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Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

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Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#51

Post by jayd16 »

version_five wrote: post #40
northisup wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wow, super happy I don't work with people like this.

Why would you care? He's not actively harming his coworkers, he's doing what is asked of him work wise, and his colleagues presumably are too - and are themselves getting apparently slack jobs if there is 6hrs per day of easily automated work. Imagine if your coworker told management about an efficiency hack that made you responsible for 4x the output per day. Would you rather work with that person? Personally, I wou…

Assuming its not trivial, its hiding a useful tool from your coworkers. Why share any knowledge at all? Why mentor someone if it just gets them more work?

Seems pretty toxic to me.

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#52

Post by mindcrime »

wffurr wrote: post #33

I don't understand this sentiment at all. I have no idea what any of what you're posting has to do with "well intentions" or "money mak[ing] people do anything". Are you just mad that dislikes were removed from YouTube? I don't see what that has to do with any of those statements.

don't understand this sentiment at all. I have no idea what any of what you're posting has to do with "well intentions" or "money mak[ing] people do anything".

Pretty sure they're saying that the YT developers would break their cool hack if they knew about it, because they want to keep their jobs (eg, getting paid, or "making money"). Sounds like the OP wants to view all developers as adhering to some Platonic ideal version of a "hacker ethic" where they wouldn't do something like that for a reason as banal as money.

I can sympathise with this position, but I acknowledge the reality that - at the end of the day - people are usually going to prioritize buying food, paying rent, etc., over adherence to abstract ethical principles. That's unfortunate in many ways, but hunger is a powerful motivation.

Are you just mad that dislikes were removed from YouTube? I don't see what that has to do with any of those statements.

I get the impression that the OP thing was lamenting the YT thing both specifically and as an example of a general class of similar situations... places where you have to hold back from sharing a neat hack because if you shared it, somebody would come along and ruin it.

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#53

Post by toomuchtodo »

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #45
Philip-J-Fry wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would because they'd be more productive than me.

They might be more efficient, but by working 1/4 as much they're equally productive!

Exactly. You get paid for your output, not your effort.

Edit: A deleted reply said “You don't even really get paid for output. Output theatre pays better than output.” Great insight I thought worth persisting.

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#54

Post by anthomtb »

bokchoi wrote: post #44
BatteryMountain wrote: post #9

Yeah I do this. Most of what I build, nobody knows about it nor is it release into the wild. Latest example: at my current workplace we have some crappy custom compilers for our platform.... I've rebuilt them in a way that I like (and using C# instead of Java), that enables me to use it in a small visual studio code plugin that enables me with real time error messages as I code against our platform, so basically cons…

Wait, why don't you want to help your colleagues? That seems pretty shitty.

It’s entirely possible that his colleagues have no desire to be helped, which can happen in a shitty organization.

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#55

Post by willcipriano »

hallway_monitor wrote: post #36
BatteryMountain wrote: post #9

Yeah I do this. Most of what I build, nobody knows about it nor is it release into the wild. Latest example: at my current workplace we have some crappy custom compilers for our platform.... I've rebuilt them in a way that I like (and using C# instead of Java), that enables me to use it in a small visual studio code plugin that enables me with real time error messages as I code against our platform, so basically cons…

A lot of people are assuming the worst intentions here but anyone who has worked in an enterprise knows sometimes it's useful to build tools for your use and not to share. The tool might not even be allowed, C# is probably not in the supported platforms and even if it was, getting it into the official repos can be arduous. If OP really cared about maximizing everyone's productivity of course they would share the tool…

The question I have is how did incentives get so misaligned that this person feels that doubling the productivity of all their peers is unlikely to be worth the effort of presenting a tool.

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#56

Post by Quarrelsome »

hwbehrens wrote: post #38

> I thought we were supposed to have each other's back, There are 3 to 4 million devs in the US alone -- with a sample of that size, you'll get the full spectrum of people. Heck, you'd probably find some that like that the dislikes were removed. From their perspective, by blocking your extension they're actually making the world a better place. It's shades of grey all the way down.

I don't like that they were removed but that they were used in brigading demonstrates a problem and I can see why some PM considered "fixing" it.

I think the more elegant fix would be to temper the downvotes depending on the context (e.g. reduce the impact of a sudden spike in increased viewing to downvote conversion).

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#57

Post by johnisgood »

bokchoi wrote: post #44
BatteryMountain wrote: post #9

Yeah I do this. Most of what I build, nobody knows about it nor is it release into the wild. Latest example: at my current workplace we have some crappy custom compilers for our platform.... I've rebuilt them in a way that I like (and using C# instead of Java), that enables me to use it in a small visual studio code plugin that enables me with real time error messages as I code against our platform, so basically cons…

Wait, why don't you want to help your colleagues? That seems pretty shitty.

As long as it is only known to colleagues, it is all good, but if word gets out (and the more people know about it and/or use it, the likelier it is), then they may get more work to do and such. Maybe the coworkers do not give a damn either way.

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#58

Post by np- »

wffurr wrote: post #33

I don't understand this sentiment at all. I have no idea what any of what you're posting has to do with "well intentions" or "money mak[ing] people do anything". Are you just mad that dislikes were removed from YouTube? I don't see what that has to do with any of those statements.

Not OP, but I think it’s more in context of using websites in ways that weren’t originally intended by the original devs. One small example is using hidden internal APIs to show dislikes on YouTube. Another example might be something like figuring out how to bypass advertising on a website to use it, or reverse engineering a site to get the raw data, etc etc…

If some of these workarounds are published and become popular, then there is a risk the original devs would shut it all down, so the optimal strategy is to fly under the radar and tell no one, thus maximizing benefit for yourself even though it’s clear others could potentially benefit.

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#59

Post by dylan604 »

BatteryMountain wrote: post #9

Yeah I do this. Most of what I build, nobody knows about it nor is it release into the wild. Latest example: at my current workplace we have some crappy custom compilers for our platform.... I've rebuilt them in a way that I like (and using C# instead of Java), that enables me to use it in a small visual studio code plugin that enables me with real time error messages as I code against our platform, so basically cons…

And how do you get around the concept of any code you write on company time, on company resources is owned by company?

Re: Do you ever avoid submitting something on HN so devs won't ruin it?

#60

Post by milesvp »

Aardwolf wrote: post #31
BatteryMountain wrote: post #9

Yeah I do this. Most of what I build, nobody knows about it nor is it release into the wild. Latest example: at my current workplace we have some crappy custom compilers for our platform.... I've rebuilt them in a way that I like (and using C# instead of Java), that enables me to use it in a small visual studio code plugin that enables me with real time error messages as I code against our platform, so basically cons…

Real time error messages are useful, but I don't see how they could make you win 4x time

You perhaps have never worked in a system where compile times are measured in minutes. There is a point where the feedback loop is so long it’s very hard to keep in your head what exactly you were trying to accomplish with the last change. Getting that OODA loop small enough means flow can happen. Flow allows you to do in a very short time what would otherwise have taken you hours.

Do not underestimate the time and cognitive savings of realtime feedback.

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