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Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell

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111–115 of 115 posts

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell

#111
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

morbid question, but do you know if any emails have ever been sent?

Of course, lots are sent every day. I don't know if they're from deaths, but lots of messages get sent. I know people have died because the police or FBI contact me sometimes. Once, a girl had committed suicide and used the service to send accusing emails to her friends and family two months later. That was tragic all around.

There’s probably some selection bias here if people are close to death (either by suicide or terminal diagnosis) and looking for the solution.

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell

#112
post #29

Two weeks ago, I released the tactical map-based WW2 submarine sim Silent Shark (which I got feedback on from HN for beta test a few months ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180924 ) and it's gone extremely well for a side project - I've had over 100 Steam reviews, 99% of them are positive, and I have sold a few thousand copies so far. I began working on this game just 6 months ago and have only worked on it…

woo, I can see it's really a hardcore game, how did you find such a wonderful idea?

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I offer some absolutes in reply and would also love to be proven wrong. The cost of engineering and implementation has always been low. Passive income has always been a subtle lie. The money has always been in providing a well-supported service. No customer has ever cared about implementation details beyond what is outlined in the contracts they have with you and the nth-order effects of the contracts they are under…

> The cost of engineering and implementation has always been low With Opus and fable and sol at dozens of dollars for a month, i don't know how you can straight-faced say that. But you do you.

Give me one example of something you copied successfully then
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