That seems to suggest the next system should be designed to expressly counter this effect. Perhaps, allow groups to form and close themselves off, while still remaining on the site? Move to a different subsite (instead of a whole new site)? This might be a little more successful than trying to filter submissions in some way for some nebulous "quality".
That was actually understandable! I've run into this "problem" before when playing around with FP, and I never quite knew how to solve it without ugly hacks. Now I know - thanks!
As mentioned in the discussion thread, some YCers (me) are under 21. I usually don't have a problem getting served anyway (it's the beard) and they claim to serve food as well so I'm not too concerned.
Getting a blog is really not difficult these days.
Sure, most people don't devote have the time to devote to maintain a full-time blog - but then they shouldn't expect to participate in meaningful conversations on the internet.
This is a good point. Also, you can avoid the large public crash-and-burn that happened here. Growing up from a few people lets you test out ideas without failing catastrophically.
Wait, what? Plato is definitely heavy reading, and worth your full conscious attention!
Don't waste Plato by reading him when you're about to fall asleep!
Answering the question is one thing, fostering good discussion is another. To foster discussion, both parties should understand each other. To help understanding, a question should not only be answered, but explained. An explanation is more helpful than a straight answer.
No, just kidding. People have been speaking in short sentences for a long time. Your model is too simplistic - writing letters is a less a discussion, and more debate. Ordinary everyday conversation is shorter, and possibly, more inane.
With discipline, I think, and an appropriate community (like Alex mentions) reasoned debate and discussion is possible, without writing pages and pages. See, for example, HN. (Yes, people write comments of this length on other sites, too. No, they aren't always as reasoned.)
Well, I'm in school now, I have to go back in the Fall, and I have no cash. I applied to YC with some friends, but I'm afraid our ideas weren't as polished - we applied pretty late, and got rejected. I still think they are viable ideas, and I'd love to build them, if I had the funds to do so.
In the meantime, I'd like to spend the summer gaining some experience, and hopefully saving up a little.
Uh, no, HN is not wrong, the company is wrong. Why would you want to work for such a company?
You know yourself better than the company does, and "free spirit" vs. "not the kind that settles in a normal job" is not only a gross generalization, an artificial dichotomy, and generally B.S., you know yourself better than they do! You know you are perfect capable of settling in a normal job, right?
Again, the company seems to be looking for a drone, and hiring that way. Surely you can find something better?
Fair enough - but then tell the candidate that: "Sorry, you're overqualified, you can find a better position, and be happier. We just need a code monkey for now". None of the BS about "free spirits" and "normal jobs" - I mean, come on.
PHP is a great language for the basic stuff, but you try to do serious things with it and you have to wrestle with it. And it's all so ... badly designed. You sob because it can all be done so much better and... cleaner.
Thanks. For some reason, this critical bit of information was missing from the AppJet app, the article, and the comments. I had to spend some of my time actually looking for it.
