Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stealing Is a Skill

ben-mini.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 159 posts

Re: Stealing Is a Skill

#31

Post by tokai »

patrickscoleman wrote: post #24
dghlsakjg wrote: post #17

Copywork is an exercise where writers just copy verbatim another writers work. If you haven’t done it, it is an extraordinary way to see how the greats work. It also tends to improve your own writing skills - at least as long as you are copying from your betters. This seems like the web design version of this.

Obligatory link to a relevant Jorge Luis Borges story: Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote (about an author who copied Don Quixote word for word) https://raley.english.ucsb.edu/wp-content/Engl10/Pierre-Mena...

Pierre Menards Quixote is not a copy. It is a perfect recreation. While it is word-for-word identical to the original, the whole ironic humor of Borges text is that it is not a copy.

Edit: Which you might know well enough. Just wanted to add some more context.

Re: Stealing Is a Skill

#33

Post by erikschoster »

In a marketplace, this is theft. (Which, given this example is of a website for a for-profit product, seems appropriate.) In a community it's tradition. Building on traditions in a community (aka great artists steal) is different than trying to get yours in a marketplace. Art and community traditions aren't a competition until they are dragged into the marketplace.

Re: Stealing Is a Skill

#34

Post by sokoloff »

mannanj wrote: post #21

I looked up stealing to ground this comment of mine: > stealing: to take the property of another wrongfully and especially as a habitual or regular practice I admire Ben for being so direct. I wonder why we fetishize, herbicide and normalize theft, even deception today. When did this become normal, and why draw the line at digital creation and not just allow theft of physical objects, too? (I mean I get the arguments…

> fetishize, herbicide and normalize

I’m very curious what “herbicide” was an auto-complete for here…

Re: Stealing Is a Skill

#36

Post by sandcat_ »

I feel like there’s a difference between Virgil Abloh being brought in to work on an iteration of the Air Force 1s and simply ripping off a design from an unrelated company, presumably without permission, and making a few tweaks.

Re: Stealing Is a Skill

#37

Post by sdellis »

nusl wrote: post #16

I think copying a website like this is very poor taste regardless. If I see you doing this, I immediately lose trust in your product and will immediately leave. If you can't put the effort into the face of your product, how can I trust you to put effort into the product itself? Shitty behavior, with a shitty justification self-affirmation blogpost.

I agree. It's telling that they picked such a boring and generic design to steal.

Re: Stealing Is a Skill

#39

Post by conartist6 »

cjcenizal wrote: post #6

My favorite quote that expresses this idea is from Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the AK-47: “Before attempting to create something new, it is vital to have a good appreciation of everything that already exists in this field.”

And then, if you are great, you will steal not from one thing but from everything
Post reply on HN