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At time of writing, both root comments are looking for an automated solution, a bot. Having done something like this a lot, it does not work for me to have a b
by Normal_gaussian 7y ago
At time of writing, both root comments are looking for an automated solution, a bot.
Having done something like this a lot, it does not work for me to have a bot. The predictability and lack of social accountability (one should be honest) causes it to fail.
It also lacks a huge benefit:
It turns out that doing something "with" someone, despite a lack of collaboration, has significant social value. Even more so if you do it in the same room or at worst the same video conference.
For this reason I moved from the many tools that exist to do this with strangers to arranging an hour with a friend. This works exceptionally well and has strengthened my friendships despite us living in different cities (I am in a small* town); likely because it keeps us present, real, and approachable in each others minds.
*small by southern English standards; huge by the standards of the northern county I grew up in.
- Waterluvian 7y agoSo true. Even a total stranger, I don't want to let them down or lie to them. Automated systems are completely unhelpful.
- JshWright 7y agoYou could automate the pairing of total strangers.
- davedx 7y agoIt's called ChatRoulette. Not sure I'd want to find productivity partners with it though
- Normal_gaussian 7y agoThere is actually a tool designed for this that I used for a while. I forget the name - but I did discover it through HN. It was more active in the American core hours, but I stopped using it because I moved onto real friends and acquaintances. As I said, this has more benefits.
- bagelboy5 7y agoDarn, wish I knew the name of it. I'm in your former camp you describe.
- taylorjacobson 7y agoThis is exactly what Focusmate does (founder here). If you check it out I'd love to know what you think!
- JoeH2 7y agoHey Taylor! Love your product! I get such a sense of achievement after every session, and I like to think that my Focusmate buddy does too. Big fan! It is curing my procrastination one session at a time
- mikekchar 7y agoThere was a marketing move a couple of years ago to try to make fishermen a little more relatable to the public in Japan. As part of that they introduced a wakeup service. The idea was that a fisherman would phone you from their cell phone out on the boat to wake you up. They had to give up the idea because it went viral and there was no way that the fishermen could handle the volume. But I think part of the appeal was that the fishermen would be taking time out of their job to wake you up. They would chat with you and ask you what you were going to do for the day, etc. So it made that same kind of social contract where you wouldn't dare go back to bed as it would waste the fisherman's time -- even though nobody would know.
- golergka 7y agoThat's genius. Where can I find out more about this campaign?