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Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

danluu.com

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Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#261

Post by ako »

Strilanc wrote: post #251
klodolph wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> …he'll use the same tone for something he's seen anecdotally and something he's spent a month personally investigating. A.k.a. “avoiding weasel words”. I don’t mean to be clever here, it’s just that it’s far more efficient to assume that reader can make their own informed decision, and give them citations & instructions for reproducibility to help them along the way, rather than shovel a bunch of weasel words into…

Giving a confidence level is different from using weasel words. Weasel words make statements weaker or even vacuous. Confidence levels make statements more precise. Here's an example: statement: Alice stole the briefcase +weasel_wording: I think it's possible Alice could have stolen the briefcase +confidence_level: I'd bet 5:1 that Alice stole the briefcase Also note that I didn't say I wanted Dan to write less confi…

If there is any doubt regarding the stealing, then in this example i prefer the weasel wording version. The first one is incorrect, the last one you're suggesting an accuracy that you can't really back up, in order to convince someone.

So in this case the weasel wording doesn't make the statement weaker as it shows strength to admit you may be wrong.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#262

Post by Kiro »

jader201 wrote: post #243
mitchdoogle wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to strongly disagree. The lengthy article has much more thought put into it. It's almost always better researched and the author usually has relevant experience or expertise, and those are usually at least known to the reader in some way or easily discovered. I have seen many, many cases where a big portion of the top comments are either saying something similar to what the author of the article said, or they…

There’s not much to disagree with here. I simply stated my experience — I never even said my experience was right or that it is wrong to read the article, or that others should experience HN the way I do. I’m a slow reader and don’t have time to read lengthy articles, and therefore am drawn more to discussion. You are (likely) a quicker reader and are drawn more to articles. There’s room for both of us in the world —…

You said "I often wish HN would just allow titles to get posted and HN folks just have a discussion around that". If there's anything I can wholeheartedly say I disagree with it's that, so yes there's a lot to disagree with here.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#263

Post by Double_a_92 »

bjarneh wrote: post #253

> I valued men and women equally, and found that because other employers did not, good women economists were less expensive than men. Is this a very nice way of saying that you can hire women economists and underpay them in order to make money?

Not because they are women though, but because they had trouble finding work somewhere else. So the company had a bigger negotiation power. That's just capitalism, supply and demand...

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#264

Post by erosenbe0 »

YZF wrote: post #160
Strilanc wrote: post #88

It's pretty depressing how many of the comments are purely answering the title and not discussing the content of the article. In particular, the comments seem mostly focused on consumer product build quality whereas the article is more focused on e.g. businesses trying to outsource something (like same day delivery) and getting a worse result even when they pay more than doing it internally. And the cultural obstacle…

I read the article so I'm gonna respond here ;) As a counter-anecdote I'll offer my experience working for a company that built large precision machinery. Many of the parts of said machinery were built by subcontractors. The quality was extremely high. We did do certain things in house if they require special expertise and we did have the capability to do rapid prototyping but it wouldn't make any business sense for…

Linear rails -- THK. Pumps -- Iwaki. Optical glass & microscopes -- Kenko, Nikon, Canon. Sensors/Switches/Relays -- Omron. Imaging, Passives, Semiconductors -- Toshiba, Epson, Panasonic. Chips -- Renesas.

All made in Japan. Few or no Silicon Valley equivalents. Makes you wonder.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#265

Post by dotancohen »

roland35 wrote: post #130
analog31 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

House foundations, light switches, and water delivery, along with the professions that install them, are all regulated and licensed. There is somewhat of a trend for the quality of those things to have regional variation, e.g., lower quality in places that have historically had weak code enforcement and weak unions. And yes, the regulation probably did make those things more expensive.

Maybe more expensive up front but probably cheaper in the long run!

Just like a quality automobile, to bring the discussion closer to the article. For example, a Tesla Model 3 might cost more than a Hyundai I10, but after three years of ownership you've not had to change the oil, fill it with gas, get the tailpipe emissions inspected, possibly see the catalytic converter stolen, etc. And the difference in maintenance only grows from there, when the plugs and timing belt and seals and transmission and other items wear.

Lots of products have more expensive buy-in buy are cheaper in the long run.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#266

Post by phist_mcgee »

Sparing the contents of the article and the great discussion around it, as an aside: who in this day and age has website text that spans 100% width of the viewport? On my 32 inch monitor it's completely unreadable. I get the low/no style aesthetic, but the wall of text is quite unreadable to me.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#267

Post by watwut »

Moru wrote: post #223
folli wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, often it's more interesting to read a single person's well researched opinion than a dozen one-off comments.

But on Hackernews those one-off comments can come from years of studying the same topic. Sometimes even explaining why the long well researched opinion missed something so important that the whole article is wrong.

No, they dont. Which is pretty clear everytime something you do know a lot about pops up. Majority of it is just people shooting their opinions over coffee break. Which is fine, we go here to relax and slack, but does not produce super educated opinions.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#269

Post by [deleted] »

Strilanc wrote: post #88

It's pretty depressing how many of the comments are purely answering the title and not discussing the content of the article. In particular, the comments seem mostly focused on consumer product build quality whereas the article is more focused on e.g. businesses trying to outsource something (like same day delivery) and getting a worse result even when they pay more than doing it internally. And the cultural obstacle…

[deleted]

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#270

Post by Firmwarrior »

emodendroket wrote: post #45
Firmwarrior wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I foolishly bought one off the top of the best-seller list at Amazon a couple years ago. It was like $35 and came with a little card that said "Hey, if you give us a 5 star review and send proof to SHADY_EMAIL_ADDRESS@gmail we'll give you a $25 Amazon gift card!" It did work reasonably well, but if you failed to clean it and fully dry it out within 6 hours of using it, it would get an INSANE mildew smell. Amazon of c…

What were you expecting? They can't fundamentally change what happens when you leave things wet for hours.

My teakettle is moist for hours, some of my dishes are moist for hours, they don't smell like mildew. I'm in the bone dry south bay in a warm house

My guess is water is getting trapped somewhere in the device's Chinesium crevices, or maybe they found a way to make plastic cheaper by making it susceptible to mold.

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