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Isn't it ironic. Less than a day ago there was a link posted about how we should work to be more constructive and helpful, and not so destructive, sarcastic, s

Isn't it ironic. Less than a day ago there was a link posted about how we should work to be more constructive and helpful, and not so destructive, sarcastic, scathing and rude, and it got a huge number of upvotes: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2322696 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2322696 And now, the first few replies to this have been - guess what - destructive, sarcastic, scathing and rude. So here's your chance to put into action the sentiments in that submission and show that it wasn't just lipservice to have upvoted it so highly. Be helpful, and don't just take the piss. So, to answer the OP's question - it's generally held that ideas are important, but that great execution of ideas is actually the most important thing. It's generally held that great execution of a do-do idea will win every time over moderate exectution of a brilliant idea. The brilliant idea isn't worth anything at all without the execution. So with that in mind, you need brilliant execution for your idea. Are you willing to part with 50% of all future profits? If not, how will you attract someone to make your amazing idea come to life? If you really have been working on this for years, and if it really is amazing, then you can invest a few days to read about the sort of person you want, and perhaps submit a request that's more appealing. As it stands, from what you've said so far, no competent hacker I know of would come anywhere close to you. Learn. Adapt. Make it a partnership. Otherwise your amazing idea will never see the light of day.

brk 16y ago
And now, the first few replies to this have been - guess what - destructive, sarcastic, scathing and rude. FWIW, I don't see HN as a "do my homework" site. I try to offer helpful replies to anyone that appears to have put some thought and consideration into a question. The OP here does not appear to have spent any time getting acquainted with this site or its norms. Since the days of 300 baud modems I've never seen a site of any caliber that treated people asking for resources from the members with "respect" when those requestors did not themselves show a similar degree of respect. Your answer to the OP was very well written, and the sort of thing that any halfway motivated person could have found with maybe an hours worth of googling around. That hour of their time would have enabled them to come here and ask much more detailed and targeted questions, and would have saved a lot of people from potentially having to be Google for them and answering the question. In short, I'm all for helping people that help themselves.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
  But people still feel the need to show themselves superior by making comments that are utterly unhelpful. They could simply remain silent. I agree entirely that the OP should do their homework. I agree entirely that the question really merits no reply at all. The point is that the quoted article can be paraphrased as saying "Be helpful, or shut up." That got so many upvotes, and yet here is the same unhelpful, destructive behaviour. I guess in short it's a case of "If you can't say something nice (helpful) then don't say anything at all."
  - brk 16y ago
    Some people make snarky comments to feel superior, some do it to demonstrate the insanity of the question. You could post nothing, and then possibly cause the OP to think no one has seen their question, so they post it again. For this particular case I wanted to acknowledge the question with an answer that was about as parsable and logical as the question itself.

brk 16y ago

And now, the first few replies to this have been - guess what - destructive, sarcastic, scathing and rude. FWIW, I don't see HN as a "do my homework" site. I try to offer helpful replies to anyone that appears to have put some thought and consideration into a question. The OP here does not appear to have spent any time getting acquainted with this site or its norms. Since the days of 300 baud modems I've never seen a site of any caliber that treated people asking for resources from the members with "respect" when those requestors did not themselves show a similar degree of respect. Your answer to the OP was very well written, and the sort of thing that any halfway motivated person could have found with maybe an hours worth of googling around. That hour of their time would have enabled them to come here and ask much more detailed and targeted questions, and would have saved a lot of people from potentially having to be Google for them and answering the question. In short, I'm all for helping people that help themselves.

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
But people still feel the need to show themselves superior by making comments that are utterly unhelpful. They could simply remain silent. I agree entirely that the OP should do their homework. I agree entirely that the question really merits no reply at all. The point is that the quoted article can be paraphrased as saying "Be helpful, or shut up." That got so many upvotes, and yet here is the same unhelpful, destructive behaviour. I guess in short it's a case of "If you can't say something nice (helpful) then don't say anything at all."
- brk 16y ago
  Some people make snarky comments to feel superior, some do it to demonstrate the insanity of the question. You could post nothing, and then possibly cause the OP to think no one has seen their question, so they post it again. For this particular case I wanted to acknowledge the question with an answer that was about as parsable and logical as the question itself.