4 ms·

Obtvse removes the two worst features of Svbtle: exclusivity and condescension.

by ForrestN 15y ago

obilgic 15y ago
Kudos!
54mf 15y ago
That still doesn't make it right to rip off someone else's work!
- trebor 15y ago
  It would be wrong if NateW hacked into and stole the source, or stole the design source/code of Dustin's project. But reproduction of someone else's work isn't ripping them off but is a compliment (it means that it's worth reproducing). As good as Dustin is, neither his ideas or implementation of his blog/cms platform are that unique.
- why-el 15y ago
  Follow that line and you will end up with two to three websites in the whole world of internet. He did not rip it off, in fact I see it as a favor for the original author, since its clearly stated that the second work is based on the first. If I release an HN simply for handful of people who I think are worthy of using it, then I should be dead ready for a crazy torrent of HN alternatives.
bigiain 15y ago
Harsh, but with a core of truth. In my opinion, if Dustin is showing off his thing with a key "feature" being "invitation only", then it seems open season for someone else to think "Fair enough, if you think curated bloggers is a key differentiating feature, then me launching a similar service _without_ that key feature seems OK". In one sense - people seem to love having their ideas "validated" by new startups claiming "We're $existingThing for $newMarket". "We're HipMonk for dogs!" We're GoogleAnalytics for yoga retreats!" "We're Svbtle for non-celebrity-bloggers!" What Dustin made is very nice. He may very well be able to curate bloggers in a way that makes it wildly successful - I hope he does, I'll cheer him on. Maybe though, Obtvse will gain a bigger or different userbase. Maybe someone wil be able to take the Obtvse codebase and do a better curating job than Dustin - with the right code ready to roll, I'd bet on Maria Popova or Cory Doctorow or Rob Malda or even Nick Denton to win at the blogger-curating role over Dustin…
megablast 15y ago
So it is ok to clone something but with a completely new feature, that being a different platform? Not that I see this as a clone at all, just disagree with this as a general rule.
philwelch 15y ago
It also apparently removes the distracting animations.

Obtvse removes the two worst features of Svbtle: exclusivity and condescension.

obilgic 15y ago

Kudos!

54mf 15y ago

That still doesn't make it right to rip off someone else's work!

trebor 15y ago
It would be wrong if NateW hacked into and stole the source, or stole the design source/code of Dustin's project. But reproduction of someone else's work isn't ripping them off but is a compliment (it means that it's worth reproducing). As good as Dustin is, neither his ideas or implementation of his blog/cms platform are that unique.
why-el 15y ago
Follow that line and you will end up with two to three websites in the whole world of internet. He did not rip it off, in fact I see it as a favor for the original author, since its clearly stated that the second work is based on the first. If I release an HN simply for handful of people who I think are worthy of using it, then I should be dead ready for a crazy torrent of HN alternatives.

bigiain 15y ago

Harsh, but with a core of truth. In my opinion, if Dustin is showing off his thing with a key "feature" being "invitation only", then it seems open season for someone else to think "Fair enough, if you think curated bloggers is a key differentiating feature, then me launching a similar service _without_ that key feature seems OK". In one sense - people seem to love having their ideas "validated" by new startups claiming "We're $existingThing for $newMarket". "We're HipMonk for dogs!" We're GoogleAnalytics for yoga retreats!" "We're Svbtle for non-celebrity-bloggers!" What Dustin made is very nice. He may very well be able to curate bloggers in a way that makes it wildly successful - I hope he does, I'll cheer him on. Maybe though, Obtvse will gain a bigger or different userbase. Maybe someone wil be able to take the Obtvse codebase and do a better curating job than Dustin - with the right code ready to roll, I'd bet on Maria Popova or Cory Doctorow or Rob Malda or even Nick Denton to win at the blogger-curating role over Dustin…

megablast 15y ago

So it is ok to clone something but with a completely new feature, that being a different platform? Not that I see this as a clone at all, just disagree with this as a general rule.

philwelch 15y ago

It also apparently removes the distracting animations.