If You Build It, They Will Come • Hacker News Board

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#41

Post by ryandrake » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:08 PM UTC

qurren wrote: post #19

salahadawi wrote: post #13

This makes me realize I should show my appreciation to organizers more. It’s easy to take events for granted.

During my grad school years, back when the world was less competitive, I organized a LOT of events. I liked giving to the community, I had space to do it, and my needs were taken care of. Nowadays I feel like anything I do either needs to be either (a) getting me closer to opportunities to build a living or wealth OR (b) individual recharging time. When my poke bowl costs $24 (yes, it actually did), and my job applic…

I think this is why all the community events and social things in my neighborhood are organized by a few wealthy retirees. The rest of us are too busy spending all our time breaking our backs trying to survive another week so that maybe when we are 80 we’ll be able to get involved with something.

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#42

Post by grandimam » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:17 PM UTC

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Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#43

Post by geophph » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:17 PM UTC

triprjt wrote: post #8

no offence but i dont know what is this article doing on hackernews. looks like a diary entry at best.

> anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

Idk seems like it fits the bill still. Maybe not for everyone

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#44

Post by nicbou » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:19 PM UTC

xyzelement wrote: post #32

// Lots of people have a sort of consumer attitude towards their communities, where they take everything for granted. I saw things this way when I was young. A social scene is an automatic feature of the world that appears on its own, like a wild blueberry bush. It starts sprouting parties and dinners and conferences and reading groups as naturally as the bush sprouts berries True in general. As a kid you think of th…

There is a point where the things you took for granted start decaying. Your body, your things, your communities, your relationships. It's only when you start repairing or replacing them that you really value maintenance and the people doing it. As you point out, it's usually done by surprisingly few, surprisingly motivated people, and their work is often underappreciated until they stop doing it.

Maybe we should teach people to maintain something early on, as children, so that they learn to appreciate the work that goes into keeping the wheels turning.

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#45

Post by jambalaya8 » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:26 PM UTC

xyzelement wrote: post #32

// Lots of people have a sort of consumer attitude towards their communities, where they take everything for granted. I saw things this way when I was young. A social scene is an automatic feature of the world that appears on its own, like a wild blueberry bush. It starts sprouting parties and dinners and conferences and reading groups as naturally as the bush sprouts berries True in general. As a kid you think of th…

It isn't only the decay. People change. Who you were online at age 23 and 30 and almost definitely 39 is bound to be vastly different as your priorities and real life relationships change (like marriages, etc).

And the topics changed faster. People into mainframe OSes had the same conversational fluidity in that for decades. Leave linux for too long and everything sounds like vocabulary from an alien world, now. And so many 'technologies' with it. True probably since cloud and containerization. So people have less in common technically in those communities and as more career branching happens, people get nichier. More interest bubbles. More and more people in core areas, making it hard to not be overwhelmed simultaneously.

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#46

Post by slashdave » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:28 PM UTC

sebastianconcpt wrote: post #10

Reminds me of 2013 when I organized a TEDx, gosh so much work for absolute zero return. Also risk, what was I thinking?

Is the value of a task measured solely by a return?

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#47

Post by senderista » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:30 PM UTC

Exoristos wrote: post #39

America used to be awash with grassroots social institutions. I know an elderly gent who belonged to the Lions _and_ two similar organizations. When my mother was young, there were dances and dinners multiple nights a week. Which, for me, raises the question why weren't these things passed down? Why weren't the young a kind of apprentices to the old? That seems like the natural progression. But we see this generation…

I think a big part is the decline in organized religion.

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#48

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:33 PM UTC

Exoristos wrote: post #39

America used to be awash with grassroots social institutions. I know an elderly gent who belonged to the Lions _and_ two similar organizations. When my mother was young, there were dances and dinners multiple nights a week. Which, for me, raises the question why weren't these things passed down? Why weren't the young a kind of apprentices to the old? That seems like the natural progression. But we see this generation…

[deleted]

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#49

Post by brap » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:33 PM UTC

This is very interesting. I never thought of myself as a “consumer” in that sense, but I guess it is 100% correct, I’ve always been a consumer and I have in fact taken things for granted.

I don’t see that changing, to be honest, but it’s interesting that this never even occurred to me. It seems so obvious in hindsight. Quite the blindspot.

Re: If You Build It, They Will Come

#50

Post by wxw » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 8:37 PM UTC

Agreed. And, it's really not that hard to organize a simple event.

I used to talk myself out of it all the time, but have recently just been going for it. It's been great.