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Show HN: Ask a Dev

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Re: Show HN: Ask a Dev

#71

Post by TipVFL »

This is pretty cool, I like the overall concept and spare design of the website. I do have a few notes about the user experience.

I'd suggest making the current city more obvious. I spent my first minute looking around trying to figure out how to choose a location before I noticed the small, low-contrast text next to the events that says the city name.

It also took me a minute to figure out if the people shown were the people running the event in my town or the people who run the website. Oh, and the "+see more" button for their skills was annoying because for most of the people it only revealed one more skill and didn't really save any room. I think you should reserve that control for people with truly long lists of skills.

Re: Show HN: Ask a Dev

#72

Post by keithnz »

I like the concept. But I do like when I use capital i when I refer to myself. I don't know why they don't like capitals.

I'd be interested in one here in Auckland, NZ

Re: Show HN: Ask a Dev

#75

Post by dizzystar »

andrewstuart wrote: post #56

"Hey why use this? It's the same as Slack?" "Hey why use this, it's the same as IRC?" "Hey why use this, it's the same as a mailing list?" These are the sorts of things people say to lazily kill any new idea. "Hey why use this new fangled 'google.com'? It's the same as Alta Vista." "Hey why use this new fangled 'google.com'? It's the same as grep." People say this stuff because it makes them feel smart. Folks, not al…

It's more surprising to see these replies because this is clearly not "software that allows people to communicate via the internet."

Re: Show HN: Ask a Dev

#76

Post by ygaf »

dvt wrote: post #65
codingdave wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People say this stuff because it makes them feel smart. Or because they really don't see any new value. When launching a new product, it isn't the general public's job to get on board with your vision. It is your job to communicate the value in a way that connects with your audience, and makes them want to use your product.

> Or because they really don't see any new value. Value is a misnomer. There's no inherent value in 90% of the stuff that blows up. What's the "value" in Facebook? It's even hard to see today , think about how hard it was to see in 2006. "Value" is the same nonsense idea as "solving a problem" that startup wantapreneurs are so obsessed with -- what problem did Snapchat really solve? What problem did FB solve that Mys…

The way I remember it, Facebook removed customisation, giving users one good page design. In Myspace people had to think about what tiled wallpaper and brutally large sound file to include in their page. Seconding everything shafyy said.

Re: Show HN: Ask a Dev

#77

Post by brucephillips »

dvt wrote: post #65
codingdave wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People say this stuff because it makes them feel smart. Or because they really don't see any new value. When launching a new product, it isn't the general public's job to get on board with your vision. It is your job to communicate the value in a way that connects with your audience, and makes them want to use your product.

> Or because they really don't see any new value. Value is a misnomer. There's no inherent value in 90% of the stuff that blows up. What's the "value" in Facebook? It's even hard to see today , think about how hard it was to see in 2006. "Value" is the same nonsense idea as "solving a problem" that startup wantapreneurs are so obsessed with -- what problem did Snapchat really solve? What problem did FB solve that Mys…

It seems like you're going out of your way to avoid describing the value these products provided. Especially in your characterization of Google.

Pinterest provides entertainment, product discovery, and community.

Snapchat enabled a new type of communication by removing self consciousness.

Airbnb provides quality lodging at low prices.

Facebook provided authenticity, exclusivity, and increased information density through timeline.

Google provided far better search results.

Re: Show HN: Ask a Dev

#78

Post by brucephillips »

dvt wrote: post #67
shafyy wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solving a problem and providing a new, better way of doing something are really two different sides of the same coin. Put differently, you don't have to solve an explicit problem. You can also solve a latent problem. Who are you to judge "wantapreneurs"? Of course, there is something such as "value"!

> Solving a problem and providing a new, better way of doing something are really two different sides of the same coin. I'm going to contend that they are two fundamentally different things. Inventing the internal combustion engine and working at Honda on their 2019 model are two very different things.

This seems like a strawman. No one is arguing that the 20th iteration of a major auto model is providing a new way of doing things.

Re: Show HN: Ask a Dev

#79

Post by avinium »

akurilin wrote: post #17
cpt1138 wrote: post #9

I think IRC does half or more of this. Usually there are channels for specific things with a lot of varied experience and expertise. For instance in the #xml channel on Freenode, some very heavy hitters in the XML world frequent the channel. It also allows you to contribute back for the more basic questions that might get asked. I like the personal contact in the abstract but it suffers from huge latency (have to wai…

It's hard to overstate the value I've gotten out of Freenode IRC over the years. The #postgresql channel is chock-full of contributors and PG gurus willing to generously spend time explaining concepts and best practices. A real gem. Same thing with #clojure and #haskell . ##networking is great as well. Pretty amazing to drop into the same channel for 6-7 years in a row and see the same faces every time. One of the fi…

#clojure, #machinelearning and #math on Freenode have been fantastic resources.

I always try and encourage people to use IRC over Slack (which I've found to be a bit of a timewaster).

Re: Show HN: Ask a Dev

#80

Post by dvt »

brucephillips wrote: post #77
dvt wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or because they really don't see any new value. Value is a misnomer. There's no inherent value in 90% of the stuff that blows up. What's the "value" in Facebook? It's even hard to see today , think about how hard it was to see in 2006. "Value" is the same nonsense idea as "solving a problem" that startup wantapreneurs are so obsessed with -- what problem did Snapchat really solve? What problem did FB solve that Mys…

It seems like you're going out of your way to avoid describing the value these products provided. Especially in your characterization of Google. Pinterest provides entertainment, product discovery, and community. Snapchat enabled a new type of communication by removing self consciousness. Airbnb provides quality lodging at low prices. Facebook provided authenticity, exclusivity, and increased information density thro…

> Pinterest provides entertainment, product discovery, and community.

This is kind of a non-statement. You could say that just about any internet based social network startup provides "community" and "entertainment" -- and yet many completely fail. This is quintessential grasping at straws and a posteriori reasoning.

> Snapchat enabled a new type of communication by removing self consciousness.

So did Yik Yak, so does IRC, so do anonymous forums, so does Kik. Again, this is kind of a ultra-general non-value value proposition. Why Snapchat got funded has nothing to do with the idea -- and everything to do with traction.

> Airbnb provides quality lodging at low prices.

So does hotels.com or (if you haggle a little) Craigslist.

> Facebook provided authenticity, exclusivity, and increased information density through timeline.

The timeline wasn't around when FB launched (back then we had the wall). I'm not even sure what "information density" means (or if it's even a good thing), it seems like 20-20 rear-view justification for FB's success. MySpace probably provided more authenticity, anyway (I could customize my page way more).

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