Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms • Hacker News Board

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#51

Post by 9dev » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 4:57 PM UTC

antonzabirko wrote: post #37

A lot of people need to see this. If you don't control something, you will be disappointed eventually. Philosophically this can even be extended to your mortality.

Ah, but this brushes an interesting, yet inevitable fact: there is no such thing as control. We tend to imagine to have control to various degrees, as that makes it easier to cope with the chaos around us. Still, we have to accept the fact that we’re all going to die, eventually, for example. Many people never do that; they simply pretend they’re immortal, until one day something bad happens and shakes them awake.

I guess what I’m getting at is that change is inherent to life. By accepting that things will change, no matter how much „control“ you imagine to have about them, you will probably be happiest in the long run.

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#52

Post by jnwatson » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 4:58 PM UTC

This is the libertarian fantasy: just build the entire platform yourself and you don’t have to deal with the pesky decisions of other companies.

Yes, you have to choose your dependencies carefully, but where does it end? Steam could go away tomorrow. The game engine you license could go out of business. Your hosting provider, your DNS provider could kick you off.

If you don’t entertain new platforms, you are leaving money on the table. I’d wager that Japanese game manufacturers missed hundreds of millions of dollars by being late to embrace Steam.

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#53

Post by riidom » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:00 PM UTC

spaced-out wrote: post #36

riidom wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely, it's not only about games, and not even only about marketing your content of whatever topic on SM. Somewhat also applies to buying your stuff mostly on Amazon, hurting your local business. Or any other business that also knows how to deliver its stuff inside a package to your door. (Just in case it wasnt obvious: Not my blog, just following it)

>Somewhat also applies to buying your stuff mostly on Amazon, hurting your local business. What if you can't afford to buy real estate in your local community, and don't own any stake in any local businesses? How does spending more money, and driving 20+ minutes, enrich your experience in any way?

I wrote that from the customers perspective, though. If the shop is too far away to be comfortable to reach (20mins in your example, mileage my vary), there are usually options to get it sent to your house.

Yes, you need to make a new account probably, but that's just minutes, and only in case you are shopping there for the first time.

I had a talk with someone about that, and he was like, "Well I'd had to open 1-2 accounts every week at various shops and completely loose control over it". But I think the true problem in this case is a different one.

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#54

Post by 999900000999 » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:00 PM UTC

My counter argument is it can be nearly impossible to build an audience outside of a kingdom. Many popular YouTubers will try and splinter off and create websites where they can monetize better. I'm even subscribed to one of these websites because I really do want to support the Creator, but I still consume almost all of their content on YouTube. YouTube makes it very easy to upload something and for people to consume it.

If your video on getting better gas mileage is on GasBro.net I'll never find it. If it's on YouTube I might .

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#55

Post by everybodyknows » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

teddyh wrote: post #6

One thing about domain names: Choose both a registrar and top-level domain for your domain name carefully. Neither your registrar nor your chosen TLD registry should be in the habit of suspending domains at the drop of a hat, or be at risk of going out of business suddenly. For TLDs, I have said before¹ that if you mostly trust your local government, your national ccTLD should suffice. In fact, it should be your defa…

".us" is ostensibly restricted to US-linked parties -- but currently enforcement responsibility rests in the hands of Godaddy:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.us

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#56

Post by esjeon » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

jonny_eh wrote: post #28

Don't open your store in a mall. What if the mall closes or raises your rent?! (sarcasm!)

That's why businesses always try to make their revenue model diverse, so that, even when one or two of them dry up, the business still have some breathing room left. This is a business 101 stuff.

When you open a store in a mall, you better have another store outside the mall. Otherwise, you'll get killed rather quickly.

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#57

Post by rvz » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

Seems like any startup that is an app-only product or is sitting on someone else's open APIs will learn the hard way.

Notable victims: Meerkat, [0] YOLO and LMK [1].

[0] https://www.fastcompany.com/3043716/twitter-only-gave-meerka...

[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/05/snap-cuts-off-yo...

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#58

Post by unsungNovelty » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

TLDR;

Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere (POSSE) :)

https://indieweb.org/POSSE

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#59

Post by opatdchan » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

the_optimist wrote: post #35

opatdchan wrote: post #26

Web3 solves this.

We don't understand the dynamics of "web3" at all yet, but early entrants look pretty much like another layer of abstraction that simply rolls up to the same thing.

You don't understand it because you refuse to even try it.

Re: Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

#60

Post by mdoms » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

Excellent article. One of the best examples I have seen of this is an instructional wood worker named Steve Ramsey. He has excellent content on Youtube but almost every video he makes has a call to action to buy his complete video sets on his website. And, for me at least, it worked! I knew I'd be getting excellent content beyond the scope of what was available on Youtube (eg, complete with PDF plans, cut lists etc) and he charged a very fair one-off fee, not a Youtube recurring subscription.

And now, his viewership is drying up due to changes in the Youtube algorithm (and his lack of posting, caused by the algorithm preferring a style of video he's just not interested in). But he is moving a lot of content to Tik Tok and other platforms, and continues to drive viewers to his own kingdom.