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To some people, probably. I'd wager most people don't have someone like tptacek as an internet buddy or knowledge that would interest them, though. They litera

To some people, probably. I'd wager most people don't have someone like tptacek as an internet buddy or knowledge that would interest them, though. They literally mentioned HN karma rank titles... so much for fake internet points? Does this sound odd to anyone else or just me? There's likely some small percentage of people who can go on to do consulting and charge lots of money. That this applies to a greater amount of people remains to be seen and is not proven by this post.

saryant 9y ago
"Internet buddy" can be as simple as emailing someone with a question. Someone once emailed me with a question about a talk I gave at a conference. A few years later we ran into each other—he was working for a major client of my employer and I was asked to give them a technical presentation, neither of us knowing that we were about to run into each other. Most people are too afraid to cold-intro themselves. Just send an email, worst someone can do is ignore it. FWIW, I emailed Patrick, author of TFA, a couple years ago with a question and he helped me out. Then last month I emailed him again and we met up for coffee in Tokyo. Just email someone you'd like to meet and ask.
tptacek 9y ago
I don't know what this even means. I think Patrick and I might have exchanged a total of one (1) super secret Internet friends secret messages before we met for coffee and me and Cory kidnapped him for the day. If you're in Chicago and you haven't made a hobby out of calling me an NSA shill (or if you can credibly claim that you've done so only out of irony), we're "internet friends" enough that I'll grab coffee if you have something you want to talk about.
- projektir 9y ago
  I guess I had higher expectation for the term "internet buddy" than what is used here. I generally figured it's a term implying some familiarity, and that getting emails from randoms is unwelcome. But perhaps the other commenter makes a good point regarding cold-introing. I always read various people say "I get thousands of emails..." and assume there's no reason for them to read mine. I don't think I ever called you an NSA shill, although I did commit the grave offense of suggesting that Firefox is a secure browser, which I imagine is even worse. :P Sadly, I'm pretty far away from Chicago and likely will be in the foreseeable future.
- JamesBarney 9y ago
  Is there a karma limit for this? I go up to Chicago every once in a while to visit a childhood friend and would love to ask you some questions about consulting/bounce an interviewing app off you over coffee.
kasey_junk 9y ago
If you want tptacek as an internet friend my advice is to email him. If you are physically proximate to him he’ll buy you a coffee. Pretty cheap price to pay for a new internet friend. I’ll also suggest to you that Patrick (nor any of Thomas’ successful friends) is successful cause he figured out how to turn HN karma into gold (I’d bet Patrick would say HN karma all represents wasted opportunities for your own content).

saryant 9y ago

"Internet buddy" can be as simple as emailing someone with a question. Someone once emailed me with a question about a talk I gave at a conference. A few years later we ran into each other—he was working for a major client of my employer and I was asked to give them a technical presentation, neither of us knowing that we were about to run into each other. Most people are too afraid to cold-intro themselves. Just send an email, worst someone can do is ignore it. FWIW, I emailed Patrick, author of TFA, a couple years ago with a question and he helped me out. Then last month I emailed him again and we met up for coffee in Tokyo. Just email someone you'd like to meet and ask.

tptacek 9y ago

I don't know what this even means. I think Patrick and I might have exchanged a total of one (1) super secret Internet friends secret messages before we met for coffee and me and Cory kidnapped him for the day. If you're in Chicago and you haven't made a hobby out of calling me an NSA shill (or if you can credibly claim that you've done so only out of irony), we're "internet friends" enough that I'll grab coffee if you have something you want to talk about.

projektir 9y ago
I guess I had higher expectation for the term "internet buddy" than what is used here. I generally figured it's a term implying some familiarity, and that getting emails from randoms is unwelcome. But perhaps the other commenter makes a good point regarding cold-introing. I always read various people say "I get thousands of emails..." and assume there's no reason for them to read mine. I don't think I ever called you an NSA shill, although I did commit the grave offense of suggesting that Firefox is a secure browser, which I imagine is even worse. :P Sadly, I'm pretty far away from Chicago and likely will be in the foreseeable future.
JamesBarney 9y ago
Is there a karma limit for this? I go up to Chicago every once in a while to visit a childhood friend and would love to ask you some questions about consulting/bounce an interviewing app off you over coffee.

kasey_junk 9y ago

If you want tptacek as an internet friend my advice is to email him. If you are physically proximate to him he’ll buy you a coffee. Pretty cheap price to pay for a new internet friend. I’ll also suggest to you that Patrick (nor any of Thomas’ successful friends) is successful cause he figured out how to turn HN karma into gold (I’d bet Patrick would say HN karma all represents wasted opportunities for your own content).