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Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#881

Post by sundarurfriend »

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #476
sundarurfriend wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This looks good. I expect their main page https://duckduckgo.com/bang will feel overwhelming for most users if displayed this way, but this is much better for serendipitous findings - both have their place. Is there a mobile equivalent to the hovering, to get the short description you mention?

Thanks for the suggestion, i didn't think about it yet. The whole page isn't quite optimized for a mobile user experience. I think that i would have to add a link that brings up the help text; maybe the link should be in the form of a question mark icon, similar to what they have at https://m.xkcd.com/ what do you think? I am not much of an expert in matters if web UI/frontend, so that any advice is very much appreci…

> maybe the link should be in the form of a question mark icon, similar to what they have at https://m.xkcd.com/

If the help text will be displayed in a little floating window like a tooltip, this makes sense, as the expected UI. I had in mind a short description box opening up underneath the entry and showing the info (as part of the page flow, not floating), and for that case I had the expander arrows [1] in mind.

In either case, the important thing IMO is to have enough interaction area to comfortably click on it without having to precisely hit the arrow/question mark itself.

[1] like mentioned here: https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/5736/138

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#882

Post by bladegash »

midjji wrote: post #834
bladegash wrote: post #828

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the flaw in your logic is the assumption it was an either/or situation. There are a whole lot of options between “resign or face the consequences”, and let’s face it, is destroying someone’s career one way or the other (via by choice or otherwise) really a choice at all? If you think it is, I’d be curious what your choice would be given the same scenario and whether you felt a bit coerced into your position.

Blackmail to me implies that the blackmailer requires something of the blackmailed, in exchange for the blackmailer to not take a specific action. In my example, the sender has already taken their action and given no indication that they are willing to accept a bribe to retract it. If they had required payment to retract it, it would have been blackmail. Meaning no blackmail. The ops story is confusing, so I wont say…

Being forced to make a choice under threat is kind of the definition of coercion, but I think we are getting hung up on semantics (e.g., the word blackmail) and you certainly raise a mature perspective and valid points. I think your interpretation of blackmail is much more akin to extortion, but we can at least agree they felt threatened.

The choice I was referring to was one of resignation and giving into the threat, or fighting the base of OP’s claim(s). Both lead to the loss of their job, except with one option they at least have a chance of keeping their job (fighting it).

Just to clarify, I said it was bordering on blackmail, which I think we can probably agree with each other that this was skirting pretty close to that line.

However, my contention was that it was an ultimatum, while he stated it was not. You don’t seem to be arguing that it was not an ultimatum, just that it was not in your opinion blackmail, which is fair and I won’t beat a dead horse.

Thank you for also sharing your perspective on what you would do in the same situation. I wish I could so confidently say the same, especially when you involve kids, personal attachment, biased storytelling (e.g., him hearing a different story from her than what is/isn’t the truth, which no one knows here), among other factors.

It’s a complicated situation to say the least and based on what OP said, I think there were some serious mistakes made that had a negative impact on him. However, I still do not think his actions are justified, for much other purpose than to be vindictive/take out his anger, and is super risky for everyone involved.

We know nothing about these personalities and outside OP’s own experiences, neither does he. It’s also impossible to predict the future and whether his actions are going to somehow help society writ large, or do more damage than good.

That is my issue with the ultimatum, no matter what you want to call it.

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#883

Post by bladegash »

byecancer21 wrote: post #864
bladegash wrote: post #858

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, if nothing else, at least you’re owning it at this point in the conversation. Separate: I sincerely hope you feel/get better my friend and are able to get the medical treatment you were seeking (if you haven’t already). Best wishes to you!

Thank you for your wishes. For future needs I was able to return to private health insurance which suffers from no such problem. However this cannot cover claims arisen prior to policy issue, so the subject matter remains open. No judge ruling in this court actually has public health insurance.

Well, for what it’s worth and I sincerely mean this, if there is anything I can do to help you out (medically, not legally) please let me know.

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#884

Post by xhfloz »

https://build.mmm.page

Been working on a website builder for almost a year now. Started as a series of fun interaction prototypes, then became “What if everybody could make expressive, stylistic websites?” and now I have so many ideas for it — big features, small polish, soft UI ideas, Easter eggs — that I can’t imagine running out of steam anytime soon. Having something always there, something that I care deeply about, however silly it is, has been a real source of constancy and satisfaction.

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#886

Post by hello_newman »

I'm working on a local SEO tool for a very successful owner of a course/community of local SEO people. It attempts to automate an arduous process he teaches about examining local SEO markets, and turned into that and also measuring markets for local SEO by applying a scoring system to them.

It's almost done, but really kicking my ass about the styling of the app (which is not the best right now).

As a developer who's been working in the field for a while, this is the first SaaS app I've launched, and I will say I have been battling with myself non-stop over "imposter syndrome" and thinking I'm just wasting my time for building it because no one will use it.

Even if it never makes any money, it's something that i wanted to see built, and it's helping me expose my weaknesses (in this case, design/UI/UX) to hopefully become a better "product engineer".

It hasn't launched yet, but has gotten 1 $29 sale, so that's something :D

If anyone with a design background would like to work with me, or give a critique, I'd love to find a way to return the favor.

Also, still thinking of a name for it

https://due-diligence-bot.herokuapp.com/

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#887

Post by tjm5081 »

We are building recurring bank transfer routines between accounts into our subscription manager service (US only). It'll send fixed amounts or percent of deposits on a schedule.

It's not core to the mission (so it will be free after normal security checks), but we were already building a bank transfer system, and I'm tired having to manually move money between savings and checking or set it aside for taxes. It goes live to site in 2-3 weeks... and then the 'finances-on-autopilot' bliss!

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#888

Post by Cogito »

pattle wrote: post #560

I run a free to play browser game called Money Simulator https://simulator.money The aim is to help you with financial planning. I don't think it will ever make money but it's growing so I'll just see where it goes.

Why am I still paying rent to Mum and rent for student accomodation?!?!?! Outrageous :)

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#889

Post by sebastianconcpt »

scroot wrote: post #829
sebastianconcpt wrote: post #769

1. Circa 2014 I've created Mapless [1], a Smalltalk persistence framework to remove the Object Relational Impedance Mismatch problem by design so I can quickly prototype or (modify) maintain the persisted objects without caring about mapping. After being abandoned, it suddenly became a life saver. Now it's going for production with humongous load. 2. I'm discretely working in Lobster [2] because I don't like current…

Do you have some instructions, screenshots, or video about the lobster project?

Not yet. I wonder if I should make a proof of concept demo at this stage or later when the UI gets more love (now is the style needs more love as padding margins and details of that sort are at the bare minimum to continue focusing on functionality).

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#890

Post by thelock85 »

I’m building a web scraper (also as an excuse to learn Python) so that I can aggregate K-12 district check register data (many states require this data to be published on a regular basis). My goal is uncover pricing trends from education publishers and edtech firms, which I’ve long suspected sell at whatever price they can fetch (or undercut one another) regardless of usage or effectiveness.
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