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Stop Acting Like You're Famous

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Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#191

Post by bayindirh »

Notatheist wrote: post #180
bayindirh wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're agreeing with the article without knowing it. Because you're doing what you enjoy at the end of the day. For example, I design logos and small branding for my (mostly) CLI tools which I write for myself first. Seeing these projects at completion levels comparable with other, bigger projects brings a lot of joy to me. A coherent README.MD, nice documentation and good written code is what I aspire to do,…

The article wasn't saying "do what makes you happy". It was saying "if you do this you will not be happy". If I end up happy you don't get to loop back and go "Well that was the goal! You agree with me!". The author also forgets that the author is their own audience. That audience is what one imagines others might be. The pursuit of that audience's approval is valuable. >A coherent README.MD, nice documentation and g…

> The article wasn't saying "do what makes you happy"

I disagree. Quoting the blog post itself:

    so stop optimizing for a non-existent audience and instead focus on what makes you enjoy the activity.
"Focus on what makes you enjoy the activity" means "do what makes you happy" in my parlance.

> Did you conjure the definition of "nice" and "good" in this context from thin air? No. You defined good by what others told you was good.

Absolutely no. I was always interested in visual design and set out to replicate what I saw and liked. I don't cater to anyone. My blog posts, coding style, and other things got negative comments, and I took note of them and thought about them, but I didn't agree with all of them, either. I only compete with myself and sharpen my axen the way I like. I'm chopping my own wood, so I don't need to optimize anything for others' wood.

In other areas of life, I have always chosen what to do, listen, watch and like. I don't yearn to fit in. In fact, I spent at least half of my life in a pretty opposite state.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#192

Post by freeman94 »

blowski wrote: post #120
mapreduce wrote: post #110

Why is it so that every so often one of these feel-good LinkedIn-style posts make it to the front page? Is there so much demand for banality on this site? I come here to read good tech articles or articles that stimulate my curiosity and it is sad to see these articles upvoted to the top when so many other good articles at https://news.ycombinator.com/newest continue to languish.

Simplicity bias, kind of like "bikeshedding". A large number of people can read this quickly, agree with it, and upvote it. Whereas articles about optimising machine code for the Apple Silicon CPU, or "Risks to the Glen Canyon Dam" are a lot more niche. Personally, I follow specific people who regularly submit interesting content, and pay less attention to the homepage.

I’d much rather read about the Glen Canyon dam, thanks for the suggestion.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#193

Post by acjohnson55 »

I dunno, I think people should do what makes them happy. Don't know why the author is so crabby about it.

The artists and innovators I respect the most are people who have gone way out a limb to put effort into a expression or endeavor, knowing full well that it might not appeal to anyone else. It takes a lot of effort, self belief, and perseverance to do this, and there's no guarantee of success. In fact, success is unlikely.

But a world where everyone follows the author's advice feels mediocre to me.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#194

Post by bayindirh »

nottorp wrote: post #178
bayindirh wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Grammarly, but seldomly. It's useful for longer piece of writing, esp. if I don't want to edit it later, over and over. Other than that, in normal conversations, these mistakes are part of our personal identity if you ask me.

Never tried writing aids, doesn't Grammarly make every output sound like a corporate press release or HR speak?

It has style aids and allows you to set tone goals. It's not an automated tool which just processes and gives out a "fixed" version.

It gives you suggestions, and marks your errors. It's up to you to decide which ones to add, which ones to ignore.

I generally use its punctual help, and want to see its suggestions about my sentence structure and flow, since English is not my native language.

Also, I use its advice on different levels depending on the recipient of the text I'm writing, plus the length of the text itself.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#195

Post by blowski »

synergy20 wrote: post #183
blowski wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd suggest going through https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders and looking at their submission history.

how to follow them at HN?

In the true HN spirit, I have a little script goes through the Hacker News API and shows them as an RSS feed. But if you'd rather use something off-the-shelf there's https://hnrss.org/submitted?id=synergy20

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#197

Post by barbariangrunge »

pat64 wrote: post #17

I’m going to hard disagree with this. A lot of the enjoyment I get from creation is the process of others enjoying what I’ve built. Further more, building for others is great for building out areas you’re weak or inexperienced in. Like, I was poor on the accessibility front until I found the thing I created resonated with the visually impaired folk.

Imagine you made a mug and nobody used it. That’s a bummer. Imagine you wrote a novel but can’t find anyone to read it. That’s a bummer too.

Art is there to create experiences for people. If somebody writes a novel in the woods, but nobody is there to read it, does it really make sound?

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#198

Post by ubertaco »

timwaagh wrote: post #71
keiferski wrote: post #65

I haven’t studied the topic enough, but it would be very interesting to see when this dichotomy of money-making vs. self-interest really embedded itself into the act of creation. Somewhere during the Industrial Revolution, I suppose. But I also think the default mode of “art as self expression” plays a big part, and that’s more early-mid 20th century. Because when you read about creators during say, the Renaissance,…

In the sense of the article artists have always done their best to cater to the taste of the people who might pay them. At least from the 16th century. They were typically paid for and protected by a mecenas (wealthy Merchant or nobility). There are no doubt exceptions but in general the art was to please their mecenas.

I mean, this is part of the story of Caravaggio, right? So much of the standards for art (if you wanted any patronage) at the time were around "what is the church willing to pay for", and Caravaggio alternated between painting stuff that would get him money from the church, and painting stuff that the church wouldn't condone (because of the unapproved ways he used particular symbols, or because they were just secular subject matter).

Well, that and his tendency to murder folks, of course. But that part's less relevant to the "how old is art-for-money-vs-art-for-art" discussion.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#200

Post by glitchc »

humbleferret wrote: post #95

Ash's main takeaway is solid — Immerse yourself in hobbies or creative pursuits without being overly concerned about external validation or the potential for monetary gain. Other takeaways that stuck with me were: — Finding enjoyment in the process of learning and improving your own skills is crucial. — Setting personal goals can help fuel growth. — Sharing your work with others is a way to receive feedback and learn…

Was that the takeaway? The message I got from reading it is that you're not going to be famous no matter how hard you try, so just enjoy yourself.
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