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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 m

by 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
        Right. Case in point. Even though you can get to them through personal connections, you're reluctant to "waste their time." So what about people who can't get to them through 2 degrees of contact. What if they wanted to contact them with an affirmation of the value of their proposals? As in, "I don't know you and I don't want to waste your time, but 83,000 people in this industry think what I have to tell you is important enough for you to drop everything and read." That in itself is something. Now compare that to the next guy who may be able to say, "That guy's idea is good. But my idea is sooooo good, 210,000 people in the industry think you should read and consider what I have to say." As someone with limited time, which one, all other things equal, would you open first and which second? And if the third next idea only had 300 votes and you were pressed for time, you'd skip it most likely, right?
        dfranke 19y ago
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.

by dfranke 19y ago

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
      Right. Case in point. Even though you can get to them through personal connections, you're reluctant to "waste their time." So what about people who can't get to them through 2 degrees of contact. What if they wanted to contact them with an affirmation of the value of their proposals? As in, "I don't know you and I don't want to waste your time, but 83,000 people in this industry think what I have to tell you is important enough for you to drop everything and read." That in itself is something. Now compare that to the next guy who may be able to say, "That guy's idea is good. But my idea is sooooo good, 210,000 people in the industry think you should read and consider what I have to say." As someone with limited time, which one, all other things equal, would you open first and which second? And if the third next idea only had 300 votes and you were pressed for time, you'd skip it most likely, right?
      - dfranke 19y ago

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.