Work with the garage door up (2024) • Hacker News Board

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#121

Post by AlexeyBelov » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 5:40 AM UTC

dimes wrote: post #57

simonw wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't feel particularly different to me, I've been publishing my side projects as open source code on GitHub for over a decade. The effort required to adapt them has dropped, but I've always exposed them to being adapted.

> Doesn't feel particularly different to me > The effort required to adapt them has dropped AI is an entirely different situation because the effort required to copy has dropped by multiple orders of magnitude. You used to be able to build in the open without worrying about copycats because the vast majority of people didn’t want to spend the effort. Now (with AI), even someone with the slightest, most fleeting whim…

It has been known (especially in gamedev circles) that ideas are not worth much. I don't like AI slop, but what's the harm of taking someone's demo and making it better? Then someone else can do the same, and tweak some other mechanic.

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#122

Post by jdboyd » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 7:12 AM UTC

mattkevan wrote: post #24

Genuinely curious where the best place online to do this is today. Until recently my reflexive answer would have been Twitter, but [gestures vaguely at the state of it]. Would it be Substack, Bluesky, Mastodon, a personal blog, or somewhere else? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it's hard to know where to get started.

Mastodon and blog both sound good to me. For some, they could alternatively use twitch or youtube.

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#123

Post by nicbou » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 7:40 AM UTC

mattkevan wrote: post #24

Genuinely curious where the best place online to do this is today. Until recently my reflexive answer would have been Twitter, but [gestures vaguely at the state of it]. Would it be Substack, Bluesky, Mastodon, a personal blog, or somewhere else? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it's hard to know where to get started.

I crosspost to LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky and Mastodon. LinkedIn is the most effective.

I also blog, but POSSE is not as good as it could be.

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#124

Post by pickleballcourt » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 8:33 AM UTC

Love the title

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#125

Post by tomhow » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:53 AM UTC

alexpotato wrote: post #66

I forget where I read this quote but have always loved it: "When I was a teenager, I read about all of these Bay Area guys that launched startups from their garage. I thought 'Man, those guys must be really tough!'. Why? Because I'm from Canada and working in garages in the winter is really cold."

Here you go!

https://www.paulgraham.com/marginal.html

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#126

Post by amelius » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 11:42 AM UTC

alexpotato wrote: post #66

I forget where I read this quote but have always loved it: "When I was a teenager, I read about all of these Bay Area guys that launched startups from their garage. I thought 'Man, those guys must be really tough!'. Why? Because I'm from Canada and working in garages in the winter is really cold."

Without HVAC, it can still be tough.

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#127

Post by qiine » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:03 PM UTC

regenschutz wrote: post #87

It definitely depends on the platform, though. On GitHub, absolutely, work with the garage door up. But on some platforms, it's the complete opposite. Many moons ago, I was making mod for a game and had the idea to publish it on Nexus Mods [0] so that I didn't have to bother setting anything up once I actually wanted to publish the initial release of the mod. It was not at all in a working state when I made the publi…

You didn't link your mod?

Also I think fundamentally people on nexus mode assume: the mod is there=it work The majority of people on there are not familiar with software dev concepts, they just seek cool new content for their fav game.

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#128

Post by mmarian » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:45 PM UTC

Gigachad wrote: post #92

mattkevan wrote: post #24

Genuinely curious where the best place online to do this is today. Until recently my reflexive answer would have been Twitter, but [gestures vaguely at the state of it]. Would it be Substack, Bluesky, Mastodon, a personal blog, or somewhere else? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it's hard to know where to get started.

Against the grain here but I feel like it needs to be popularised. But have you considered trying to do it in person? Going to shared spaces, meetups, etc and talking to people. It’s almost a dying practice but I feel it’s massively valuable in a way that can’t be replicated online.

Meetups tend to have huge backlogs for speakers. Tried it in a couple and they said 8 months at least.

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#129

Post by splitbrain » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:57 PM UTC

> it’s giving a lecture about the problems you’re pondering in the shower; it’s thinking out loud about the ways in which your project doesn’t work at all.

I'd love to do this. But I have learned that my brain does not work this way. The moment I explain my shower thought project to anyone, I immediately lose all interest in actually building it. I don't know why.

If I want to succeed building a new thing, I can not talk to anyone before I have actually built the first fully working version of it.

Re: Work with the garage door up (2024)

#130

Post by giwook » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 1:27 PM UTC

splitbrain wrote: post #129

> it’s giving a lecture about the problems you’re pondering in the shower; it’s thinking out loud about the ways in which your project doesn’t work at all. I'd love to do this. But I have learned that my brain does not work this way. The moment I explain my shower thought project to anyone, I immediately lose all interest in actually building it. I don't know why. If I want to succeed building a new thing, I can not…

This is a common occurrence I believe.

There's something called the goal disclosure effect where telling someone about your goals can reduce your motivation to achieve them.

There's also a 'dopamine reward prediction', where your brain releases dopamine for signals that you're on the path to success, which includes talking about, planning, or imagining success.

As a result I've also learned to not talk too much about anything I want to build before I actually have built something.

I feel like this article might be slightly different though in that you're moreso just thinking out loud, more like rubber ducky debugging than talking about some idealistic vision you're striving for.