Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the problem with Svbtle. You can't just "be" that. You have to earn it.
Says exactly who, and with what evidence?
By jove, I think you've got it!
Svbtle Funding
131–140 of 173 posts
Re: Svbtle Funding
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
> hate I suspect that a good chunk of hate comes from that Kudos widget not having an Undo. It comes across as cocky, hence the backlash.
Hacker News doesn't have an undo button for upvotes and no one seems to care.
I've seen a few social media sites before, and HN's upvote button looks how I expect an upvote button to look, and it's positioned where I expect an upvote button to be (next to a corresponding downvote button). Most importantly, it only activates with a mouse-click, which is the conventional way for a user to request some kind of state-change on the web.
By contrast, the kudos widget looks like nothing in particular, its location doesn't correspond to any convention I'm aware of, and mild curiosity (mouseover) is taken to mean enthusiastic support.
To me, the kudos widget makes me feel like somebody took advantage of me in an unguarded moment and stole a dollar. It's not much, in the grand scheme of things, but rubs me the wrong way.
Re: Svbtle Funding
#133Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…
I haven't followed the Dustin-drama. In fact I don't know anything about it, but that something happened one day and he changed his tag line from "hero" to "villain". But I've followed more than a few links from Hacker News to articles on Svbtle over the past months and came away with the strong sense that they're of unusually low quality. Maybe I'm just not the target audience, but the articles I've seen have been v…
>> came away with the strong sense that they're of unusually low quality
I couldn't agree more. I guess I'm out of the loop of the drama involved, but every article I've read seems very light/thin, and had no real substance, outside of the standard SV gossip. I actually kinda go out of my way to avoid reading them when I see a svtle link on HN...
Re: Svbtle Funding
#134I liked the minimlistic approach of Svbtle, so I created a super simple Git+Markdown-based blog that draws inspiration from Svbtle. Check it out: http://hveem.no/simple-blogging-with-lua-and-git
Silicon Valley appears to think there is a fine line between "drawing inspiration" and "copying." There isn't and to be honest, your output is a good example of the latter, not the former.
I'm pretty sure the distinction is "It's inspiration when I do it, it's copying when you do it." :)
Re: Svbtle Funding
#135I was a bit uncertain at first, but Svbtle has really grown into a great resource. The writing on there is phenomenal and it's great that the list of authors keeps growing. Excited to see how they use their new resources.
Re: Svbtle Funding
#136Re: Svbtle Funding
#137Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…
That sounds like a wonderful idea until you take a step back and realize it's not all that profound or even interesting. I get it but at the same time it doesn't make sense. What I see is a guy who is playing kingmaker by "giving people the tools" to blog and all writing under the same banner. There's nothing to this and it basically already exists in every other blog network ever. It seems we're somehow to believe the minimalist theme and the fact that it's SV-in-crowd Dustin Curtis orchestrating this thing with fellow SV-in-crowd pals makes this something other than an ordinary blog network.
On one level I get it. It's not about what it actually is, it's about the feeling, the aura, this attitude about it that makes it feel special. On the other hand, it's just another blog network. To me, I see it as the difference between Newsweek and the New Yorker. It's all about the public sentiment. Or maybe I missed the mark completely but when I hear things along the lines of "well people are haters and it's kinda hard to get but you'll see" they seem kind of like cop-outs to me.
There's nothing wrong with Suvbtle at all though. No one should have a problem with the basic idea. What I, and I think others, have a problem with is the sneaky feeling that this is just another blog network and we're being told it's somehow more and special. Like we're being served hamburger but someone's calling it filet mignon. I've eaten my share of beef and I've read the Svbtle network blogs and I know when I'm being fed ground beef.
Re: Svbtle Funding
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can we all agree to stop calling critics "haters"?
I think not. Haters are distinctive enough that it would make the language less expressive to discard the word and merge it into "critic." I'm slow to adopt new words, but I think "hater" is a useful addition to the language, and not simply a pejorative version of "critic." The difference is that a critic is what you're called as a byproduct of being critical in a particular instance, whereas being a hater is an ongo…
Not to be pedantic, but the word "hater" typically refers to a person who dislikes someone out of jealousy.
I think a lot of people dislike Dustin Curtis not because they're jealous of his notoriety, but rather because of his attitude -- or at least the personality he projects on the internet.
Re: Svbtle Funding
#139Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…
Congratulations to Svtble for their funding. I am curious as to what their business plan is, especially for a blog network that strives to minimalism, having an ad presence would seem anathema. And to that end, I am curious why anyone would fund them -- what is it that they offer in terms of being able to generate income that makes them more viable than say, any old "webring" that uses the same CSS? Or makes them dif…
My thoughts exactly. But now you're a hater and you just don't get it. It's okay though because I'm there with you. In the end a lot of us will be searching for the answer to the question "why is this so special" and the reason we're so baffled is because we assume that the simplest answer can't be right. But I think it is! THe answer is that this is nothing more than a regular blog network with a minimalist theme and a well known SV insider. It's about the feeling and not what it actually is. Simple as that.
But you know, there's really nothing wrong with that! The problem I have is that so many want to pass this off like it's something new and special when really it's the same old shit with a new name. Maybe if someone would just say "yeah, DCurtis is creating a blog network and it's cool because of who he is, who he knows, and the stylesheet" then I'd be happy and say "cool, I'll read it".
Re: Svbtle Funding
#140I liked the minimlistic approach of Svbtle, so I created a super simple Git+Markdown-based blog that draws inspiration from Svbtle. Check it out: http://hveem.no/simple-blogging-with-lua-and-git
Silicon Valley appears to think there is a fine line between "drawing inspiration" and "copying." There isn't and to be honest, your output is a good example of the latter, not the former.
What makes you say that? I'm looking at the two side by side right now and they are vastly different. What has svbtle created that is being copied?