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The Last Goodbye

path.com

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Re: The Last Goodbye

#41

Post by pathseeker »

tosh wrote: post #30

Path in its day was way ahead in ux and detail compared to other social networks. Stickers and reactions on facebook came later and even then/now never were as 'finished' compared to what Path had. A great example of how the better product doesn't always win. There are just too many factors (like timing and network effects in this case).

With social the product is always the network. If nobody uses it, the product is not better at all. It just has some nice features that would be good if a real product was there (the people).

I know it seems pedantic, but you cannot grow a social network with just a platform, despite how amazing it is. This fails time and time and time again.

You need a story that sets it apart from existing stuff that brings in people. Whether it's some disruption narrative, paying shills (a.k.a influencers), or whatever, that's what's required.

Re: The Last Goodbye

#42

Post by matkins »

def_ConGame wrote: post #40
delta1 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to be somebody making fun of an interview he gave.

Bahhahaha! I'm so glad someone posted this! I had been trying to find my way back to this link ever since the first time I saw it! This was part of one of the first threads I had ever read on HN, on or around the day it appeared: 3/23/2013. Actually, I think I discovered HN in late April or early May, but anyway, the user that shared it then, as much as now, also quickly got flagged and hellbanned. For a brief moment…

It's a shame it was flagged, but that's the way of this site. Everybody pretends to be a goody two-shoes. For those who can't see it, go to your profiles and switch "showdead" to on.

Re: The Last Goodbye

#43

Post by drcongo »

sneak wrote: post #36
tosh wrote: post #30

Path in its day was way ahead in ux and detail compared to other social networks. Stickers and reactions on facebook came later and even then/now never were as 'finished' compared to what Path had. A great example of how the better product doesn't always win. There are just too many factors (like timing and network effects in this case).

Path was not better. They got busted repeatedly playing fast and loose with user privacy, and iirc their bad behavior was the proximate cause of Apple adding contacts permissions to iOS. Good riddance to these jerks. https://www.theverge.com/2012/2/7/2782947/path-ios-app-user-...

Yeah, my memory of Path is that they spammed all my contacts in the first week of having it installed and then I uninstalled it and never went near it again.

Re: The Last Goodbye

#44

Post by HNLogInShit »

tosh wrote: post #30

Path in its day was way ahead in ux and detail compared to other social networks. Stickers and reactions on facebook came later and even then/now never were as 'finished' compared to what Path had. A great example of how the better product doesn't always win. There are just too many factors (like timing and network effects in this case).

And the fact that these jagoffs stole contacts from your address book and spammed your family and friends with fake “invitations” that seemingly came from you.

They were caught pulling this kind of scam more than once: https://www.theverge.com/2013/4/30/4286090/path-is-spamming-...

Up yours, Path. Good riddance.

EDIT: Just saw the above. Wow, you even used similar phrasing. Bravo! Stand up for better.

Re: The Last Goodbye

#45

Post by ulfw »

drcongo wrote: post #43
sneak wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Path was not better. They got busted repeatedly playing fast and loose with user privacy, and iirc their bad behavior was the proximate cause of Apple adding contacts permissions to iOS. Good riddance to these jerks. https://www.theverge.com/2012/2/7/2782947/path-ios-app-user-...

Yeah, my memory of Path is that they spammed all my contacts in the first week of having it installed and then I uninstalled it and never went near it again.

That's exactly how long it stayed installed on my phone and those of my friends who I helped originally sign up for it.

I don't think they ever recovered from that incident. https://www.theverge.com/2012/2/7/2782947/path-ios-app-user-...

I can't believe they somehow trotted along for another six years. Never seen anybody use it since.

Re: The Last Goodbye

#46

Post by def_ConGame »

matkins wrote: post #42
def_ConGame wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bahhahaha! I'm so glad someone posted this! I had been trying to find my way back to this link ever since the first time I saw it! This was part of one of the first threads I had ever read on HN, on or around the day it appeared: 3/23/2013. Actually, I think I discovered HN in late April or early May, but anyway, the user that shared it then, as much as now, also quickly got flagged and hellbanned. For a brief moment…

It's a shame it was flagged, but that's the way of this site. Everybody pretends to be a goody two-shoes. For those who can't see it, go to your profiles and switch "showdead" to on.

To HN's credit, though, the Juicero-riffic aspects of SV are understood for what they are: the greasy, obsequious total fucking bullshit that produces nothing, or worse, wastes everyone's time, aching beneath a cloud of impostor syndrome that isn't entirely incorrect. Either that or peacocking the pick-up artistry of engraved, wooden iPhone cases, and popped collar headshots in douchey Vanity Fair biopics.

YC has its own stinky investments that one can rationalize as "teaching experiences" and "lessons learned" and maybe that's a cop out for not being diligent enough, but press too hard and the subculture gets stifled by the Steve Ballmers with a Trump-like attitude. Stack ranking kills the crab, and you get Windows Vista and "Scroogled" ad campaigns at the other end of the pole. A company of paranoid drone wonks, who wear the soulless dork uniform and drive the speed limit, to get to the morning traffic jam on time.

So leaving room for the dumber shit, the flights of fancy, gets you more of the most interesting things that can be had (the dropboxes, the reddits, the dockers, the gitlabs). For all the effort to produce one solid, tangible, self-sustaining utility though, there's definitely 9 or 99 like the link you posted, which, five years later, results in the thread we now read.

Had path.com been destroyed in that moment, instead of wasting another fruitless five years, would the world be a better place? Eh, there's plenty of insufferable nonsense going around. I'm probably as insufferable, when push comes to shove.

Should HN crush all the criticism thereof. Well, at least HN isn't a place where enemies are made, so there's that.

Re: The Last Goodbye

#48

Post by danieltillett »

hguhghuff wrote: post #25
arbie wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crazy that they turned down a $100M+ offer from Google in their first year.

Hindsight is 20/20. I remember when zuckerberg turned down $1B from yahoo and I couldn’t believe how stupid and greedy he must be to turn that down.

Is his life that much better than if he had taken the money and run? I am a big believer that the best life is found at the upper, upper middle class level where you have enough money to do almost everything you want, but where you can walk down the street without bodyguards.

Re: The Last Goodbye

#49

Post by ian0 »

MarkMc wrote: post #9

Path was very popular in Indonesia when I visited a few years ago. I guess people just switched to other social networks like Instagram. I wonder whether people will have moved on from Instagram in 10 years.

Cant imagine why not. People moved on from Foursquare, Koprol, Path & BBM. And Instagram and whats-app themselves are basically eating the original facebooks time-in-app for breakfast.

Social networks just don't seem to be as sticky as you would imagine them to be. The network effect sure helps your grow fast - but it isn't a very powerful moat, especially when platforms tend to decrease in quality with increase in users.

Re: The Last Goodbye

#50

Post by stdbrouw »

pathseeker wrote: post #41
tosh wrote: post #30

Path in its day was way ahead in ux and detail compared to other social networks. Stickers and reactions on facebook came later and even then/now never were as 'finished' compared to what Path had. A great example of how the better product doesn't always win. There are just too many factors (like timing and network effects in this case).

With social the product is always the network. If nobody uses it, the product is not better at all. It just has some nice features that would be good if a real product was there (the people). I know it seems pedantic, but you cannot grow a social network with just a platform, despite how amazing it is. This fails time and time and time again. You need a story that sets it apart from existing stuff that brings in peop…

This feels like a deliberate misinterpretation of the parent comment and therefore, yep, pedantic. It's obvious from context that they're talking about the product qua UX and features, not about the product as a whole including its user base.
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