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Cunningham's Law

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1–10 of 79 posts

Re: Cunningham's Law

#2
I'd like to point out that there is a parallel to this, that if you post something online, it's likely someome will point out how to make it better.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#3
A sort of interesting "corollary" to this is something I've noticed in mobile games with in-app ads for other mobile games:

The best way to attract a player isn't by showing them someone playing well, it's by showing them someone playing very bad

Because these ads show demo play (usually of puzzles) where the player is making obviously bad decisions, and watching it is sort of like seeing a dozen objects in a row, but one of them is completely askew, and there's an urge to straighten in out a bit.

I only noticed this after seeing a bunch of ads recently for perhaps a dozen different games, and realized that I felt somewhat uneasy when they came on instead of simply impatient, and eventually. I tracked this feeling down to the crappy gameplay phenomenon. And once I realized that was the issue, the unease went away.

Further reflection made me realize I'd been much more tempted to download those games to "do it right" than other random games that didn't seem to use this tactic. It was actually when I broke and was about to download one that I had the realization, basically "this game looks awful and tedious, why am I about to download it?"

Re: Cunningham's Law

#5
And of course if you want to simply promulgate a falsehood just search on the internet for someone claiming it to be resolved truth.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#6
post #2

I'd like to point out that there is a parallel to this, that if you post something online, it's likely someome will point out how to make it better.

someone. But I might have fallen into your trap.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#7
Did Ward Cunningham coin this principle so that I would comment and say it's actually b.s.? :)

In nature, you have an apple appear by the genetic expression of apple DNA. You don't have it by making stuff that claims to be an apple but forgot how to make apples.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#8
post #4

I suppose that the title comes from https://xkcd.com/386/ I miss those old times when people were honestly wrong because lack of technical knowledge or understanding, instead of today's standards of fake news, misinformation and propaganda.

I figured from the HN title this would be a link to that XKCD cartoon, which is probably my favorite XKCD ever. I feel let down that it's just an editorialized title linking to Cunningham's Law. The XKCD is not really related in my view — it's more about arguing pointlessly and wasting time, while Cunningham's Law leads to getting the right answer.

I suppose the best way to get a discussion of Cunningham's Law on the internet isn't to ask a question, it's to dupe people with misleading clickbait.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#10

A sort of interesting "corollary" to this is something I've noticed in mobile games with in-app ads for other mobile games: The best way to attract a player isn't by showing them someone playing well, it's by showing them someone playing very bad Because these ads show demo play (usually of puzzles) where the player is making obviously bad decisions, and watching it is sort of like seeing a dozen objects in a row, bu…

Man, I just don't understand people who don't use ad blocking[1]. You just wrote a whole post analyzing how you are being manipulated, causing you to feel "uneasy", "impatient", so that you almost do things that are "awful and tedious". Why do people live like this?

[1] You can block ads in mobile games with a proxy that takes less than a minute to set up, at least on Android.

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