4 ms·

Open Letter to Hacker News Community

3 points by melvinram 18y ago

rms 18y ago
Definitely a nice try, your enthusiasm is appreciated but this is the wrong audience for your widget. My home page is about:blank, I imagine this, custom pages, and netvibes/google are the popular homepages and I can't see why anyone would switch to your thing.. Honestly I suspect you've been ripped off. The idea of a mediocre homepage being seen as a gift just seems incredibly fake to me and would only work on very computer unsavvy people. You're paying money to promote someone else's widget? Are you doing this just for pagerank? Or do you get a cut of the advertising money?
- melvinram 18y ago
  Kevin, I hear your concerns. However, if you take a closer look, you'll find this is not what you think it is. In any case, thanks for responding. ~ mel >> Definitely a nice try, your enthusiasm is appreciated but this is the wrong audience for your widget. I couldn't disagree more. Ponder Pearls has a content library that is very useful for the HN community, many of whom I've noticed are entrepreneurs like myself. Sales & success tips from Brian Tracy can be valuable in closing deals. Positive thoughts from successful innovators can help motivate someone who might be going through a bit of a financial roller coaster in launching their startup. I could go on and on. >> My home page is about:blank, I imagine this, custom pages, and netvibes/google are the popular homepages and I can't see why anyone would switch to your thing. Blank home pages work for some people. I personally used to use Google.com. I switched because you can't really get a lot of the positive content such as sales & success tips from Brian Tracy's book, quotes from The Peaceful Warrior, etc. This is like iGoogle/Netvibes/etc without ADD. It offers small bits of wisdom from some very positive people. >> Honestly I suspect you've been ripped off. The idea of a mediocre homepage being seen as a gift just seems incredibly fake to me and would only work on very computer unsavvy people. A lot of my clients use this and they like it. I figured you all would like it too. Take a quick peak. If you don't like it, no biggie. Just offering a gift which I think you'll find valuable. Chances are you'll love it if you try it. >> You're paying money to promote someone else's widget? Are you doing this just for pagerank? Or do you get a cut of the advertising money? There are no ads on the site or the desktop version. I pay for this so I can do something nice for my clients and stay in front of them in a positive way. My clients get positive thoughts. I get their loyalty. Ponder Pearls gets money from me. Win-win-win. Think of it this way, it's like getting daily coaching from wise people. Why am I "promoting" it on HN? I like the community. I hope it's not too hard to believe? lol No hidden agenda Kevin, promise. Anyway, I'm going to go knock out. It's 4am here in Cali.

3 points by melvinram 18y ago

rms 18y ago

Definitely a nice try, your enthusiasm is appreciated but this is the wrong audience for your widget. My home page is about:blank, I imagine this, custom pages, and netvibes/google are the popular homepages and I can't see why anyone would switch to your thing.. Honestly I suspect you've been ripped off. The idea of a mediocre homepage being seen as a gift just seems incredibly fake to me and would only work on very computer unsavvy people. You're paying money to promote someone else's widget? Are you doing this just for pagerank? Or do you get a cut of the advertising money?

melvinram 18y ago
Kevin, I hear your concerns. However, if you take a closer look, you'll find this is not what you think it is. In any case, thanks for responding. ~ mel >> Definitely a nice try, your enthusiasm is appreciated but this is the wrong audience for your widget. I couldn't disagree more. Ponder Pearls has a content library that is very useful for the HN community, many of whom I've noticed are entrepreneurs like myself. Sales & success tips from Brian Tracy can be valuable in closing deals. Positive thoughts from successful innovators can help motivate someone who might be going through a bit of a financial roller coaster in launching their startup. I could go on and on. >> My home page is about:blank, I imagine this, custom pages, and netvibes/google are the popular homepages and I can't see why anyone would switch to your thing. Blank home pages work for some people. I personally used to use Google.com. I switched because you can't really get a lot of the positive content such as sales & success tips from Brian Tracy's book, quotes from The Peaceful Warrior, etc. This is like iGoogle/Netvibes/etc without ADD. It offers small bits of wisdom from some very positive people. >> Honestly I suspect you've been ripped off. The idea of a mediocre homepage being seen as a gift just seems incredibly fake to me and would only work on very computer unsavvy people. A lot of my clients use this and they like it. I figured you all would like it too. Take a quick peak. If you don't like it, no biggie. Just offering a gift which I think you'll find valuable. Chances are you'll love it if you try it. >> You're paying money to promote someone else's widget? Are you doing this just for pagerank? Or do you get a cut of the advertising money? There are no ads on the site or the desktop version. I pay for this so I can do something nice for my clients and stay in front of them in a positive way. My clients get positive thoughts. I get their loyalty. Ponder Pearls gets money from me. Win-win-win. Think of it this way, it's like getting daily coaching from wise people. Why am I "promoting" it on HN? I like the community. I hope it's not too hard to believe? lol No hidden agenda Kevin, promise. Anyway, I'm going to go knock out. It's 4am here in Cali.