to provide it then they can ei…

But the only thing SE has to offer is other people's content. And I don't have a problem with them making money, but with not sharing any with the people who are the reason the site gets money. They're not even middlemen who take a cut, they're getting 100% of the revenue.

but that implies that content is the only valuable thing, and distribution and hosting are negligible. If anything, it's the other way around - content is abundant and quality distribution is the hard problem. That's the reason the marketing industry is one of the largest around.

If people want to try to make money from their Q&As they can post them on their own site and either charge for access or advertise, but then they'll need to market it to get revenue so then they become like an SE but only for their own content and they'll make very little money anyway. That's basically the position of a professional blogger and very few of those make any real money.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#84

Post by sp332 »

beaconstudios wrote: post #83
sp332 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the only thing SE has to offer is other people's content. And I don't have a problem with them making money, but with not sharing any with the people who are the reason the site gets money. They're not even middlemen who take a cut, they're getting 100% of the revenue.

but that implies that content is the only valuable thing, and distribution and hosting are negligible. If anything, it's the other way around - content is abundant and quality distribution is the hard problem. That's the reason the marketing industry is one of the largest around. If people want to try to make money from their Q&As they can post them on their own site and either charge for access or advertise, but the…

Right, that's pretty much my whole point. Money gets concentrated. Employment is low.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#85

Post by metaphor »

nomgal wrote: post #60
metaphor wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25 physical. 1 abstract. Internet throws Occam's razor out the window.

25 English, 1 Swedish. I see no harm in overthinking things considering the subject is rather amusing. I see an axe.

I see no harm either, although what I found to be rather amusing was the demonstrable power of a leading question.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#86

Post by ryandrake »

Double_a_92 wrote: post #62
Latty wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It didn't devolve - it expanded. There is still plenty of great content out there, it's just mixed with a lot of other content of varying quality.

Maybe "diluted" is a fitting word.

Not really, "dilution" implies that when the Internet grows to include another crappy site everything else in the "solution" is slightly crappier. If a new web site for cat pictures or political shouting matches opens up tomorrow, it does not affect the quality and usefulness of HN.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#87

Post by ComputerGuru »

nomgal wrote: post #60
metaphor wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25 physical. 1 abstract. Internet throws Occam's razor out the window.

25 English, 1 Swedish. I see no harm in overthinking things considering the subject is rather amusing. I see an axe.

U-Boat instead of submarine makes that 24 to 2, rather.

No one this side of WWII uses the term U-Boat in America. U is much more commonly associated with Umbrella in kids' books here.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#89

Post by blueside »

logicallee wrote: post #33
sp332 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a sign of a "cognitive surplus", because we have more educated people now than we have jobs for them to do. Also it's a sign of how these sites get people to work for them for free, and concentrate huge amounts of other people's work for their own benefit. This poster got nothing for all that work, but SE still gets advertising revenue driven by interest in the content.

another example that there is not enough work to go around is that if you go into any downtown anywhere in the world at 7 pm to 8 p.m. you will see people drinking beer in bars. These same people could still be working, since there is no reason they shouldn't be in an office, factory, etc, for a full 14-hour workday. Clearly there is just not enough work to go around, which manifests itself as people sitting around d…

> if go into any downtown anywhere in the world at 7 pm to 8 p.m. you will see people drinking beer in bars.

Those people are still working, they just don't know it

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#90

Post by wolfgke »

peterkelly wrote: post #49

This reminds me of the scene in Silicon Valley where Peter Gregory notices the popularity of Burger King, the number of sesame seeds they use, and remembers that sesame seeds only grow in Myanmar, Brazil, and Indonesia - the former two of which have large Cicada populations that emerge at different times. After some research, he finds that this is about to occur simultaneously in both countries for the first time in…

> Whoever did the detective work in the top answer to this article should get into investing, if they aren't already.

I know some person who does this kind of detective work, let's express it this way: as a private, really time-intense hobby. Among others he revealed a complicated case of insolvency fraud and investment fraud involving multiple countries and stooges. The sole reason he started all this detective work was because some customer was not willing to pay him as agreed for a web design job that he did (surely not more than 2000 €) - you cannot make up such a reason and story.

While he has a lot of talent for this kind of detective work, I would never give or lend him any money for the single reason that he simply has not the slightest magic touch for making money.

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