Clearly someone who "once handrolled his own html code and then uploaded it using UNIX commands" is simply too Awesome for Facebook.
If it helps, he's the author of a rather nice series of science-fiction books.
Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
11–20 of 111 posts
Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#12Clearly someone who "once handrolled his own html code and then uploaded it using UNIX commands" is simply too Awesome for Facebook.
The reason he doesn't like facebook...
FNU
Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#13As time passes, and the users of the internet get more sophisticated, this wont seem so much like a rant, it'll seem like an opportunity for the next social networking phenomenon. The thing that replaces Facebook wont look much like Facebook. It will need to cater to what today seems like the power user. Just my .02
You think the users of the internet are getting more sophisticated? I'd say the users of the internet are getting less sophisticated. In the 1970s nobody without a PhD used the internet. In the early 90s you still needed a helluva lot of technical skill. In the late 90s the internet was still a bit geeky. Nowadays everybody and everything is on the internet and we've gone from Eternal September to.... some more extre…
There should be some study on this relationship... the more the web gets sophisticated, the more unsophisticated people use it.
Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#14Zuckerberg is in fact not a genius; he’s an ambitious nerd who was in the right place at the right time
So the guy who created Orkut must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Too bad for him. His Google stock probably only made him a millionaire. Totally uncool.
Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#15As time passes, and the users of the internet get more sophisticated, this wont seem so much like a rant, it'll seem like an opportunity for the next social networking phenomenon. The thing that replaces Facebook wont look much like Facebook. It will need to cater to what today seems like the power user. Just my .02
You think the users of the internet are getting more sophisticated? I'd say the users of the internet are getting less sophisticated. In the 1970s nobody without a PhD used the internet. In the early 90s you still needed a helluva lot of technical skill. In the late 90s the internet was still a bit geeky. Nowadays everybody and everything is on the internet and we've gone from Eternal September to.... some more extre…
Counterpoint: In the 1970's software engineering wasn't a common major, or career path. Back then, you had to have a PhD because the building blocks of the internet, and microcomputing were still being developed. Since then, the amount of people who actually know how the internet works (or have a PC in the house) has exploded. A simple comparison of graduates in technology from the 70's to now would tell the story. The older generation didn't grow up with this stuff in their houses and schools (at least my parents didn't). As time passes, that will not be the case. We have a whole generation of kids who are growing up with the internet fairly mature. I have to think that will drive a more sophisticated user base. Maybe I'm just an optimist.
Just because things get simpler to use doesn't mean they are less sophisticated.
Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#16Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#17I wish I could sign on to the damn thing and not have the first thing I feel be exasperation at the aggressive dimness of it UI and its functionality. People use Facebook because they see past the "website" and read the content. They communicate with their friends and family. How many non-technical people have you ever heard complain about email apps? They don't because they use email to communicate, not to use an em…
Yeah, horrible UI. Just has 500 million people using it voluntarily.
Good come back! Nothing in the history of mankind has ever been chosen by the masses because its good qualities turn out to outweigh its bad qualities and aesthetic ugliness.
hahahaha! You sure did make that guy eat his hat.
Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#18Clearly someone who "once handrolled his own html code and then uploaded it using UNIX commands" is simply too Awesome for Facebook.
Well he was apparently doing that in 1993... What did you build on the web in 1993? NCSA Mosaic had literally just come out.
Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#19Clearly someone who "once handrolled his own html code and then uploaded it using UNIX commands" is simply too Awesome for Facebook.
Yes, that line came off as egotistical posturing. We got it.
But I don't like that your snarky quip--which distorts the fact that the author continues to use facebook out of a sense of social obligation, and which I don't think adds much to the discussion--is the most upvoted comment here.
Sure, you can be cynical and mock the guy, but I'd rather see you address his arguments. I'm not so much annoyed that you took the obvious potshot, just disappointed that the rest of HN is currently voting this the most important takeaway from the essay.
Re: Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
#20Zuckerberg is in fact not a genius; he’s an ambitious nerd who was in the right place at the right time So the guy who created Orkut must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Too bad for him. His Google stock probably only made him a millionaire. Totally uncool.
The author thinks that it was just "PR and faffery", while discounting the actual value of PR and faffery. Never discount these things. MySpace was practically built on it.