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Ben Thompson(the author of stratechery) is a smart guy, but his free articles, even though that they seem deep, do lack domain/technical knowledge. I've noticed

by petra 9y ago

Ben Thompson(the author of stratechery) is a smart guy, but his free articles, even though that they seem deep, do lack domain/technical knowledge. I've noticed that on the subjects of self-driving-cars, car-sharing and now on logistics/delivery/e-commerce - notice how abstract and detail free this article is. But actually, that could be a great content authoring strategy: create a really good, smart name for yourself. write articles that the smart people of the internet like to read. give them the wrong answer, they will be forced to correct you. collect replies(including those from you your closed forum) and grab the right answer. publish and charge. Don't know if that's the strategy. But it could work.

Analemma_ 9y ago
> give them the wrong answer, they will be forced to correct you. Before Stack Overflow, the savvy knew that this was a great way to get help with anything Unix-related. If you just went to Usenet or mailing lists and asked "how do I X?", you'd be pummeled by uppity greybeards going "RTFM, n00b". Ah, but if you created a sockpuppet and posted the wrong answer in reply to your question, then you'd be guaranteed to get useful advice.
- sah2ed 9y ago
  Yep, that's definitely Cunningham's Law [0] in action. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham.27s_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham.27s...
  - Analemma_ 9y ago
    Ha! I never knew it had a name. I thought I independently discovered this phenomenon, but I guess it's so obvious others realized it too.
    - dadoprso 9y ago
      Wow, this is genius. Makes so much sense.
- lotsofcows 9y ago
  Variation on that was to say something like, "Linux sucks! It won't do x." If the answers weren't sufficiently straight-forward, you could follow up with, "It's so much easier on MS!" Required a thick skin though.
- nickpsecurity 9y ago
  " Ah, but if you created a sockpuppet and posted the wrong answer in reply to your question, then you'd be guaranteed to get useful advice." I've gotten some great information on forums like this doing exactly that. I usually pose it as a challenging assertion or question rather than a statement of a fact I'm sure about. Gotta balance using that for it's benefit vs effects on one's own reliability.
gist 9y ago
It's really cherry picking and reverse engineering good outcomes at it's best. Sure Palm said this and that. What about all the thousands of others companies that paid no heed to some potential business threat and made out fine? The thing that appeared to maybe be a big threat that didn't ever happen? You can't protect and spend time on all possibilities. It's like trying to block all acts of terrorism. [1] [1] Which is what happens after an event it then seems as if someone should have known in advance it could have happened the way that it did and taken steps to prevent it from happening the way that it did.

by petra 9y ago

Analemma_ 9y ago

> give them the wrong answer, they will be forced to correct you. Before Stack Overflow, the savvy knew that this was a great way to get help with anything Unix-related. If you just went to Usenet or mailing lists and asked "how do I X?", you'd be pummeled by uppity greybeards going "RTFM, n00b". Ah, but if you created a sockpuppet and posted the wrong answer in reply to your question, then you'd be guaranteed to get useful advice.

sah2ed 9y ago
Yep, that's definitely Cunningham's Law [0] in action. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham.27s_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham.27s...
- Analemma_ 9y ago
  Ha! I never knew it had a name. I thought I independently discovered this phenomenon, but I guess it's so obvious others realized it too.
  - dadoprso 9y ago
    Wow, this is genius. Makes so much sense.
lotsofcows 9y ago
Variation on that was to say something like, "Linux sucks! It won't do x." If the answers weren't sufficiently straight-forward, you could follow up with, "It's so much easier on MS!" Required a thick skin though.
nickpsecurity 9y ago
" Ah, but if you created a sockpuppet and posted the wrong answer in reply to your question, then you'd be guaranteed to get useful advice." I've gotten some great information on forums like this doing exactly that. I usually pose it as a challenging assertion or question rather than a statement of a fact I'm sure about. Gotta balance using that for it's benefit vs effects on one's own reliability.

gist 9y ago

It's really cherry picking and reverse engineering good outcomes at it's best. Sure Palm said this and that. What about all the thousands of others companies that paid no heed to some potential business threat and made out fine? The thing that appeared to maybe be a big threat that didn't ever happen? You can't protect and spend time on all possibilities. It's like trying to block all acts of terrorism. [1] [1] Which is what happens after an event it then seems as if someone should have known in advance it could have happened the way that it did and taken steps to prevent it from happening the way that it did.