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Clearly someone who "once handrolled his own html code and then uploaded it using UNIX commands" is simply too Awesome for Facebook.
by paul 16y ago
Clearly someone who "once handrolled his own html code and then uploaded it using UNIX commands" is simply too Awesome for Facebook.
- link2009 16y agoI found his stance to be quite smug but he got his opinions across. I agree with him that it helps the 'normal' people interact with each other without jumping through loops but I think that is more a benefit than a critique.
- MartinCron 16y agoOnly if he uploaded it via his own hand-crimped ethernet cables.
- spiffworks 16y agoI did that in 2007.
- copper 16y agoIf it helps, he's the author of a rather nice series of science-fiction books.
- jedsmith 16y agoIn the face of the way he worded that, not really.
- juiceandjuice 16y agoThe reason he doesn't like facebook... FNU
- pak 16y agoWell he was apparently doing that in 1993... What did you build on the web in 1993? NCSA Mosaic had literally just come out.
- wardrox 16y agoI was 7. I probably built something with Lego that was way cooler than a website.
- spacehaven 16y agoYou can continue that legacy with the open source 3D printing movement that's growing, and potentially continue building things that are way cooler than most web sites.
- arethuza 16y agoNitpick - NCSA Mosaic wasn't the first generally available web browser, Viola was around at least six months before Mosaic.
- dabent 16y agoI'm thinking the person you replied to knows a thing or two about "Awesome" on the web. I'm not sure he was old enough to have done much on or off the web in 1993.
- pak 16y agoI think Paul was just about to enter college then, so he was old enough. My point is that it was actually quite forward-thinking to try out anything on the web in 1993.
- patricklynch 16y agoYes, that line came off as egotistical posturing. We got it. But I don't like that your snarky quip--which distorts the fact that the author continues to use facebook out of a sense of social obligation, and which I don't think adds much to the discussion--is the most upvoted comment here. Sure, you can be cynical and mock the guy, but I'd rather see you address his arguments. I'm not so much annoyed that you took the obvious potshot, just disappointed that the rest of HN is currently voting this the most important takeaway from the essay.
- ramanujan 16y agoThe reason this is the most important takeaway is that Scalzi is calling the people at Facebook "stupid", despite the fact that they are much smarter than him. "there’s very little Facebook does, either as a technological platform or as a company, that doesn’t remind me that “banal mediocrity” is apparently the highest accolade one can aspire to at that particular organization." Scalzi has never heard of Hiphop, Thrift, or Haystack. He hasn't heard about them because he is not really capable of understanding the technical problems involved with doing something as hard as Facebook. It is really hard to make something look this easy.
- antihero 16y agoAlso the fact that Facebook have made accessing vast amounts of information, organising events, and communicating far more simple and intuitive than any system previously available. Much as there are things to improve - there is no place on the internet better suited as a portal to your life.
- mbreese 16y agoFirst, he wasn't calling the people who work at Facebook stupid. Second, I have no idea how smart John Scalzi is... and you probably don't either. He was criticizing the idea of Facebook. Facebook is a very well implemented system. But that doesn't mean that you can't question the validity of the system. Just because it's hard to build doesn't mean that it is worthwhile to use.
- trustfundbaby 16y ago
- Tichy 16y agoOr the threshold for "Facebook is not for me" is rather low.
- esmooov 16y agoWait, don't people do this anymore? Oh no, am I the last person to handroll html code and upload it using UNIX commands? I just typed "scp" the other day. I should have charged myself admission to an internet museum where I was on display.
- efsavage 16y agoI send all my mail through raw, unadulterated, hand-typed SMTP. I compute mime attachments on my TI-85 and type them in on my clicky keyboard. I've taught my parrot to simulate the first 8 seconds of a fax machine handshake, and yet, without facebook, nobody would know!
- chopsueyar 16y agoParent comment deserves more votes. A true badass send his emails using a telnet connection to the smtp server. Bonus points for using a HP-48GX instead of a TI-85.
- true_religion 16y agoHe's basically saying he has hipster tastes in technology, and while those tastes may not be strictly superior to any others---they're his, and they make him an unhappy consumer on Facebook. Don't dislike him because he likes vanilla whereas everyone else likes raspberry.