skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
This text previously appeared on The KLF website and offers advice useful to muscially inclined start-ups. This includes getting the zeitgeist and inspiration; the importance of quitting your day job; being underfunded and simple workarounds; how to get expertise and observations on the decreasing cost of technology. The latter benefits from 1988's hindsight. More than one band has publicly attributed their success to this guide.
They're pretty much the same as all the Ask YC posts anyways.
sick of reddit sick of LOLCATS and SICK OF VOTE UP IF YOU HATE BUSH
Useful implies that a potential customer in the specific market would want to pay for it. ;-)

Regarding your starbucks example: the value of Starbucks is not in the idea but in the execution, and that is not what this thread is about. And while I don't mind giving away ideas I can't help anybody execute. Unless I get paid to do so of course ;-)
That's the Catch-22, I think. Maybe a threshold when a certain number of people vote? Or define hotness as some factor of votes divided by time perhaps?
I have no interest in seeing this or other polls on the Hacker News front page, but if others want it I'm happy to contribute to it (all it takes is a click, after all).

And yes; one of the worst things that happened to Reddit was the proliferation of Vote-Up-If posts.
Happy birthday! I'm in two weeks and the same happens to me.

I would have preferred ranges of four years, but I got an error with that many choices.
I vote to adjust the polling so that a user can only vote for 1 option.
But that implementation, I think, is much poorer (as you say Vote up if) because it's really very limited.

Here's I think it's interesting that we can basically run a survey experiment based on the choices offered. For instance, we can see that the age of YC.news users is a slightly skewed distribution with a mean of of maybe 24-25 (even as we could nail it down more with smaller bins). To me, that's much more interesting than "vote up".
Simple explanation of the Higgs particle
Useful implies nothing but useful. People don't "want" to pay for anything. People want to keep their money in their pockets. They reluctantly pay for things whose usefulness, real or perceived, substantially exceeds the asked price. Gmail is "useful" but I sure's heck wouldn't pay for it.

As for Starbucks, it illustrates my point perfectly:

(1) Starbucks is mostly neuro-marketing. I guarantee you that the buzz people get dopamine-wise from expecting the "reward" of a sugar/caffeine rush is much more important (again, the "idea") than the execution, which counts to about 1% of the customers. I know when I need a quick fix 9X out of 10 I couldn't care less if they got the wrong number of pumps of whatever in there.

(2) To illustrate the value of an idea, the Frappucino was the idea of 1 store manager. Cost: peanuts. Contribution to bottom line: about a billion a year directly, who knows how much indirectly as a "gateway drink" for non-caffeine drinking teens ...

The point was not about the execution, it was a manager thinking, "Within the realm of what we can execute fairly easy, what is a good idea that takes what we can do and adds more value quickly and easily?"

And in the larger context, Starbucks doesn't "execute" anything better than countless immitators these days can; but the idea in my mind is "a special little treat I deserve after a long day." A perfectly executed drink with the same stuff in it just wouldn't make me feel the same if I got it in, say, a sushi place. Again - it's the idea of Starbucks = sexy drinks for sexy people. They're not executing that, I'm imagining it. It's an idea.
I believe that YCombinator also declined to fund this idea ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=95931 ), which demonstrates how hard it is to have a good idea.
Zed is a good writer.
I'm absolutely dumbfounded that this is written by Zed Shaw. There wasn't a single expletive in the entire article!

The last I read from Zed, he was railing against the powers that be in the Rails community. And the impression that I got was that he was rather under-employed and broke. Turns out, Zed's doing rather well for himself working as a VP at an investment bank and writing for CIO.com. Wow.

Anyway, nice write up of the strengths and limitations of Ruby the language, the MRI and JRuby.
1) I like the way you implemented the poll.
2) But I'd like to be able to change a vote - even if just for a few minutes. I upvoted the third choice and then upvoted the second just to see if I could vote for more than one - but that was just a test. I wanted to change my vote but couldn't.
3) What if you showed votes as a ratio of votes to (quantity of unique visitors since the choice was added)? This would balance the scores of questions added later. This might be interesting with comments, too. A really good comment added to a posting that almost everyone has seen doesn't get recognized so much now.
Since the front page is so empty, maybe it can be split down the middle between internal and external links.

Would this harm the aesthetics?
Anonymous = I don't have to tip my hat to people who can come up with ideas / admit that good business ideas are not as easy as everyone says they are / share any resulting credit/profits from application of ideas because nobody knows who I am.

I could be wrong. But I can't think of any possible other reasons.
I've got a great idea: Crappucino - A frappucion with extra sugar on top. Where are my millions?

Sorry but I don't quite think you know what execution is about.
add "to save an article for future reading."
Who was the market for the original telephone/telegraph, who was the market for the original transistor or microprocessor?

Whose interest did those things capture initially outside of a small group of technical people? Were they built and people just lined up outside of Walmart to buy them?
Yeah, I've tried to figure the community out, and it's impossible. A lot of times, an article that I've posted gains traction, and hits #1, so I'll find other articles that expand on the idea, or follow up the idea, and they'll get buried. Strange.

I think that you're correct in that it's about who's online at the right time.

I think the timing of an article is becoming a lot more important these days. Before we got a bump in users from Arc's release, I'd post 4 or 5 articles at 3-5am Pacific time (6-9 am Eastern), and at least one would hit the front page. These days it seems there are so many people submitting new articles at that time, that the new posts get buried.

Anyway, I tend to pick users that I enjoy reading, and I read their comments as well as their submissions. It seems like a way to increase signal/noise ratio.
The manual by Lazyboy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6f3oxgatbE

:-)
Be more concerned about the shutdown ( http://www.gandalf.user.xirium.com/tech/computer/network/hum... ).
But the summary is so much cleaner, especially for things like age.
What about an adjustment like votes/time = hotness?
I'm not as technically proficient as you, so I might be wrong of course...
You Used Python to Write WHAT?
Regarding the olympics logo:

there was a bit of a stir a while ago because if you look for it you see a girl on her knees giving a blowjob.
What does this have to do with programmers? Aside from the fact that I'm talking about programmers and you're extending this to include "all technically-minded people everywhere", in general you're citing exceptions to my observations.

Example:

> Who was the market for the original telephone/telegraph

Gee ... um ... I don't know. Everybody in the world who thought it would be more convenient to get instant verbal communication over a letter that took weeks or months to deliver/respond to?

Let me put it another way. Pierre Omidyar is a technical guy, and more specifically a programmer. Did he choose to develop something that solved an obscure technical challenge, the goal of which was to be published in some computer science journal with a subscription base of 12 people?

No. He had a rare abililty of having both the technical talent and being able to think from the perspective of the general population.

Hence someone like him would be an exception to what I said I've observed.

But for everyone like him that can be cited, I can introduce you to 20 programmers that are trying to start startups around "challenges" so specialized and irrelevant-in-the-scheme-of-things that I know for sure they did zero market research before starting or even during.

Sure, lots of things that seemed like a waste turned out to be very useful with the benefit of an unexpected consequence coupled with unpredictable developments and the benefit of hindsight.

In general, though, I'd prefer to start with "what's needed" and try to come up with a technical solution as simple as possible rather than "what's the coolest thing I could work on technically" and then spend time on that only to find out that 5 people in the world would actually buy it.
Really not a big fan of polls.
That's my point exactly. They focused on what people wanted more than a challenging technical problem. That makes them the exception to most programmers I've come across who are fascinated with technical challenges so obscure the resolution of which nobody cares about. In academia, that's respectable and commendable. In business ... nobody cares.
I think your second hypothesis is the correct one: honest people tend to be better poker players. The reason for that is that they can handle losing. People who have a shaky code of ethics tend to equate unfairness with anything that doesn't benefit them. Every time they lose a hand, they feel like they're getting cheated. And that would make them get sick of playing pretty quickly.
I think firewall and NAT ubiquitousness (is that a word?) would make this unfeasible.
I think you have a good point there.

I've met a lot of developers that would think that something wasn't worth doing because it was easy to do. But hard doesn't mean that more people will want it. Look at all the dating sites out there: Simple to do, but absolutely something people want.
> I've got a great idea: Crappucino - A frappucion with
> extra sugar on top. Where are my millions?

No, I'M sorry but I don't quite think YOU know what a "great idea" is about.

Frappacino was a great idea where it took off in California because it's hot there and people liked the combo of cold and caffeine buzz.

Nobody (as) yet invented a portable high-power expresso maker/ice blender that can chop ice to smithereens in 7-8 seconds or so. So you need Starbucks.

Extra sugar on top is pointless because I can go to the condiment counter and just pour more sugar on top for free.

So you're idea by definition is not "good" because (a) it offers no value to the customer that they can't get by themselves without you and (b) you haven't figured out how you make money off of it (part of the definition of a good idea to begin with).

So in conclusion, you don't have a good idea - you have fluff you can't figure out how to make money off of. That makes you qualified for raising venture capital or applying to ... um ... this place I've heard of where there are a lot of ideas that never wind up making much money as stand alone businesses.

But that' doesn't mean you have a good idea. So you have no milliions.

Viola. Equation stands.

On top of which, I've never downgraded execution. My experience is that it takes a continual mix of both, plus lots of luck and timing, 2 things you can't control.

It's usually "execution" people dismissing the value of good (by which I mean you can make money off of) ideas, almost like some obsessive-compulsive insecurity or something. And now there's this post, and when I ask the simple question: what does a person who gives you a good idea get in return, nothing but crickets.

So if execution is the be-all end-all, have fun executing hot air people might use but never pay for.

See how far that gets you in this new global economic reality we'll be experiencing for the next 3-5 years.

Go on. Go execute ideas you can't figure out how to make money off of. Keep me updated.
Revealed: Secrets of the Camouflage Masters
I read that there's a book PPC (pay-per click) Advertising For Dummies. That might be a good place to start your search.
Free Google event in Pittsburgh with beer, wine, snacks
I agree with you that most technical people value triumph over technical challenges more than economic worth. I suffered from an acute case of this disease for many years. Perspective is everything when building a startup product. A user doesn't give a damn about a language or methodology, they just want a need solved.
"But most programmers, if they're anything like the ones I've come across, would consider that "below them" and instead favor a startup working on some obscure problem that 6 people on the planet could understand and appreciate."

Do you realize you're arguing with yourself?

The 6 people argument was presented by you, and you're challenging other people based on that.
LFE - Lisp Flavoured Erlang released
I can vote for more than 1 choice? I would vote for Obama and Hilary if I could.
Yet another reason to speed the transition to IPv6.
"but am sick of seeing the same ol' stuff..."
That's just the spirit you need.

"Can someone help me out with what to do next?"
That's not.
Thank you.

Sometimes speaking with some of the programmers I have I suspect they think they're doing a startup, but in reality they're doing an extension of their academic programme and just secretly hoping that somehow they'll wind up making money off it.

I just can't understand why programmers are so reluctant to work on challenges with people from different perspectives.

My background is in economics. I can't stand lawyers and I can't stand psychiatrists and I don't care enough about neurologists and neuro-scientists to figure out what the difference is.

And yet over the last 10 years, the mixing of people of these seemingly unrelated backgrounds has given the world 2 of the most useful applications of economics: Law & Economics and Neuro-Economics. Fascinating and practical. Who knew?

Why can't all fields be like that, faster?

That's why ultimately I can't respect the programming ethos, as I've seen it, too much. Any true professional ... or academic "seeker of knowledge" ... should, IMHO seek continous improvement - bot vertical in terms of skill in their own field AND horizontal in terms of different perspectives.

Why does everyone respect Da Vinci so much, but nobody seems to want to emulate his methods?
He hasn't got the karma. :D
Not sure what you mean. I'm not posting this as an "argument with myself" as you put it. The poster above said that Yahoo wasn't an interesting technical challenge, just a useful approach to a common problem. Then I just acknowledged that. The "argument" is either based on a misunderstading of the 2 posts or a projection of your own self-debating thinking process.
Exactly. And it doesn't even have to be "economic worth" it could be a time/money saving solution that let's some one devote an extra 1 hour to playing with their kids. That's a worthy cause as any. You won't get published in any journal, but I suspect the feedback would be worth it in its own way. I just think there needs to be more of a balance. Google can afford to bankroll people working on problems for their own sake because they got the "value-added" part down pretty well first, for example. No shame in having your feet on the ground while your head looks upward (IMHO).
Aren't there idea repositories out on the web that are publicly accessible? Something along the lines of huge brainstorming sessions done by people who don't have the time or inclination to implement the ideas?

Here's the closest thing I'm aware of - the Global Ideas Bank: http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/

Anyone know of anything else along this line?
Ask YC: Using Plesk to manage your VPS
Is anyone using Plesk? Is this advisable? I've narrowed down my hosting choices and Plesk management seems marginally pervasive.

Also - does Plesk in anyway inhibit management through SSH?
So why didn't Coffee Connection in Boston make millions selling frappucino?

They are the ones that hold the trademark.
This sounds like a summary of Click (except without the movie poet's license).
I clicked this kinda hoping that you would have a choice for every age...
Profit of successful startup: several million in four years

Profit of successful lawyer: several million throughout lifetime

And once again, the nerds own the jocks.
An idea for breaking through Silicon Valley's social network.  It can be viewed as a generalization of Hacker News.
This is actually a more general idea for contacting anyone well known who would probably just ignore your email because you are not near him/her in his/her social network.

You can think of Hacker News as an example of this idea since it allows unknowns to contact PG -- particularly if their submission is voted up to the front page.

More generally, what about using a social news site specifically built for this purpose (and not just for contacting the people who created the site)?

The idea is that if many people agree that you have something interesting to say to someone famous, then he/she would probably be interested in hearing what you have to say.

Moreover, a famous person is more likely to respond to a question if he/she feels the response would be of interest to many people.
i upvote articles after i comment on them and want people to see my comments
Well, I just went to the link you provided and aside from 90% of the ideas being well-intentioned but half-baked, I can't help but notice there are no business ideas. So, to answer your question, no, there aren't. Why would anybody waste time documenting an idea they don't have the inclination to implement? Why don't they have the inclination? Because there's no motivation. Why? Because they realize they can't make money off of it. Hence the only ideas you'll find for "free" on the internet are ideas nobody can figure out how to make any money off of. If they could figure that out, then they would have the inclination and thus, logic indicates that they'd MAKE the time. And keep the idea to themselves, not post it up for all to see and profit off of.
You'd have to have quite an ego in order to expect people to use such a thing in order to get in touch with you. I don't think there are very many people in SV who get so much personal (read: not a funding proposal) email that they can't keep up with it. Unknowns don't need news.yc in order to talk to PG, and anyone who sees that as the site's primary application is abusing it. My IMAP server contains a pile of email exchanges with him from long before the site existed.
A Challenge To Traditional Education? O'Reilly Introduces Mathematica Web App and Courses
Famous people would have no say in the matter -- it doesn't matter if they register with the service. It's the unknowns who would use the service to get their attention.

At that point, a famous person can decide whether to reply or not, and if so, whether to do so in private or public on the site/in some other forum.

How would a famous person know someone is trying to contact him/her? If this service becomes well known, then either the person would see it directly or someone close to him/her in his/her social network would probably tell him/her.

Also the idea can be applied beyond Silicon Valley to contact famous film directors, politicians, etc.
Actually, this illustrates my point perfectly. By a lot of accounts, Coffee Connection came out with a similar, but much better tasting ("better executed" as you put it) drink. But though their execution was better, they got bought out by Starbucks. Why?

Boston is cold as hell in winter and not too hot the rest of the time. Nobody wants iced drinks when it's cold. Plus Boston is a small city.

California, on the other hand, is a huge state full of teenagers with lots of disposable income and most of it is hot most of the year.

So: introduce an iced drink in 1 city in a cold place = not so great idea, not that much money. Introduce an iced drink in the biggest state in the country where it's almost always hot in most of the state = great idea, lots of money. So the one with the better idea and the better idea of how to implement the idea (Starbucks) made a lot more money and bought out the business who executed better but executed better on what turned out to be a crappy idea.

Starbucks had what customers claim is inferior execution compared to Coffee Connection's version, but their idea was better and their ideas of what/how/where to execute was better.

So in the end mediocre execution of better idea = billions in revenue.

Superior execution of a mediocre idea = get bought out by above and cease to exist.

It's true an architect can't build without builders. But unless the builders have a good plan, no matter how well they execute, they're just wasting time/energy/resources.

Telling someone who's taken the time to come up with good plans/scenarios/alternatives that once the plan is done they add no value is just as much a slap in the face as an "MBA-business guy" telling programmers that the second they finish writing the code for an application, they're useless and add no further value unless a change needs to be made.

And you can execute perfectly but these days you need so much insight and perspective to be able to detect changes in current and prepare alternate courses of action while managing remaining resources ...
You can't deny that IQ is an important indicator of an individual's ability to be successful in a post-industrial society.

http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/sft.htm
I really miss poker too. I never played at the level you did, but I had a pretty healthy obsession going for a couple years. And the people I "met" were more on places like 2+2 and the play sites than live, but I see your point about a latent honesty and honor.

re: "...but not one where they ended up getting stiffed when the stakee went on to win..." one exception came to mind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Gold#Winnings_controversy Yeah, he's an exceptional douchebag, and he wasn't exactly staked from his rep, but still. (I just wanted to call him a douchebag again.)
They'll say ideas are a dime a dozen but their time is charged at $500/hour.
The hard part is not writing a business plan. The hard part is tossing all the junk out.
How is this different from making a post on any other random forum, and how is it better than simply sending an email?
I grow old... I grow old...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
So, are you taking your own advice and learning how to program?
Because you need lots of people voting your submission up for it to make the front page. So they agree you have something worthwhile to say to a famous person.

It's better than sending email because a famous person will likely not respond to some random email of unknown quality.
Does anyone remember the Sparkle MPEG player for MacOS that was popular in 1995? The author of that software was programming smoother playback than the QuickTime team, despite the QuickTime team pressing for kernel tweaks and undocumented hooks. The result was a flurry of development which benefitted users but cramped an independent developer.
Kinda. I think putting a poll should involve spending some karma points.

If a poll cost 50-100 karma points to create, anyone who posts a poll would make sure they were interesting.
It's not of unknown quality once you've read it. Even the biggest stars generally have time to sort through all their fan mail, even if they don't respond to most of it. If you have something insightful to say, getting it noticed by a famous person really isn't that hard. Maybe this doesn't quite extend to heads of state, but it isn't far off. You're solving a non-problem.