Did this idea come from Reddit?
In 1 Sentence Explain...
11–20 of 32 posts
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#12Based on a very short look around I can't see this really being interesting att all. However, here's an idea I would like. The same website, fully moderated to the point that answers are not community-contributed, but sought out by website staff. For examplee, "In one sentence, explain what's great about SF for tech companies" you might reach out for an answer from pg, and a couple of other similar people. And doesn'…
In response to this Corin: Was your aim just to see how people respond, or are you hoping that in 3 months, a year's time it's being actively used? And, if the latter, still as a random "look what I made in a weekend" way, or a "woah, check out how much money this brings me"?
Literally just to see how people respond.
Money didn't enter my mind.
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#13Did this idea come from Reddit?
No, I didn't use Reddit. It just came from my mind and want for a one sentence explanation to something.
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#14Based on a very short look around I can't see this really being interesting att all. However, here's an idea I would like. The same website, fully moderated to the point that answers are not community-contributed, but sought out by website staff. For examplee, "In one sentence, explain what's great about SF for tech companies" you might reach out for an answer from pg, and a couple of other similar people. And doesn'…
I understand where Corin is coming from but his well-meaning advice completely misses the potential. The question "Explain why Justin Bieber is popular" and the answer "because teenage girls exist" are both BRILLIANT - the fact that Corin can't see the point of them doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with him, it just means that he is out of tune with the type of humor that most normal people enjoy.
A site like this is a novelty, potentially an extremely popular one. It will never be a storehouse of proper knowledge, like a sort of mini-StackExchange, full of the sort of things that Corin might consider "worthwhile" - think logically, what would be the point of "reaching out" to Paul Graham and other worthies ... for single sentence answers!
Seriously, this thing's true destiny is to be a dynamic stage for funny thoughts and funnier answers, and in that it has tremendous potential, tremendous value.
My advice would to look beyond the constraints of your own idea of what 1sentence will be, ease off on deleting answers, let your users lead the way and ignore the advice of techies who can't see the simple beauty of your idea - these are the type of people who orignally wrote off Twitter with grand, huffy statements about not wanting to know what other people were having for breakfast, completely failing to realize that something important was shifting in how people communicate.
Well done.
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#15Next move: 140characters.
Sure, constrains are good and often lead to creativity but arbitrary constraints… I am not sure about.
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#16Did this idea come from Reddit?
I was thinking the same thing. The first thing that popped into my head was r/explainlikeimfive.
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#17Is one sentance supposed to make it easier to understand? Because, for example the "explain programming"-answers made it more abstract and I guess people who does not know it would not understand it after "bla bla set of instructions bla bla".
Making explanations smaller means higer abstractions which means it is often harder to understand.
Edit: I do like small explanations. Like simple-wikipedia small.
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#18Based on a very short look around I can't see this really being interesting att all. However, here's an idea I would like. The same website, fully moderated to the point that answers are not community-contributed, but sought out by website staff. For examplee, "In one sentence, explain what's great about SF for tech companies" you might reach out for an answer from pg, and a couple of other similar people. And doesn'…
I understand where Corin is coming from but his well-meaning advice completely misses the potential. The question "Explain why Justin Bieber is popular" and the answer "because teenage girls exist" are both BRILLIANT - the fact that Corin can't see the point of them doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with him, it just means that he is out of tune with the type of humor that most normal people enjoy. A site lik…
Thank you so much. I literally put this together in a few days and didn't think much of it so I am happy it's been received so well.
The simplicity is what makes this work, and all your points are spot on.
In terms of the deletion, that was a pure human error - apologies.
I am surprised that even with open posting that most of the sentences were actually quite genuine. I am also surprised to see the responses are equally as genuine: http://1sentence.com/in-one-sentence-explain-programming/
There are some brilliant explanations on the website, and moving forward into a 'logged in' posting model would be the next step if I were to take it further - not sure as of yet.
The users are definitely leading the way, and it's impressive to see - I will be watching closely the next few days to see where to take it.
Thanks again for your great insight and activity on 1Sentence - very much appreciated.
Diesel
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#19Is one sentance supposed to make it easier to understand? Because, for example the "explain programming"-answers made it more abstract and I guess people who does not know it would not understand it after "bla bla set of instructions bla bla". Making explanations smaller means higer abstractions which means it is often harder to understand. Edit: I do like small explanations. Like simple-wikipedia small.
"Is one sentence supposed to make it easier to understand?" - To many = yes.
In my eyes, this would be perfect to get an explanation of new trends (e.g. a year ago it may have been this: http://1sentence.com/in-one-sentence-explain-social-media/)
But overall it's an experiment, and I didn't think many would use it (Until I posted it here: Thanks HN community).
So I will be seeing how it goes over the next few weeks, and see what the data suggests - but so far, I would say many love the simplicity of one sentence explanations.
Cheers for your feedback!
Re: In 1 Sentence Explain...
#20Next move: 140characters. Sure, constrains are good and often lead to creativity but arbitrary constraints… I am not sure about.
Thanks rimantas - we are working on a 200 character limit side by side debating platform - its currently in private Alpha testing and working well so far.