I hate to be that guy bitching without offering any constructive criticism, but this was painful to read. At least I had the courtesy to stick it through to the end to be sure before I posted this. We deserve better than this drivel at the top of HN.
Okay. I'm just telling my stories, I'm not entitled to the #1 spot and I'm not canvasing votes (ok, I asked my husband to vote). If a couple of people read this and got fired up to have some balls and take some risk, that's good enough for me.
For what it's worth, I loved your post too. It reminded me of chats with my advisor. I'd walk in thinking "who the hell am I to push the boundaries of human knowledge?" and walk out excited to get back to work.
We're not meant to post comments like this on HN, but I also enjoyed the post, so please continue to write and post stuff like this.
One of the strengths of HN's ranking system appears to be that story downvotes are pretty limited, so that stories that appeal to just 10% of readers can be aired too - don't take it to heart.
Well, at least you're straightforward that this is your storytelling time. I come to HN for the increasingly rare high signal:noise ratio content and discussion. Given that I don't think HN is the proper medium for this kind of expression.
I read more of your blog and see that you think these are 'troll posts'. They're not.
I don't think you are trolling, I just can't control what makes it to the front page or not. Clearly this resonated with some people. I am not sure why my story as a startup founder isn't the right kind of stuff for HN, I've been a part of this community for a long time and posted a broad range of stuff from code to news to marketing advice and on and on... I'm not trying to fit the mold, I'm just sharing my experiences and its way to late for me to get apologetic about it
keep it going. The underlying message of the post was spot on for founders, young people, future risk takers alike. may not hit every demo' but it worked for me. thanks.
To me it wasn't painful at all. Compared to a lot of other crap that makes it onto the front page of HN I personally liked this story.
Also, not everyone who shares their stories and advice must and can be a great writer. The idea behind the story is what counts. Of course, if a story is also entertaining to read that's a bonus.
"Painful to read" is a valid comment - because it's expressing what you felt. "Drivel", you could have saved because it turns the tone of your comment into something much more mean-spirited.
DAMN dmor for placing it right at the top of HN! If only there was some way for things the larger community thought were useful/good to be on the top, instead of dmor just being able to put whatever she feels like up there. Maybe then we'd all get what we 'deserve' rather than dmor just forcing this drivel down our collective throats whenever she feels like it. :/
>"I hate to be that guy bitching without offering any constructive criticism,..."
No you don't. You love being that guy. If you hated being that guy, you could have, you know, written something constructive.
FWIW if this article is "drivel" then HN must have really high standards.
I can't speak for WiseWeasel, but for me the spelling errors made some sentences hard to parse on first read. A bit of proofreading would have caught the worst of it, like these:
"My wonderful friend David Weekly probably remembers me angsting in his kitchen over whether or pursue this idea vs. what ultimately became Referly."
Sorry about the typos, I have fixed most of them and I am still reviewing. I was very close to chickening out and not publishing this at all, so I went for it before it was perfect. I wanted to get past the point of no return. Not a great excuse but it is the truth. I'm sorry you had to struggle through the unpolished version
Please don't hesitate to submit on account of jerks like me in the future. Not to rationalize my behavior, but I do think the typos were a large part of what gave me a bad impression, inclining me to question whether it was up to the site's standards. Proof-reading carefully before submitting to HN might have made a big difference to my reaction.
That said, I am embarrassed by how much of a dick I was, and that certain other people voted me up (you know who you are). I could never have said something that mean to your face, which makes me a coward as well. Let that be a lesson to the kids out there; don't post mean, stupid comments at 1AM (or any other time)!
You must not be aware of the new rules here. At least 1 post from the Svbtle network must make it to the top of HN per week. That said, I enjoyed the post. It highlights something I missed out on growing up and serves as a reminder for me to pass these lessons on.
