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

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

#181

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

I'm not particularly concerned about devs "ruining" my work. I won't be posting the project I'm developing now; but only because it is aimed at a specific demographic, and the last thing I want, is a whole buttload of mayfly-lifespan signups from curious geeks.

Almost every project that I do, is designed and supplied as a finished, released repo. Most are modules (as opposed to apps). I do have the source for several of my apps in the public domain.

It's never been a problem for me. Most of the modules I release are for my consumption. I don't really care if it gets starred or forked on GH. In fact, the less, the merrier. If others aren't counting on my utilities, then I can play around with them, if I need to.

Most of my work is of extremely high Quality. It's designed for serious developers (like me), that are interested in bottom-to-top native development. It's actually surprising how few people do that.

When I release a module, I liken it to having a child. It is now my Responsibility to maintain and care for it.

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

#182

Post by toqy » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

RankingMember wrote: post #119

jdavis703 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t that the whole point of software engineering? You should always be engineering yourself out of your current job. If I’m dealing with the same issues I have today, a year from now, then I’d view that as a personal failure.

The whole point of engineering is to engineer yourself out of your current job? What? I think I must be misunderstanding you. Are people who engineer planes supposed to be engineering spacecraft or consider themselves failures or something? I'm confused.

They are supposed to engineer machines that engineer planes during their free time obviously

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

#183

Post by behnamoh » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #157

uhtred wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get this. If you tell people, and it gets released into the official tool chain, you will also probably then be its "owner". More work for you with no extra money.

I was looking for this among all the responses. Surprised you're the only one who mentioned it. In my first job, I would make constant productivity improvements like this. This resulted in two problems: 1. The team became dependent on them, but only I would maintain them (management's directive). Although productivity went up, management saw me as the bottleneck because if the tool acted poorly, that team member's wo…

Thanks for sharing. That's sad to hear. May I ask how you find out if management appreciates such productivity tools? In my experience, some people who seem really nice turn out to be extremely toxic and demanding once they find out my potential in doing things quickly and my quality work.

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

#184

Post by jancsika » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

Assuming you have prior evidence of YT purposefully breaking its interface-- Did you contact your local area user group about it?

I haven't used YT in ages but if it's legit obfuscation your rep will immediately escalate that shit all the way to the AG if that interface is indeed serving up commons to a large enough userbase. (Even with their dwindling numbers I'd bet they still qualify as a public carrier.)

In the meantime I'd suggest going through Looksie, or Shoop... hell even teh craggy old Gnuflix gateway. Seriously, why torture yourself?

Oops wrong timeline...

glorp

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

#185

Post by bredren » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

RankingMember wrote: post #16

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…

Making it broadly available could also potentially just set a new floor for productivity in an industry that doesn't always reward such gains commensurate with their value, i.e. you'd get an attaboy and "alright well now you can do three times as much work for the same pay!"

This is what happened in my first job out of college. I joined a publicly traded software company and was helping marketing drive leads.

This involved calling engineers at their desks and offering workshops where they got some continental breakfast and to try out some very expensive IC design tool.

The company had a web application written in ColdFusion that had a bunch of forms to fill out each time a phone call or email exchange was performed with a lead. Enterprise sales would use this information to move sales through the pipeline.

I got bored really quickly of tabbing through the page and the repeat data entry based on call or email outcome. So I found a windows macro tool and wrote 5-10 macros that handled 80% of all call outcomes, making it trivial to add details.

Ideally, the web application would just get this kind of automation. However, some of the macros were campaign specific--they just didn't do it.

When my manager saw how I was pulling off the call volume and results, (which were modest--it was still largely cold calling), everyone on the team got a license to the macros and I was asked to share the macros around.

They were all RCGs or recent masters grads, so it wasn't really a problem. But it immediately set a floor for "why are you typing that and using your mouse to finish this call? We have a tool to do that" kind of thing.

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

#186

Post by behnamoh » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

shadowgovt wrote: post #172

corobo wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clicking the dislike button boosts the video as much as clicking the like button anyway. You're doing everyone a disservice by interacting with bad videos

Interesting. Do you have a source for this? I'd find it really surprising if YT was treating negative signal as positive signal in this specific way.

Not OP, but I think that infamous YT Rewind video is a good example.

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

#187

Post by Mezzie » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

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…

This is one of the main advantages to being the token tech person in a non-tech group/organization: They have no idea how I do anything or how much time it might take. All explaining or sharing too much does is cut into my free time and possibly leads to additional competition in my niche.

There are also larger ideas and projects I keep to myself because I think they're viable and useful but refuse to see them ruined by the current scene/think the drawbacks of letting the idea out in our current culture outweigh the advantages.

I don't LIKE either of these things, but it'd be foolish of me to ignore the lessons I've learned over the past quarter of a century.

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

#188

Post by peterangular » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

GartzenDeHaes wrote: post #88

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…

Here's some management issues OP might be referring to. - Who is going to provide support, bug fixes, documentation, manuals, etc? - What happens if you leave? Can our other devs maintain this? - Did I mention documentation? - Did you get this approved by the architecture committee? - Why didn't you follow our process improvement policy? - We are a Java shop, so can you rewrite it in Java; you know this, so why didn'…

Having worked in an enterprise this list is 100% accurate. For better or worse (I think it's the latter) enterprises are all about coloring inside of the lines. If you color outside of the lines you may experience functional success in parallel to professional/social failure.

Large orgs/enterprises aren't about solving the problem - it's about the ceremony around solving the problem expecting the problem to solve itself eventually. Going around that ceremony can/will be seen as "going rogue" and will often end in termination of some sort. If the company wants/needs someone outside of that ceremony they will likely go "hire a consultant" vs. trying to find solutions within the ranks.

I'm not supporting this - I'm just saying it's how it is at the majority of larger companies that I've worked for/with. Honestly I think it sucks and stands in the way of real problem solving.

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

#189

Post by literallyWTF » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:47 PM UTC

Hekioi wrote: post #180

matheusmoreira wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're actually right. The goal is to automate all work to the point there is no need for an economy. In a post-scarcity society there is no need to economize. However, it's a mistake to believe the rich and powerful will allow such a society to exist since they'd be powerless in it. They will impose artificial scarcity on it in order to maintain the existence of capitalism and their fortunes. Just look at how copyri…

Apparently the working class is doing there part as well to keep the status quo when I see the reaction of others to my statement.

Lol. BRB lemme make my job and the job of others obsolete and hopefully society will also happen to reevaluate “work” just in time so I don’t starve to death.

Do you understand how dumb your logic is? Or are you going to continue to hand wave literally everything

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

#190

Post by batch12 » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 5:48 PM UTC

Yes, I have made a few censorship resistant solutions that I won't post here because of this. No reason to dare devs to start cat-n-mousing me -- or get arbitrarily banned from unrelated services because someone gets upset.