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If they did fail miserably, I'd still hire them like a shot - they've shown they've had the chops to try and the initiative to think out of the box. The experie

If they did fail miserably, I'd still hire them like a shot - they've shown they've had the chops to try and the initiative to think out of the box. The experience they would get through failure - whether the failure is technical. marketing or finance - would be an invaluable lesson for their future careers, far better than some internship at big company X. An employer who would negatively judge a teenager on the failure of what is essentially a summer project would be very, very stupid.

mseebach 16y ago
> they've shown they've had the chops to try and the initiative to think out of the box. Really? Are there any serious geeks that haven't hashed out a basic architecture (napkin-level) for a distributed Facebook-replacement over a beer or some coffee? I know I have, twice. The difference between me and them? A pretty website, a video and (probably the kicker) patronage by the NYT. I agree that it shouldn't reflect negatively on them, quite the opposite, but are we back to 1998, where a good idea, "out of the box" and CS-grad in the same sentence is a qualification?
- zeemonkee 16y ago
  I would assume they've gone a little further than something on a napkin, and that by the end of the summer they will have something to show for their work and investment, and haven't spent the money on partying. Let's judge their results then. If it's a failure despite their best efforts, I certainly wouldn't count that against them, if they've learned from their mistakes and have written some good code in the process. Depends on how you define success/failure of course - I very much doubt they will make a dent on Facebook but if they come up with an open standard for distributed social networks others can build on, that counts very much a success in my book.
  - mseebach 16y ago
    > Let's judge their results then. Absolutely, that was my point! I reacted to your statement that you'd hire them even if they'd failed miserably. If they're able to keep focus on what's important and end the summer with a concrete, open standard, even with little or no software, that's not a miserable failure, that's a little short of the goal. But there are many, many more modes of failure than not getting people to leave Facebook by august. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's not even their goal.
- rfrey 16y ago
  > The difference between me and them? A pretty website, a video and (probably the kicker) patronage by the NYT. Also: the drive, initiative, imagination and brazenness to get it moving and get everyone talking about it.

mseebach 16y ago

> they've shown they've had the chops to try and the initiative to think out of the box. Really? Are there any serious geeks that haven't hashed out a basic architecture (napkin-level) for a distributed Facebook-replacement over a beer or some coffee? I know I have, twice. The difference between me and them? A pretty website, a video and (probably the kicker) patronage by the NYT. I agree that it shouldn't reflect negatively on them, quite the opposite, but are we back to 1998, where a good idea, "out of the box" and CS-grad in the same sentence is a qualification?

zeemonkee 16y ago
I would assume they've gone a little further than something on a napkin, and that by the end of the summer they will have something to show for their work and investment, and haven't spent the money on partying. Let's judge their results then. If it's a failure despite their best efforts, I certainly wouldn't count that against them, if they've learned from their mistakes and have written some good code in the process. Depends on how you define success/failure of course - I very much doubt they will make a dent on Facebook but if they come up with an open standard for distributed social networks others can build on, that counts very much a success in my book.
- mseebach 16y ago
  > Let's judge their results then. Absolutely, that was my point! I reacted to your statement that you'd hire them even if they'd failed miserably. If they're able to keep focus on what's important and end the summer with a concrete, open standard, even with little or no software, that's not a miserable failure, that's a little short of the goal. But there are many, many more modes of failure than not getting people to leave Facebook by august. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's not even their goal.
rfrey 16y ago
> The difference between me and them? A pretty website, a video and (probably the kicker) patronage by the NYT. Also: the drive, initiative, imagination and brazenness to get it moving and get everyone talking about it.