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What Happens Next Will Amaze You

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Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#281

Post by prawn »

mozumder wrote: post #9
jay_kyburz wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was actually my plan (sort of) for my online sci-fi strategy game Neptune's Pride when I ditched AdSense. I was going to hand select things on Amazon that my players would be interested in. Science Fiction books, dvd box sets, that kind of thing. Then present them to the players with my affiliate code where I would normally show a google ad. I didn't fully implement the idea because I think the affiliate rewards…

This method is not really for product affiliate ads (unless you have a whole shopping section of your site devoted for that...). Amazon links are for penny-chasers anyways. You're really supposed to curate display ads. But, this means you'll have to make the call to your local advertisers to actually sell the ads. ("Hey do you want to place an ad on our site for 6 months for $500? I'll take you out for pizza & beer i…

Depends on your product/service category. There are sole operators making $x0k/mo from Amazon's affiliate program because they picked an overlooked category and promoted big ticket items. 5% of a $15 book is a pittance, but 5% of something that's $x00 is a different story.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#282

Post by kriro »

Very interesting and thought provoking piece. Some pretty strong points being made. I'm on board with the "valuation-crazy" criticism and the "San Francisco sucks" part was also interesting.

I really like the suggested "creative commons type licenses for websites" or promises. I have doubts that it'll work but its a reasonable instrument that I'd like to see. There's already ways of promising these things but I like the idea of having nice icons and solid branding for it like you get with CC.

I disagree with some points, most notably the "money sitting offshore doing nothing" one. It's not hoarded it's saved to be spent later (which is actually a good thing). The central planning argument also seems contradictory. He rails against big VC making decisions about what to do but then it seems that his suggestion for a fix is letting some other elite (himself?) decide. I'd much rather have the people that invest their money make the decisions than some social norm that says "space flight/immortality is not a desireable/realistic goal"

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#283

Post by kriro »

spdustin wrote: post #114
benihana wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The correct answer is to never Ah sweet, it's that one commenter who can prescribe the absolute correct answer to very complex situations with a couple of simple platitudes! Since you seem to be in a mood to drop the correct answer, maybe you can help me with some difficult decisions I'm facing: what programming language should I use? what should the next move of my business be? is she really the one, or should I m…

I won't speak to the sarcasm-as-argument response, but I will say that there is a sentiment behind it that I do agree with. I say - with differing commentary after the first 4-5 sentences - in every class I teach: "I don't like the phrase 'best practice'. I won't use it. It's presumptuous and condescending. What's best for me might suck for you. Who am I to know your business requirements? There is only one true 'bes…

Traditionally (at least I've first heard these phrases in a business context) "best practice" describes what very successful businesses do and "common practice" describes what the average business does.

I ignore this distinction and have just replaced "best practice" with "common practice" since I pretty much always want to say something along the lines of "this is how a lot of people do it, there's good reasons for it (list of reasons) but everything depends on context so critically reflect if it makes sense to follow these practices or not on an individual basis"

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#284

Post by gjm11 »

morgante wrote: post #76
gjm11 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is only in the United States that "modern Scandinavian-style social democracy" is apparently indistinguishable from socialism. Socialism means large-scale state ownership -- or some other kind of collective ownership by The People -- of "the means of production", in the hope of controlling production to match need. Scandinavian-style social democracy means high taxes, a generous welfare state, and quite a lot of g…

Uh, considering that many major European parties explicitly identify as "socialists," I'm not sure it's the US that's confused. It's the US that is confused with the notion that socialism == communism.

(Apologies for the tardy reply.)

Many European parties have things like "social democratic" in their name. They advocate social-democrat politics.

Some European parties have "socialist" in their name. They mostly advocate socialist politics.

The social democrats have typically had more electoral success than the socialists. That is why the nations of Europe frequently implement social democracy and less often implement socialism.

So, e.g., none of the parties currently represented in the Swedish parliament has "socialist" in its name, but the largest is the "Swedish Social Democratic Party". (There is a "Left Party", which I think is an actually socialist party.)

In Denmark there is a party called the "Social Democrats" which is, guess what?, a social democratic party; there is also a (much smaller) "Socialist People's Party" further to the left. I think that one is actually a leftier social democratic party, but then Denmark also has a centre-right party called "Left" :-).

Norway's main social-democrat party is called the Labour Party, but they also have a "Socialist Left Party" which is actually socialist.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#285

Post by samwilliams »

voltagex_ wrote: post #274
mozumder wrote: post #2

The correct answer is to never use programmatic ads. Ever. If you own a site, just curate a set of ads on your site that actually enhances your sites appeal. A fashion site should have matching fashion ads. A tech site should have matching tech ads. A local site should have matching local ads. Reach out to advertisers to get these ads. Never use an algorithm. You, as an editor, should be better than the algorithms. A…

Maybe I can crowdsource some help from here then - My SO has a food blog [1] which it would be nice if it were self sustaining (so ~$30USD/month for domains/hosting). She's just put up Amazon affiliate links on select articles and is still working on building traffic. Should I stay away from AdSense? Where am I going to find the ads to "hand-pick"? [1]: http://thecinnamonscrolls.com

A wise thing to do with sites like these is to procure the cheapest hosting you can (for a static or wordpress site, think $2 a month) and similarly cheap domain provision (although the prices don't vary so much for these). With the right provider the users will not think that the site is noticeably slower and you won't need such high monetisation targets to break even. Then, as the site gains traffic, simply scale the level of hosting accordingly.

I hope this is of use! Sam

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#286

Post by RUG3Y »

This is the best story I've seen on HN in a long time. I wish I could upvote again.

I'm also totally onboard with a new, anarchistic alternative to the internet. I think about this idea all the time, but I don't have anywhere close to the knowledge needed to start figuring it out.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#287

Post by voltagex_ »

samwilliams wrote: post #285
voltagex_ wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I can crowdsource some help from here then - My SO has a food blog [1] which it would be nice if it were self sustaining (so ~$30USD/month for domains/hosting). She's just put up Amazon affiliate links on select articles and is still working on building traffic. Should I stay away from AdSense? Where am I going to find the ads to "hand-pick"? [1]: http://thecinnamonscrolls.com

A wise thing to do with sites like these is to procure the cheapest hosting you can (for a static or wordpress site, think $2 a month) and similarly cheap domain provision (although the prices don't vary so much for these). With the right provider the users will not think that the site is noticeably slower and you won't need such high monetisation targets to break even. Then, as the site gains traffic, simply scale t…

$30/month is high monetisation?

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#288

Post by Draiken »

vlucas wrote: post #169
Draiken wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I'd love to own a Tesla car and it does show a lot of innovation in the right direction, it's still a luxury sports car that only few very rich people can own. If he built an electric car for the masses, that would be a big deal for the world. Of course he's pushing inovation, but he still hasn't done "a great deal for the world". Maybe he caused some changes in the US, I'm not in a position to see that, b…

> If he built an electric car for the masses, that would be a big deal for the world. This is exactly Tesla's goal with the Model 3, targeted at $35,000. I don't think you understand the amount of time and money required to reach mass production scale of affordable vehicles. Tesla was very wise to start with high-margin sports and luxury cars, because it gives them the capital needed to continue re-investing in produ…

Interesting, was not aware of that project.

Agreed that maybe the luxury car is the right way to start his attempt with a healthy cash flow.

In fact, I'm a big fan of people like him, who have the money and instead of just playing the markets to get more of it, he uses it to build something that can eventually help us.

The main reason for my comment was that some people idolize him like he has cured cancer or erradicated world hunger. These people should to take a step back :)

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#289

Post by tedks »

nine_k wrote: post #205
tedks wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the imaginary internet points incentive system HN uses implicitly incentivizes those posts. One way to stop this would be to have people who post low-value high-expected-karma-yield posts get randomly banned. This would function as a variable punishment and should be quite effective at training HN users.

Research says that infrequent and severe punishment results in an increase of the punishable behavior; it's quick, clear and consistent, but not severe, punishment that actually curbs the punishable behavior. I wish downvotes here could be only cast with a comment explaining the reason, to improve clarity.

That's certainly true for criminology, but I'm talking about operant conditioning. What we want is the opposite of a slot machine.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#290

Post by tedks »

avn2109 wrote: post #175
tedks wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the comment parent, but I can also prescribe absolutely correct answers to complex situations via simple platitudes. There's a Udacity course on it, I highly advise taking it, but since it takes so little time I'll just answer these questions for you. >what programming language should I use? Haskell. >what should the next move of my business be? If you're not in a Series C, growth hack; if you've done your Series…

I know you're joking but this is on balance pretty solid advice.

I never joke.
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