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Learn Anything White Paper

github.com

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Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#31

Post by nglgzz »

nileshtrivedi wrote: post #29

You are asking for contributions from people and at the same time, you have plans to "monetize" the website by building premium-only features. It feels like exploitation.

I'm really sad you feel that way. Wikipedia also asks for contributions and donations, does that feel like exploitation to you?

No it doesn't, cause there's a massive amount of work that goes in projects like these and there's costs too. Costs that donations don't always pay.

Would you prefer a huge banner while you're browsing asking you to donate and telling you that if we don't meet a certain quota we're shutting down the website, or would you prefer having an additional feature that you may or may not want to pay for? I don't know you, but I'd definitely go for the second one.

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#32

Post by YaxelPerez »

Kind of unrelated, but I've found that a good way to direct your research on a subject is to write or edit articles on https://simple.wikipedia.org. It forces you to understand a topic to the point where you can explain it simply, kind of like the Feynman Technique. Plus, other people can look at your writings and understand the subject too.

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#33

Post by andrepd »

nglgzz wrote: post #31
nileshtrivedi wrote: post #29

You are asking for contributions from people and at the same time, you have plans to "monetize" the website by building premium-only features. It feels like exploitation.

I'm really sad you feel that way. Wikipedia also asks for contributions and donations, does that feel like exploitation to you? No it doesn't, cause there's a massive amount of work that goes in projects like these and there's costs too. Costs that donations don't always pay. Would you prefer a huge banner while you're browsing asking you to donate and telling you that if we don't meet a certain quota we're shutting…

Wikipedia is entirely free, and asks for donations to cover its costs. It does not lock any features to paying users only. There is a world of a difference. For this to be the case, on a website made by user contributions no less, is even more upsetting.

And yes, I prefer an unreservedly free website with banners reminding you to donate to a website that makes money off locking certain features to paying costumers only.

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#34

Post by nglgzz »

andrepd wrote: post #33
nglgzz wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really sad you feel that way. Wikipedia also asks for contributions and donations, does that feel like exploitation to you? No it doesn't, cause there's a massive amount of work that goes in projects like these and there's costs too. Costs that donations don't always pay. Would you prefer a huge banner while you're browsing asking you to donate and telling you that if we don't meet a certain quota we're shutting…

Wikipedia is entirely free, and asks for donations to cover its costs. It does not lock any features to paying users only. There is a world of a difference. For this to be the case, on a website made by user contributions no less, is even more upsetting. And yes, I prefer an unreservedly free website with banners reminding you to donate to a website that makes money off locking certain features to paying costumers on…

It's not about locking features to paying users only. It's about making new features that have enough value to you that you want to pay to use them.

Take the example from the white paper (paid help from experts), I don't get how you'd feel exploited that way, since it's not even related to contributions.

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#35

Post by ropeladder »

nglgzz wrote: post #21
ropeladder wrote: post #19

Hey this looks really cool. Are you familiar with Metacademy? ( https://metacademy.org/ ) (previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7617683 ) Looks like you are trying to do a very similar thing, although they are maybe operating on a more conceptual level. What have you used to build the site and do the layout? I'm always interested in how people are using graph-based UIs since I've been working on one…

Yeah we were partly inspired by it and the idea is similar. Although, they seem to focus on ML and Math, while we hope to cover as many topics as possible. Another difference is that we don't host any content, but just links to resources. For rendering the maps we're using React and D3. D3 is used for calculating the position of elements on the page and, React for rendering and manipulating those elements. Before we…

Thanks for the link. I'm using D3 + Vue.js, with D3 handling the data, layout and rendering, and then Vue (with Vuex) handling events and state management. I think this example is closer to what you are doing (but using Vue)? https://emiliorizzo.github.io/vue-d3-network/

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#36

Post by y4mi »

nglgzz wrote: post #34
andrepd wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia is entirely free, and asks for donations to cover its costs. It does not lock any features to paying users only. There is a world of a difference. For this to be the case, on a website made by user contributions no less, is even more upsetting. And yes, I prefer an unreservedly free website with banners reminding you to donate to a website that makes money off locking certain features to paying costumers on…

It's not about locking features to paying users only. It's about making new features that have enough value to you that you want to pay to use them. Take the example from the white paper (paid help from experts), I don't get how you'd feel exploited that way, since it's not even related to contributions.

not the parent, but wouldn't contribute on a website that

a) gets its content solely from its users and

b) locks features away behind a paywall

especially if it's for learning. But to each his own and you cannot please everyone. Don't feel discouraged and keep going. The product looks pretty good.

( your simile with wikipedia breaks apart on the b btw, thats why nobody minds it there )

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#37

Post by nikivi »

y4mi wrote: post #36
nglgzz wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about locking features to paying users only. It's about making new features that have enough value to you that you want to pay to use them. Take the example from the white paper (paid help from experts), I don't get how you'd feel exploited that way, since it's not even related to contributions.

not the parent, but wouldn't contribute on a website that a) gets its content solely from its users and b) locks features away behind a paywall especially if it's for learning. But to each his own and you cannot please everyone. Don't feel discouraged and keep going. The product looks pretty good. ( your simile with wikipedia breaks apart on the b btw, thats why nobody minds it there )

This is just an idea. As we are still not sure what the best way to support this project financially is.

The other option would be to use advertisements but we feel that would actually not help with our goals of providing the best resources available as sponsored content does not necessarily mean the best.

For now, the only support we get is through Patreon but that currently does not cover the costs for the servers let alone justify the time commitment it takes to support the website with new features and improvements.

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#38

Post by nglgzz »

y4mi wrote: post #36
nglgzz wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about locking features to paying users only. It's about making new features that have enough value to you that you want to pay to use them. Take the example from the white paper (paid help from experts), I don't get how you'd feel exploited that way, since it's not even related to contributions.

not the parent, but wouldn't contribute on a website that a) gets its content solely from its users and b) locks features away behind a paywall especially if it's for learning. But to each his own and you cannot please everyone. Don't feel discouraged and keep going. The product looks pretty good. ( your simile with wikipedia breaks apart on the b btw, thats why nobody minds it there )

You wouldn't contribute even if the locked features were unrelated to what you'd be contributing to?

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#39

Post by nglgzz »

ropeladder wrote: post #35
nglgzz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah we were partly inspired by it and the idea is similar. Although, they seem to focus on ML and Math, while we hope to cover as many topics as possible. Another difference is that we don't host any content, but just links to resources. For rendering the maps we're using React and D3. D3 is used for calculating the position of elements on the page and, React for rendering and manipulating those elements. Before we…

Thanks for the link. I'm using D3 + Vue.js, with D3 handling the data, layout and rendering, and then Vue (with Vuex) handling events and state management. I think this example is closer to what you are doing (but using Vue)? https://emiliorizzo.github.io/vue-d3-network/

I'm not familiar with Vue, but from the source of that link it seems a similar approach.

Re: Learn Anything White Paper

#40

Post by TheCowboy »

nglgzz wrote: post #31
nileshtrivedi wrote: post #29

You are asking for contributions from people and at the same time, you have plans to "monetize" the website by building premium-only features. It feels like exploitation.

I'm really sad you feel that way. Wikipedia also asks for contributions and donations, does that feel like exploitation to you? No it doesn't, cause there's a massive amount of work that goes in projects like these and there's costs too. Costs that donations don't always pay. Would you prefer a huge banner while you're browsing asking you to donate and telling you that if we don't meet a certain quota we're shutting…

You're talking at your customers and/or unpaid contributors here instead of talking with them.

The content you're asking people to create requires a massive amount of work. Pretending it is same social/economic contract as Wikipedia is just going to turn people off if you do add a premium version.

You are better off being direct and transparent about your funding model if you want people to help. What features would be premium and why is that acceptable? The about page looks like you plan on being a non-profit organization, is that the goal?

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