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Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#541

Post by sauravt »

taigeair wrote: post #516

I think side projects and businesses are a great way to learn and have an interesting life, so I am usually doing something outside of work. My friends write plays and do standup which sometimes pays. I used to teach swimming after work because it got me to the gym and I could develop my communication skills. Currently, I have a hobby map business that generates some money ( https://www.wellingtonstravel.com/ ). Rece…

I love the concept of your FairyTrail app. I am trying it out right now but I wish there was a way to continue without facebook for those who don't have a facebook account.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#542

Post by IanCal »

kuzimoto wrote: post #515
IanCal wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simple overall rule here is to consider what the intended behaviour was from the company offering this. Anything that fits the rules, but is outside what you would consider expected behaviour is essentially exploiting a bug. A similar thing happens when someone offers "unlimited storage" for home broadband users backups and people start hosting many many terabytes of porn / isos / whatever. Sure, they're entirely w…

I think it would be better to assume that any service you offer could be exploited, than to think otherwise. Lots of places run deals and sales on items with the condition "limit x per person per day" for that exact reason. Or an "unlimited" high-speed phone plan might have a restriction in the fine print where you're throttled after some amount. Also "expected behavior" seems like it could be pretty subjective. Diff…

It's perfectly fine to assume something will be exploited and call the exploitation unethical.

> Also "expected behavior" seems like it could be pretty subjective. Different cultures have wildly different values.

Sure, and it's down to your expectations. Two people can perform the same act with different intentions, and only one may be unethical.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#544

Post by hart_russell »

balls187 wrote: post #543

Fitness Marketing Automation company. Started in 2018 when my position was eliminated. Achieved $1k in MRR in less than a year. Have a handshake deal with a hollywood actor/martial artist to partner with his 500 affiliates.

What is fitness automation?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#545

Post by cameldrv »

greyskull wrote: post #529
agumonkey wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecodte: Bought an old one for my aunt, but it was dirty and rusty. Polished it, but I just learned some parts might be Cadmium coated. What a bore.

Out of curiosity and ignorance, why is cadmium significant?

It's quite toxic. It causes cancer among other problems. A lot of things used to be Cadmium plated because it's an excellent rustproofer. Some things in the aerospace world still are, because for some things, the safety risk from corrosion outweighs the health risk.

It's not a great idea to grind or sand Cadmium plated items, because it kicks the Cd into a fine dust that you will inhale and will be absorbed into your system.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#546

Post by nimonian »

clubm8 wrote: post #161
throwawayman194 wrote: post #128

Throwaway because I don't want to risk losing my job for asking this. Is all the comments here only from men, or are there any women here who make money from side projects?

> Throwaway because I don't want to risk losing my job for asking this. Do you often have issues at work when you feel you're "just asking questions"? I haven't seen a single person mention their gender yet. For all we know everyone who has replied is female. Maybe don't assume someone's gender based on data like hobbies?

> I haven't seen a single person mention their gender yet.

That's why, in order to establish the answer to OC's question, it is necessary to ask.

> Maybe don't assume someone's gender based on data like hobbies?

Directly asking is the opposite of assuming.

Your attitude is why OC made a throw away.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#547

Post by adnanazadsg »

DamnInteresting wrote: post #229

I established DamnInteresting.com in 2005, a place where myself and handful of others produce original long-form non-fiction in article and podcast form. Despite plenty of traffic, it didn't reach the break-even point for several years, because I despise advertisements and I refused to add them to my site. I funded the project in other ways, such as donations, publishing a book, licensing content, etc. Nowadays it st…

Wow, I always thought damninteresting.com was wildly profitable. Not sure why - I have been reader since the early days and always found the content to compelling and "sharable" - I'd have imagined that it would be extremely profitable.

I suppose without ads there isn't a lot of high-monetization opportunities.

Thanks a lot for creating and maintaining the site. If you ever need any help with the design and front-end development of your site, let me know - I'd love to volunteer some time to the site that I love so much.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#548

Post by IanCal »

holidaygoose wrote: post #497
IanCal wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simple overall rule here is to consider what the intended behaviour was from the company offering this. Anything that fits the rules, but is outside what you would consider expected behaviour is essentially exploiting a bug. A similar thing happens when someone offers "unlimited storage" for home broadband users backups and people start hosting many many terabytes of porn / isos / whatever. Sure, they're entirely w…

I don't subscribe to your view at all, but I think this is an interesting discussion. If I understand you correctly, you're saying that users/customers should be trying to guess what the intention of the company is, and doing things not aligned with those goals is unethical? My local gym and Moviepass (remember them?) expects people to sign up and rarely use the gym or watch movies. Otherwise, they would go out of bu…

> If I understand you correctly, you're saying that users/customers should be trying to guess what the intention of the company is, and doing things not aligned with those goals is unethical?

No, that's missing the key part that it has to be detrimental to the person offering it.

> Is my using the gym or watching movies every day unethical?

I don't think so, if you're using the service because you want to go to the gym every day or see all the films. The website for moviepass says "see it all" so it seems reasonable to go and see every film. Finding a 24 hour cinema and living in it because now you don't have to pay rent - seems unethical to me.

Imagine if moviepass said "see a film every week" but technically didn't say you couldn't see many every day. The underlying rules are technically the same - if you knew they had to pay most of the cost of a ticket, would you feel like the ethics of going every day would be different?

I said it was a simple rule, as there will be edge cases for everything and wider contexts (blocking a road as an act in isolation seems bad, but what if it's a protest, etc). There are though obvious answers to me, and getting eighteen grand a year for rapidly moving money back and forth is one that has an easy answer.

> In a more hypothetical scenario, let's say Facebook does not want people to use its platform to organize political/activism activities, because it makes the company look bad. It does not prohibit it, but let's say the CEO says on a talkshow that he wants people to use Facebook only for positive things. Would that make organizing on Facebook unethical?

Comes down to level of harm, just like anything else. Remove the brand Facebook from that as it's a vast empire. What if it were a small local service for residents to catch up, and political fighting would mean they'd have to shut down?

> It just seems like your view doesn't match how most of society views their social contract with for-profit companies

Is it ethical to go to an all you can eat restaurant and if there's no explicit sign stopping you then packing up all the food in huge bags and walking out?

If there's a sample table that says "free cakes" would you take all of them?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#549

Post by greyskull »

rossenberg79 wrote: post #223
cgriswald wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you get started? I've been wanting to get into this for awhile, but find myself procrastinating mostly out of uncertainty and fear of failure; but somewhat out of just having no idea where I should start, what tools I need to start, and what is achievable for a beginner.

I started by watching Youtube videos. My first project was a modern bench built out of 2x4s, I picked a project that didn't require too many tools or advanced cuts of wood, and could be put together with wood glue. I also learned how to sand and finish wood to a professional finish. I then built this same bench again but better, learning from mistakes I had made. Then I went on to learn how other tools worked like jo…

I assume you've gone through this journey all at the makershop? How did you find it? I'd really like to find a place where I can say "I have no idea what I'm doing but I want to learn".

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#550

Post by Teever »

travbrack wrote: post #199
pmorici wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, there is no law anywhere in the US prohibiting you from selling a used car in a private transaction.

It's illegal in my state to sell a car for the purpose of making a profit as an individual without a dealer license, and there's a limit of 4 per year. https://dor.wa.gov/get-form-or-publication/publications-subj...

Wait, are you saying that private used car sale is illegal in your state?
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