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> still struggling to sustain 2 million DAU. Is this a problem? Seriously. Do we need every service to have a billion users? I'm glad there's places that are

> still struggling to sustain 2 million DAU. Is this a problem? Seriously. Do we need every service to have a billion users? I'm glad there's places that are open to everyone, but at the same time I'm sad that a lot of smaller and niche places have disappeared. Those are the places I've found communities. It's possible on bigger sites but it's much harder. Your voice is one in a billion, it's not much better than having no voice. It's even happened more as HN has grown. And in any of these big places it's more likely that sensational posts rise to the top drowning out sensible or accurate messages (maximizing engagement doesn't maximize user happiness, communication, community, nor many other things). It's also harder to communicate because every community develops their own language and priors. A mutual understanding and that's what builds good faith conversations. I think if we've learned anything from these mega sites it's that even when people use their real names they still view themselves as "anonymous" (and conversely, in small sites people can hide their name, but it means something to the community, and they still have a reputation to defend) I'm not convinced we are measuring the right things. It just feels like people are measuring what they think they should, and are not thinking about what the actual goals are. These are not the same thing. But that's Goodhart's Law I guess

Gud 2y ago
No, not a problem at all. Quite the opposite in fact. I think the world is much better if we avoid forming authoritarian corporate media platforms with some dickhead billionaire in charge. I host my own social media platform with one active daily user plus two guys who signed up when I spam others Show HN posts. Link is in my profile. I prefer the bazaar any day. And im the guy selling my wares from a carpet on the street, don’t even have a fancy booth Sorry for rambling
- godelski 2y ago
  > Sorry for rambling No, you're fine. I don't think you're alone and while I'm probably not going to sign up for your site, I do appreciate that you have created that space. I think there is a lot of value in doing things for the sake of doing them. It's an extremely "human" endeavor and I think there's lots of benefits, even if they are hidden. And I think there is even value in just knowing that these are things people want. Even if it isn't everyone. Personally, I thought the cool thing with the internet -- in regards to markets and economics -- is that it meant you could make products (or whatever) for very small niches and still get wealthy. Because with 6 billion people on the internet, even a very narrow niche is gonna strike the interest of at least tens of thousands (if not hundreds or a few million). It's interesting that instead we chose to build things for everybody and nobody.

Gud 2y ago

No, not a problem at all. Quite the opposite in fact. I think the world is much better if we avoid forming authoritarian corporate media platforms with some dickhead billionaire in charge. I host my own social media platform with one active daily user plus two guys who signed up when I spam others Show HN posts. Link is in my profile. I prefer the bazaar any day. And im the guy selling my wares from a carpet on the street, don’t even have a fancy booth Sorry for rambling

godelski 2y ago
> Sorry for rambling No, you're fine. I don't think you're alone and while I'm probably not going to sign up for your site, I do appreciate that you have created that space. I think there is a lot of value in doing things for the sake of doing them. It's an extremely "human" endeavor and I think there's lots of benefits, even if they are hidden. And I think there is even value in just knowing that these are things people want. Even if it isn't everyone. Personally, I thought the cool thing with the internet -- in regards to markets and economics -- is that it meant you could make products (or whatever) for very small niches and still get wealthy. Because with 6 billion people on the internet, even a very narrow niche is gonna strike the interest of at least tens of thousands (if not hundreds or a few million). It's interesting that instead we chose to build things for everybody and nobody.