Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Lichess will always be free

lichess.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 477 posts

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#101

Post by Stratoscope »

zimbatm wrote: post #61
pull_my_finger wrote: post #6

> There is absolutely nothing positive about advertisements on websites from the perspective of their users. They eat up valuable screen space and bandwidth for something that nobody wants to see. They often manipulate and misinform. They have even been the source of security vulnerabilities many times in the past. While I share the loathing of modern Ads as a service or whatever the technical name for giving Google/…

Ads are an attack on our attention. When I go to a website, I decide to direct my attention to this website, because I believe it will offer something of interest to me. Obviously things don't come for free, somebody has to pay for it, but the issue is that as a user, I didn't agree to getting my attention diverted. The trade isn't done upfront and by the time I see the ad, it's already too late. There is also a coll…

> Ads are an attack on our attention.

That may well be true, but let me tell you a story.

I recently got into binge watching some old TV shows I enjoyed as a kid, like What's My Line and a few others. But most of the YouTube copies have the commercials stripped out!

The few videos that have the old commercials are a blast. The Remington Rand Univac Electronic Brain. The Remington Rand Shaver! And as we all know, 9 out of 10 doctors recommend Camels.

Flintstones fan? How about Fred and Barney sneaking out back to smoke some Winstons while Wilma and Betty mow the lawn.

I wonder which of today's web ads will achieve the cultural significance of these old classics?

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#102

Post by matsemann »

indigochill wrote: post #86
matsemann wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the developer/founder should have a higher salary. $58k a year for running a site with millions of games per day.. deserves more. Is it because they don't get enough donations? Or saving the extra money for growth/buffer? (edit: originally posted this as a top level comment but felt it fit better here) Edit2: just checked. I've spent 11 whole days playing chess there (and not sure if that only counts game…

>I feel like the developer/founder should have a higher salary. This is probably the root of most of tech's angst: people thinking they're entitled to get rich just because they made /run something. If you can live comfortably doing something as rewarding as making something like Lichess, what more can you really want? People are talking about FU money/financial independence, which I agree is nice, but you can totall…

I'm not talking about entitlement. But this guy is really good at multiple things. SRE, frontend, backend, project management etc. He could probably earn twice as much working a normal job, and even more for the right company.

He don't want to. And maybe don't want/need to earn more. And that is completely fine. But his impact is huuuge. I'd wish more people did like him. But I don't think many will, because those skilled enough to make something similar would rather work for a higher salary.

So it's more a sigh from me, that I'd wish more people would be able to sustain making and giving away something great like this, without having to sacrifice money. Why should optimizing ad clicks give you millions, but making this only thousands?

You know, in the same way there often are discussions here about making open source income viable. It would be better for everyone if these unsung heroes got more than just praise. Then others would follow suit.

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#103

Post by [deleted] »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #65
acjacobson wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue he already does. The entire point of "fuck you" money is that you are no longer beholden to someone else - it is not so much defined by the overall amount, but by the freedom it can buy you. He gets to work on what he loves doing every day doing it exactly the way he wants.

My definition of FU money is that you have enough money to be secure no matter what. I think he would still rely on the month to month or year to year income rather than being completely secure.

[deleted]

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#104

Post by hinkley »

neatze wrote: post #51
hinkley wrote: post #4

There are two interpretations of “why”. What is the motivation for it being free. What is the mechanism for it being free. In one of the links, > It amounts to $170 per month. Great news: I have a job (at prismic.io) and I can completely afford that. Lichess is my hobby, and all hobbies cost a bit of money. I can tell you that the joy of building lichess is absolutely worth the price I pay for it! Maybe it’s because…

> There are plenty of legal and financial constructs meant to approximate a forever status. What are some examples of such legal and financial constructs ?

I think in general it was much harder and more surprising for Susan G Komen to become what it has than for YouTube to become what it has.

You can set up a non-profit, making it easier to accept money and adding friction to commercial entities trying to buy you out. Of course then have to chase operating expenses forever. You do well enough, you can set up a trust or endowments to operate in part off of investment profits, and now you don’t have to worry about one big donor trying to name everything after himself or twisting the mandate to their worldview.

Humans can screw anything up given enough time, but if your idea is good enough for copycats, then if your successors fail to keep the spirit of your goals alive, one of the imitators most likely will.

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#106

Post by tonyedgecombe »

op03 wrote: post #44
ZephyrBlu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is basically saying that "build it and they will come" works, but we know that's a fallacy.

Wikipedia, Linux, Blender, Firefox are all what?

Didn't Linus make an announcement on Usenet when he started the project. A form of advertising.

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#107

Post by auggierose »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #66
op03 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia, Linux, Blender, Firefox are all what?

I would call them the exceptions that prove the rule.

Kind of like special relativity is an exception to Newtonian mechanics?

It's good to know the rules, but you shouldn't live your life by them.

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#108

Post by zorked »

Stratoscope wrote: post #101
zimbatm wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ads are an attack on our attention. When I go to a website, I decide to direct my attention to this website, because I believe it will offer something of interest to me. Obviously things don't come for free, somebody has to pay for it, but the issue is that as a user, I didn't agree to getting my attention diverted. The trade isn't done upfront and by the time I see the ad, it's already too late. There is also a coll…

> Ads are an attack on our attention. That may well be true, but let me tell you a story. I recently got into binge watching some old TV shows I enjoyed as a kid, like What's My Line and a few others. But most of the YouTube copies have the commercials stripped out! The few videos that have the old commercials are a blast. The Remington Rand Univac Electronic Brain. The Remington Rand Shaver! And as we all know, 9 ou…

Sorry but those commercials have no cultural significance. It's just stuff you remember.

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#109

Post by hinkley »

cassepipe wrote: post #58
hinkley wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lichess is a non-profit association in France. I don’t see any reference to this in the about pages. For this conversation in particular that seems like an important oversight if true. American nonprofits tend to list that stuff prominently. Maybe too prominently, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish.

That's literally what's written in the article.

As you say, that line is at about the midpoint of the article.

Your phrasing leaves it a little up in the air as to whether that is what the article is about, which I don’t think it is.

“That is literally what’s written in the article” is quite a different statement from, “That’s literally mentioned in the article.”

Yes, that’s mentioned in the article. Fine.

Re: Why Lichess will always be free

#110

Post by Stratoscope »

zorked wrote: post #108
Stratoscope wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ads are an attack on our attention. That may well be true, but let me tell you a story. I recently got into binge watching some old TV shows I enjoyed as a kid, like What's My Line and a few others. But most of the YouTube copies have the commercials stripped out! The few videos that have the old commercials are a blast. The Remington Rand Univac Electronic Brain. The Remington Rand Shaver! And as we all know, 9 ou…

Sorry but those commercials have no cultural significance. It's just stuff you remember.

You are right, of course. But isn't "cultural significance" just another way of saying "stuff people remember?"
Post reply on HN