Three Stories • Hacker News Board

Re: Three Stories

#21

Post by tptacek » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 1:41 AM UTC

AznHisoka wrote: post #4

Would there still be any objection to making money from a porn site if it gave them 40% of their revenue?

I wouldn't do it. Without getting into an icky and tedious discussion of pornography in general, my general default setting is that major porn sites are exploitative, and that the ones that pay the most affiliate dollars are likely to be the worst of the bunch.

Which is just to say, there are reasons you might not want to have a policy of redirecting users to porn sites for money even if Techcrunch isn't shaming you.

Re: Three Stories

#22

Post by AznHisoka » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 2:14 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #21

AznHisoka wrote: post #4

Would there still be any objection to making money from a porn site if it gave them 40% of their revenue?

I wouldn't do it. Without getting into an icky and tedious discussion of pornography in general, my general default setting is that major porn sites are exploitative, and that the ones that pay the most affiliate dollars are likely to be the worst of the bunch. Which is just to say, there are reasons you might not want to have a policy of redirecting users to porn sites for money even if Techcrunch isn't shaming you.

What makes you say the major ones are exploitative? And to who? the actors/actresses or the people watching their movies?

Re: Three Stories

#23

Post by jacquesm » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 2:26 AM UTC

I can relate to all of these because I've lived through all of these, fortunately not as much in the public eye as Justin and his team (the web was much smaller back then) but this brought back a whole bunch of memories.

Thanks Justin (assuming you read HN) for writing these up.

Re: Three Stories

#24

Post by jacquesm » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 2:27 AM UTC

AznHisoka wrote: post #4

Would there still be any objection to making money from a porn site if it gave them 40% of their revenue?

If you want to deal with corporate America in any way shape or form then any income from porn is right off the table.

And if you're getting 40% of your revenue from porn then you are an extension of the porn industry.

Re: Three Stories

#25

Post by navitronic » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 2:45 AM UTC

A modern alternative to the pizza delivery message would be to use uber to book a car near the location and upon the allocation of the driver, contact them and ask them to deliver the message.

and then drive around the block a few times for their trouble.

Re: Three Stories

#26

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 2:53 AM UTC

cba9 wrote: post #17

livejamie wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A startup waiting to happen! ;)

The problem is you don't need fast physical deliveries of short messages that often. For example, a few days ago I was pondering how to reach a particular person on very short notice; I had an address, but nothing else, so I couldn't call them, and while I could spend like $50-100 on international mail, it wouldn't get there faster than 3 days from sending. Ultimately, the best solution I could find was... telegrams.…

[deleted]

Re: Three Stories

#27

Post by justin » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 3:07 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #23

I can relate to all of these because I've lived through all of these , fortunately not as much in the public eye as Justin and his team (the web was much smaller back then) but this brought back a whole bunch of memories. Thanks Justin (assuming you read HN) for writing these up.

Thanks for reading!

Re: Three Stories

#28

Post by sparky_z » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 3:11 AM UTC

pkfrank wrote: post #7

The pizza delivery messenger service is clever and hilarious.

Back in the day, some friends of mine were stuck walking home from the movie theater after the buses stopped running. As they were walking past a Domino's, one of them had the idea to order a pizza delivered to their house and then hitch a ride with the driver. It worked.

Re: Three Stories

#29

Post by jacquesm » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 3:12 AM UTC

justin wrote: post #27

jacquesm wrote: post #23

I can relate to all of these because I've lived through all of these , fortunately not as much in the public eye as Justin and his team (the web was much smaller back then) but this brought back a whole bunch of memories. Thanks Justin (assuming you read HN) for writing these up.

Thanks for reading!

Hah :) Cool. I'm sure there are lots of people that can relate to your stories in one way or another but what with us being active in the exact same market (but you did way better on the execution and on the business part) it really hit the spot here.

Re: Three Stories

#30

Post by lkrubner » Wed, Dec 02, 2015, 3:25 AM UTC

cassieramen wrote: post #3

It's always interesting to think about the key moments in a start-up's life. Those ride or die moments that lead to great success or losing the Jonas Brother. I wonder how many a startup gets? How many are created by action or by luck? Do all startups have a couple of key moments they can look at as lynch pins to their success?

This is extremely long (12,000 words) but it gets surprisingly dramatic at the end:

"What happens when the Board Of Directors begins to panic?"

http://www.smashcompany.com/business/what-happens-when-the-b...