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Call for a Better Web

callforabetterweb.org

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11–20 of 68 posts

Re: Call for a Better Web

#11

Post by chrischen »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #5

Sigh...where to start? First, I applaud your passion for making the web a better place, and for being willing to put yourself out there and be open with your views. That said, there's a number of problems with what you're saying and the proposed solution, but let me point out just a few: 1. Normal people don't care. Seriously, my mom uses a handful of websites and doesn't really care about any of the problems you men…

You just described my original idea in that site (sorta)! But I changed it cause i realized normal people usually use , as Ryan said, a handful of applications. Th is idea would work better as a marketing tool for someone who wants to maintain a presence on various networks though.

Re: Call for a Better Web

#12

Post by pg »

I'd like to remind everyone of a rule related to this: please don't submit your YC application to HN. The reason is simply that if everyone did this, they'd drown out the ordinary content: if you divide the number of applications we get by the number of days between now and Oct 26, the result is many per day.

I left this one alive because it's arguably just over the line. It's really more of an essay that mentions they're applying for winter 2010. But I took the ref to YC out of the title.

Re: Call for a Better Web

#13

Post by TweedHeads »

We are attacking the messenger when we should be attacking the problem.

Forget the messenger for a moment, if he is good or not for funding, if he has writing problems, or if he is dumb or retard.

Lets focus on the problem please, can we provide solutions?

Even solutions on how to fix proposed solutions that don't work?

Re: Call for a Better Web

#14

Post by markup »

patio11 wrote: post #4

Hiya. Mind if I make some suggestions on how you can write better in professional communications? Lead with your strengths. Your first paragraph, which is the most important one you will write because it is the one that determines whether the rest of your piece gets read, is filled with self-inflicted strikes against you. English is not my mother tongue and I’m not a great writer, so I am borrowing the words JFK used…

Thank you for your suggestions, they do make sense. The only thing is that this is not a proposal, it's simply an article (but still, you are right)

Re: Call for a Better Web

#15

Post by omouse »

a system you would put your stuff on. You would then be able to authorize (think OAuth) people, websites, organizations and services to access subsets of your data.

A system for personal data... why does that sound familiar? I think it's the word personal...OH! I know! Personal Computers! Remember those silly things where you could own your data and run whatever the fuck you wanted and weren't a slave to random updates made on some remote server?

Re: Call for a Better Web

#16

Post by markup »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #5

Sigh...where to start? First, I applaud your passion for making the web a better place, and for being willing to put yourself out there and be open with your views. That said, there's a number of problems with what you're saying and the proposed solution, but let me point out just a few: 1. Normal people don't care. Seriously, my mom uses a handful of websites and doesn't really care about any of the problems you men…

Normal people don't care about a lot of stuff, but this doesn't stop research and development. The world would be a really boring place if we had to think solutions targeted at the "average Joe". I do care about this and if someone offered me a solution for these issues I'd buy it right away.

In regards to 2., you are right but today the same risk is multiplied on dozens of websites that I know basically nothing about. I don't know how they store and backup my stuff and I don't know how they deal it.

As per 4. OpenID and OAuth DO work (I use them a lot), what I tried to say is that they do not solve the underlying issue.

Re: Call for a Better Web

#17

Post by markup »

pg wrote: post #12

I'd like to remind everyone of a rule related to this: please don't submit your YC application to HN. The reason is simply that if everyone did this, they'd drown out the ordinary content: if you divide the number of applications we get by the number of days between now and Oct 26, the result is many per day. I left this one alive because it's arguably just over the line. It's really more of an essay that mentions th…

Sorry about that

Re: Call for a Better Web

#19

Post by tdavis »

Call me crazy, but I like the way things are. Having huge, centralized bodies with easy access to all of my information sounds awful. The government knows enough about me already, why would I trust I private corporation with all of my data? What happens when they're hacked? How about when somebody decides to make millions illegally selling identities?

Facebook can keep my photos and status updates and pokes. Twitter can have all my 140-character sets of vapid bullshit. Those things don't matter. I don't want Globocorp having access to every bit of information about me.

Re: Call for a Better Web

#20

Post by ctb9 »

Sorry, for some reason this post touched a nerve, and not even because I disagreed with a lot of what was said. Like ryanwaggoner said, props on putting this out there, its obvious you care a lot about the future of the internet and are genuinely trying to make it better.

My problem is with the attitude that the internet is 'broken' and that we should just redo it. That, and the suggestion that someone should give you money to play around with hypothetical e-utopias.

Anyway, my rebuttals:

1. Hundreds...really? If you regularly use more than 100 accounts, that puts you in the top .1% of internet users. Normal people just let firefox remember their passwords and also probably spend more time outside.

2. API's, facebook connect, openid. If I meet someone at a conference, I spend 30 seconds each adding them to twitter, linkedin and maybe facebook. Do I really need (or want) to automatically see their flickr feed?

3. Again, the multiple modes of content consumption is perfect. I'll friend you on facebook if I care about you socially, I'll add you to my rss if your blog interests me, and I'll follow you on twitter if you're not terribly annoying. We all get to apply filters to everyone else.

4. Totally agree, improved data portability would be great.

5. "We should stop building new social networks, services and adding entropy to the system. We should stop trying to patch a model that has proven multiple times to be broken by design."

Umm, what?

I couldn't be more excited about the future of web apps and services. The internet is one of the only places where the free market is truly at work. Its glorious. Entropy is a problem, which is why we've seen recent efforts directed at reducing it, but at the end of the day the web, like any market, is about value creation and capture. You don't even mention capturing value, which is why pg, or anyone else, is not likely to fund you.

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