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The 50 Best Websites of 2011

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Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#31

Post by dools »

I'm sure Gabriel will pass by here at some point so I want to ask a question: do you find that going into an industry where you have absolutely no "first mover" advantage, where several others are already "doing it better" and where those you're competing against are so insanely "better resourced" than you daunting or comforting?

I guess what I'm trying to learn from you is what your mental state is like on a day to day basis: are you a long term thinker? Do you believe that you have many many years to solve the problem well and compete? Do you believe that DDG may die at any minute but you simply don't care? Do you know unequivocally that you can do this better than anyone and it's just a matter of sticking it out?

Yeah. So that's my question :)

Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#32

Post by neuromage »

rtrunck wrote: post #9
neuromage wrote: post #4

So did 49 other sites.

You're obviously getting downvoted, so I probably will too, but I have to somewhat agree. But more specifically, why duckduckgo? Are they better than the other 49? Why is this submission rated number 1 on hn? I really don't get it.... One of 50 on a list? I work at one of the other 49, and didn't feel the need to submit when the list came out many many hours ago.... So, I guess I agree with the sentiment you express.…

Yeah, why duckduckgo was what I meant to ask. Now, other commenters have pointed out that the founder has been with HN since the beginning, and they want to recognize his achievement. Great! Not sure why I'm getting downvoted for pointing this out though. I just thought a title like "Top 50 websites of 2011 on Time (includes DuckDuckGo!)", and a link to the top of the story might have been more relevant.

Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#33

Post by dools »

timr wrote: post #27

So did Hipmunk: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2... ...and AirBnB: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2... The Instapaper guy is a long-time HN contributor, as well: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2... The headline should really be changed to something neutral.

Do you have a blog? Why not do a blog post "A tribute to HNs own in Time Magazine's top 50 websites" or whatever and link through to it?

Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#34

Post by AndrewWarner »

rtrunck wrote: post #28
AndrewWarner wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see from your comment that you honestly don't understand why DDG is the #1 post on HN right now, so I'll answer it honestly. You don't say which company you work for in this comment. You don't use your real name in your HN profile. You're not giving us a way to connect and root for you. If you were more open. If you openly talked about your company and taught us what you learned, you'd give us a way to feel con…

I appreciate the comment - and now much better appreciate popularity of the submission. Build a respect for your company and the support will follow. Also, my username is my abbreviated real name, and pretty transparent. However, I do also have a company social posting policy I must follow... I look forward for the one day in the future to talk about my own startup with you Andrew. Thank you for the insight.

Email me any time. I met Sivers from a comment on HN. He ended up doing an interview and becoming a friend.

Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#35

Post by timr »

dools wrote: post #33
timr wrote: post #27

So did Hipmunk: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2... ...and AirBnB: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2... The Instapaper guy is a long-time HN contributor, as well: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2... The headline should really be changed to something neutral.

Do you have a blog? Why not do a blog post "A tribute to HNs own in Time Magazine's top 50 websites" or whatever and link through to it?

Because that would be spam.

Edit: voting me down for refusing to submit the same article to HN, linked through my own blog? Wow.

Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#36

Post by neuromage »

AndrewWarner wrote: post #10
neuromage wrote: post #4

So did 49 other sites.

What you're seeing is pride that one of us is doing well. yegg, the founder, has been on HN from the beginning. We've watching him single-handedly go up against Google. He's helped a bunch of us in private. We're rooting for him and we're glad to see him get recognized.

That is awesome, and now I know that (I honestly did not before). But it's weird to get downvoted for merely asking why DuckDuckGo was special in this story.

Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#37

Post by mahrain »

dotcoma wrote: post #18

How many of you are using it as your default search engine? I am. I don't think it's as good as Google, but I think it's good enough, some things are useful, like the quick links, and at least the user interface is cleaner, there is no stupid auto-complete etc.

I have! DuckDuckGo gives me fewer hits, but I am usually able to find what I'm looking for within the first few hits, which is great.

One observation is that the Duck is great for English language / international searches but not for other languages (such as Dutch) searches.

I have switched inside the Google Chrome bar and am able to access image searches by adding a "!images" inside the search or Google with a !g. Very little inconvenience there.

Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#38

Post by tty »

neuromage wrote: post #36
AndrewWarner wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're seeing is pride that one of us is doing well. yegg, the founder, has been on HN from the beginning. We've watching him single-handedly go up against Google. He's helped a bunch of us in private. We're rooting for him and we're glad to see him get recognized.

That is awesome, and now I know that (I honestly did not before). But it's weird to get downvoted for merely asking why DuckDuckGo was special in this story.

>But it's weird to get downvoted for merely asking why DuckDuckGo was special in this story.

But you didn't ask.

Re: The 50 Best Websites of 2011

#39

Post by dools »

timr wrote: post #35
dools wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a blog? Why not do a blog post "A tribute to HNs own in Time Magazine's top 50 websites" or whatever and link through to it?

Because that would be spam. Edit: voting me down for refusing to submit the same article to HN, linked through my own blog? Wow.

According to the guidelines:

"If you're submitting a link, put it in the url field. If you want to add initial commentary on the link, write a blog post about it and submit that instead."

I think a blog post along the lines of "Several regular HN members made it into Time Magazine's Top 50" in follow up to a single link to DDG making it in fits within the guidelines, but to each their own.

All I'm saying is that, this is obviously something that people were interested to know about, if you're complaining that coverage didn't extend to others you think are just as important, then write about it on your own blog and submit that

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