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How is this different from making a post on any other random forum, and how is it better than simply sending an email?

by dfranke 19y ago

amichail 19y ago
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.
- dfranke 19y ago
  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.
  - amichail 19y ago
    Even if it only solves the problem with heads of state, that would make it valuable. Also, if something like this becomes well known, then I would predict many more unknowns would attempt to contact famous people -- way more than famous people would be able to handle in terms of email.
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  - NSX2 19y ago
    I think he's saying it's like an organically-derived algorithm that meets halfway between "I don't know you so I'm skeptical of your value" and "I may be skeptical but if this many people think it's worthwile, perhaps I'll take a look." I don't know what famous people you're talking about ... I'm assuming we're leaving out "celebrities" and concentrating on "useful" famous people in business/academia? If so, you'd be surprised at how much correspondence they can have. Not to mention I'm not sure if you realize how many of the "emails" on things like VC pages are bogus on purpose. Like when they say, "mail your business plans attention "Business Plan Manager" ... that's usually code for "just toss this in the paper shredder. Here: test this out. Think of 5 famous people and email them something you think surely would catch their attention. See if you can find their real emails and if they bother reading it. Use one of those "verification of opened email" services. It just doesn't happen that often. If anything it gets sent to an assistant who sends it to another assistant who sends it to the intern who gives it to his little sister who gives it to the cat. I think this would be a good "idea" if not necessarily one that translates into a business.
    - dfranke 19y ago
      I won't pick out five new ones, but in the past few months I've corresponded with PG, ESR, Bruce Schneier, Randall Munroe, and JD Frazer.
      - NSX2 19y ago
        Um ... I'm not 100% sure, but I suspect what the poster had in mind was a little bit different. I'm thinking perhaps he meant like if you wanted to get in touch with Bill Gates or Larry Page or Steve Jobs or something like that. That's a tad bit different.
        dfranke 19y ago
        Well, Bill Gates is just about equal to a head-of-state. The other two I'm pretty sure I could pull some strings and get in touch with (off the top of my head, they're each a friend of a friend of a friend), but I'm not about to waste their time for the sake of a social experiment.
  - NSX2 19y ago
    Yes but how do you know it's worth your time to open and read in the first place? He's suggesting like a "digg" or "reddit" on behalf of those people, ie, "the public" reads your suggested email and vote up those they think is worth it for you as the "famous" person to read.

How is this different from making a post on any other random forum, and how is it better than simply sending an email?

by dfranke 19y ago

How is this different from making a post on any other random forum, and how is it better than simply sending an email?

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.

dfranke 19y ago
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.
- amichail 19y ago
  Even if it only solves the problem with heads of state, that would make it valuable. Also, if something like this becomes well known, then I would predict many more unknowns would attempt to contact famous people -- way more than famous people would be able to handle in terms of email.
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- NSX2 19y ago
  I think he's saying it's like an organically-derived algorithm that meets halfway between "I don't know you so I'm skeptical of your value" and "I may be skeptical but if this many people think it's worthwile, perhaps I'll take a look." I don't know what famous people you're talking about ... I'm assuming we're leaving out "celebrities" and concentrating on "useful" famous people in business/academia? If so, you'd be surprised at how much correspondence they can have. Not to mention I'm not sure if you realize how many of the "emails" on things like VC pages are bogus on purpose. Like when they say, "mail your business plans attention "Business Plan Manager" ... that's usually code for "just toss this in the paper shredder. Here: test this out. Think of 5 famous people and email them something you think surely would catch their attention. See if you can find their real emails and if they bother reading it. Use one of those "verification of opened email" services. It just doesn't happen that often. If anything it gets sent to an assistant who sends it to another assistant who sends it to the intern who gives it to his little sister who gives it to the cat. I think this would be a good "idea" if not necessarily one that translates into a business.
  - dfranke 19y ago
    I won't pick out five new ones, but in the past few months I've corresponded with PG, ESR, Bruce Schneier, Randall Munroe, and JD Frazer.
    - NSX2 19y ago
      Um ... I'm not 100% sure, but I suspect what the poster had in mind was a little bit different. I'm thinking perhaps he meant like if you wanted to get in touch with Bill Gates or Larry Page or Steve Jobs or something like that. That's a tad bit different.
      - dfranke 19y ago
        Well, Bill Gates is just about equal to a head-of-state. The other two I'm pretty sure I could pull some strings and get in touch with (off the top of my head, they're each a friend of a friend of a friend), but I'm not about to waste their time for the sake of a social experiment.
- NSX2 19y ago
  Yes but how do you know it's worth your time to open and read in the first place? He's suggesting like a "digg" or "reddit" on behalf of those people, ie, "the public" reads your suggested email and vote up those they think is worth it for you as the "famous" person to read.