3 ms·

The secret to Hacker News is that someone is paying for a full time admin years after years, without displaying 3rd party ads. Check if you can do that too.

tester756 3y ago
You make it sound as if that was goodwill, but there's money in that, I believe. I'm not saying that the money is full reason, but at least partial.
- vestrigi 3y ago
  HN creates visibility for YC startups, e.g. by placing Launch HN posts or the so-and-so is hiring posts
  - joe__f 3y ago
    Ahhh this is the puzzle piece I was missing
whywhywouldyou 3y ago
Seems like this idea is well within the capability of one person to run and moderate it for free / fun in their spare time.
- bookofjoe 3y ago
  I believe this to be erroneous. Read this New Yorker profile of dang: https://archive.ph/czYVG https://archive.ph/czYVG "... for free/fun in their spare time."?
  - qingcharles 3y ago
    My respect for dang is enormous. I would love a peek behind the curtain. I have no idea how this site maintains the quality it does. I see only a fraction of the work Dan does and I can only think he lives in some weird quantum bubble where he has 489 hours in every day.
- nomat 3y ago
  Absolutely not. Even a facebook group of < 100k is too much work for a single person to manage especially if it is discussion based.
II2II 3y ago
Discussion forums are often run as passion projects, and many have been around for years. While something the size of Hacker News almost certainly needs a paid admin, something smaller and more focused can still be a worthy community.
latexr 3y ago
> without displaying 3rd party ads. Though technically they do show first-party ads, as pointed out by another comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37889072 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37889072 Which isn’t that bad. On a smaller scale it’s like a blog author who promotes their own book. It means the ads can be fairly unobtrusive and not mine you for data, while at the same time being highly targeted to a specific audience.
deleted 3y ago
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tester756 3y ago

You make it sound as if that was goodwill, but there's money in that, I believe. I'm not saying that the money is full reason, but at least partial.

vestrigi 3y ago
HN creates visibility for YC startups, e.g. by placing Launch HN posts or the so-and-so is hiring posts
- joe__f 3y ago
  Ahhh this is the puzzle piece I was missing

whywhywouldyou 3y ago

Seems like this idea is well within the capability of one person to run and moderate it for free / fun in their spare time.

bookofjoe 3y ago
I believe this to be erroneous. Read this New Yorker profile of dang: https://archive.ph/czYVG https://archive.ph/czYVG "... for free/fun in their spare time."?
- qingcharles 3y ago
  My respect for dang is enormous. I would love a peek behind the curtain. I have no idea how this site maintains the quality it does. I see only a fraction of the work Dan does and I can only think he lives in some weird quantum bubble where he has 489 hours in every day.
nomat 3y ago
Absolutely not. Even a facebook group of < 100k is too much work for a single person to manage especially if it is discussion based.

II2II 3y ago

Discussion forums are often run as passion projects, and many have been around for years. While something the size of Hacker News almost certainly needs a paid admin, something smaller and more focused can still be a worthy community.

latexr 3y ago

> without displaying 3rd party ads. Though technically they do show first-party ads, as pointed out by another comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37889072 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37889072 Which isn’t that bad. On a smaller scale it’s like a blog author who promotes their own book. It means the ads can be fairly unobtrusive and not mine you for data, while at the same time being highly targeted to a specific audience.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]