Live data from Hacker News

The simplest app that makes money

billprin.com

61–70 of 104 posts

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#61
As a former poker player I can say it's quite stupid to use that kind of app at the table, because it's a massive tell. Any time somebody looks at that app the other people at the table know you have mid range hand. Cause your not gonna be looking at it if you have unsuited 2, 5, and you not gonna be looking at it when you have Pocket jacks. Reminds me of how one of the regulars I played with was one of the smartest people I knew, he always calculated the exact odds in his head while sitting at the table, but he was still a subpar player, because he had the most obvious tell, if he was staring kind of up and to the right it was because he was calculating his odds of hitting a range, meaning I could induce when I should bet to get him to leave the pool.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#62
post #30
post #7

I have a bookmark to a personal Google Doc called “SaaS Business Ideas”, for whenever I think of a project that I think I can monetize. The Google Doc is actually view-only and says “Stop ideating about projects to make money! You probably don’t need the money. Just work on projects that you find fun.”

> Just work on projects that you find fun. Slightly off-topic: What's that fun? There is hedonistic, roller coaster riding fun, there is joy of accomplishment, there is fun in tinkering, etc. What does having fun mean? Is it a specific feeling or is it more the general idea to do something that is individually appealing?

That is the point of fun, only you (should) know, otherwise the more important point before is to find that out.. :)

> Even if I don't need the money, I would still very much enjoy making some.

It seems you and also that guy didn't yet?

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#63
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> somebody pays for somebody else to show me ads is useful to all of them, but it certainly isn't useful to me... presumably the ads being shown has subsidized the usage of the app that you're using for free. So i dont think it's not useful to you - it might be an annoyance, but you've made the trade to use the app for free (or for a lower cost than it otherwise wouldve been). > They're doing morally dubious and diff…

The ad subsidized something, against my will. How can that be framed as some kind of "transaction"? Sure, if I can choose to direct or avert my attention to ads, like, using an app with ads. But in other less consensual cases it's difficult to make the case that ads are always a positive sum game.

You choose to use the app, not against your will, the app having ads is the consequence of you not paying for it, you make a transaction to be able to use the app you will see ads.

Ads are annoying but people wont buy subscriptions or microtransact for infomation, they wont pay for software either, if there was an alternative it would be running by now.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Subtext The legitimacy of the preflop charts was also mentioned in the article - ya know, the actual written, non-subtexty text.

The author actually acknowledges that opinions on legitimate use of pre-flop charts in the poker community are highly divided. It's a controversial topic. > Overall, the app was controversial. Many of the Reddit comments were negative, and many accused me of making an app for “cheating.” Though there was some interesting back-and-forth because many people pointed out that high-profile famous poker players openly admi…

Very few real people actually care. Certainly, if you post anything at all onto a sub Reddit, the gatekeepers of that subreddit will likely come out of the woodworks to cut down anything that doesn’t conform to their strict and limit view. Especially if you have something to sell, or have something unique to bring. It is precisely that kind of anti-growth mindset that has taken hold and destroyed the fun and potential of the web, and it is the last place we should be seeking validation for any kind of view. The true elephant in the room is that those gatekeepers are generally sad individuals who have disproportionately large effects on public discourse.

Just seems like a very harsh moral judgement on the author, who is operating well within the moral and legal bounds of business.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#65
post #43
post #25

The weird subtext of this article is that it's an example of a certain kind of person, the type for whom the entire point of making things is to make money, and it's only by accident that it's about doing something useful. Here's a person who reads entrepreneurship books and takes notes on good ways to find business opportunities, makes an app to help people basically cheat because that's where the money is, naturall…

This is so unfair to the article author. People do things to make money because you need money to live in society! People want to be financially and creatively independent and starting a business, or learning how, is a completely fine thing to do. You can do volunteer work, contribute to open source, or whatever else for free, but why do you have to deride someone for trying to sell software?

The need to make money is not a universal defense of anything that makes money.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#66
post #61

As a former poker player I can say it's quite stupid to use that kind of app at the table, because it's a massive tell. Any time somebody looks at that app the other people at the table know you have mid range hand. Cause your not gonna be looking at it if you have unsuited 2, 5, and you not gonna be looking at it when you have Pocket jacks. Reminds me of how one of the regulars I played with was one of the smartest…

The fact that you think this is an obvious tell just shows that it could be used strategically against you. Some players will use any means available to level each other. Don’t be so sure :-)

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#67
post #65
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so unfair to the article author. People do things to make money because you need money to live in society! People want to be financially and creatively independent and starting a business, or learning how, is a completely fine thing to do. You can do volunteer work, contribute to open source, or whatever else for free, but why do you have to deride someone for trying to sell software?

The need to make money is not a universal defense of anything that makes money.

It is a variation of the Nuremberg defense

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders

We pretend to be rational and as soon as livelihood is affected logic goes out of the window.

(not talking about the specific person, just about the logical argument)

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ad subsidized something, against my will. How can that be framed as some kind of "transaction"? Sure, if I can choose to direct or avert my attention to ads, like, using an app with ads. But in other less consensual cases it's difficult to make the case that ads are always a positive sum game.

You choose to use the app, not against your will, the app having ads is the consequence of you not paying for it, you make a transaction to be able to use the app you will see ads. Ads are annoying but people wont buy subscriptions or microtransact for infomation, they wont pay for software either, if there was an alternative it would be running by now.

I agree specifically in the case of apps financed by ads, as I wrote in my comment.

But a lot of advertisement people pay for is outside of any service I can choose not to use.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#69
post #15

Now, everyone, think about how much worse the world would be if this was a lauded or primary way to think about "how to make software." While I appreciate the self-motivation idea generally - this article does nothing for me except make me grateful for free and open source types of folks. People should mostly just not do this.

This article made me pretty sad to be honest. This little app made more money in hours than many free software and open source projects do in years.

> made more money in hours than many free software

You’re sad that free software didn’t make money ?

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#70
post #61

As a former poker player I can say it's quite stupid to use that kind of app at the table, because it's a massive tell. Any time somebody looks at that app the other people at the table know you have mid range hand. Cause your not gonna be looking at it if you have unsuited 2, 5, and you not gonna be looking at it when you have Pocket jacks. Reminds me of how one of the regulars I played with was one of the smartest…

Wouldn't an easy defense be to always look at the watch just to set a pattern?
Post reply on HN