6 ms·

What if they’re really a large group of businessmen and investors pretending to be a 16 year old?

typesarecool 1y ago
I assume all these "I am 16" type posts are just ways to help market, unless the account exists for some time before the Show HN with clear evidence they are in high school (I have seen many younger people talk about high school internships, for example - if they then have a Show HN I will believe it!)
- mnky9800n 1y ago
  Even if they are 16 years old it's hard to imagine someone didn't at some point tell them to leverage the fact they are 16 years old. I don't know any teenager that wants to be seen as a teenager. They all want to be seen as an adult.
  - Grimblewald 1y ago
    Right? Most teenagers would go through great lengths to assume an identity in their 20's at least. They spend their entire life thus far with age being a factor robbing them of credibility. Why now would they advertise what throughout life has been a thorn in thorn in their backside? Something they will have associated with a lack of perceived professionalism. Something associated with not being taken seriously. to me the whole thing reeks of marketing ghouls. This reeks of a group of talentless marketing ghouls trying to launch an unoriginal vibecoded product but absuing our heartstrings.
WilliamCranna 1y ago
I’m 16 you can see me on Twitter @willcranna
- seba_dos1 1y ago
  And I was 9 when I made my first applications, but it wouldn't be valuable to tout that while sharing them either.
WilliamCranna 1y ago
I’m not, you can see my journey on Twitter @willcranna
- Grimblewald 1y ago
  Your "journey" as far as i can tell is just your marketing journey. Youve just joined two months ago, and show nothing much beyond marketing posts or requests for help with marketing. not selling me on not being a bunch of old dudes using a kids image to sell a unsafe and poor quality product. if you genuinly are a kid, i'd recommend not using your age as a selling factor. Thats something someone would do to appeal to other kids, but rarely to sell to a serious crowd. It would at best tug at heart strings and get attention but thats will work once, maybe twice. I'd make sure i have a really good product before i waste those free and easy marketing chances.
  - WilliamCranna 1y ago
    If i'm selling to students (kids) would they not be more interested in an app made for them by someone like them?
    - Grimblewald 1y ago
      you're selling the 16 year old angle on HN, where 20 years old and younger represents about 2% of the demographic. You're getting an unusually high level of negative responses in comments as well, so I am curious, did you buy 'upvotes' for your post to boost it? I can't imagine such a disconnect between upvotes and comments arising from controversy, since the project isn't controversial, just unremarkable and somewhat amateur. --- To answer your question: Personally? I don't think so. When I was 16 I was aware of how little I knew, and knew that by virtue of units life lived vs units experience possible to have gained, there was likely little to nothing I knew sufficiently enough about to be relied on over most adults, with the exception of, at the time, tech. Then, this was only true given how niche it was, so niche most folks did not yet even have a computer or even internet access. If it was common place for folks to access, even that would not have been true. So for that reason, I saw no reason, it shouldn't also be true for my peers. For that reason I would give low weighting to whatever peers offered. For example, that one friend who claimed to have all the answers when it came to girls/women, why would you treat them as anything other than full of shit? Or that friend who might claim to know more on a topic than our teacher. While plausible in some domains, it is extremely unlikely in general like the know-it-all would have claimed and required a higher burden of proof than they could provide. That being said, this humility came from having constant reinforcement that my assumptions were overly simplistic, or outright wrong. This reinforcement tempered an otherwise self-indulgent world view and sense of self. I have to wonder how things like sycophantic AI influence this aspect of natural human development. Terrible ideas reinforced as world changing and awesome, ideas lacking in depth or nuance left not only unchallenged but outright reinforced and celebrated. So, do I think kids would trust another kid to develop a worthwhile tool? Not in my generation, but perhaps kids in your cohort have a different attitude. They are inheriting a world on the brink of collapse due to mismanagement and are largely guided by sycophantic AI, and I have no illusion that this would breed a level of resentment and disregard for what older generations have to say / offer. You'd know better what kids your age would like and how they'd respond than I do by virtue of lived experience and my lack of insight on that demographic's wants/needs/perception of things, but if what was true for my cohort is true for yours, it would not help you sell your product.

I assume all these "I am 16" type posts are just ways to help market, unless the account exists for some time before the Show HN with clear evidence they are in high school (I have seen many younger people talk about high school internships, for example - if they then have a Show HN I will believe it!)

mnky9800n 1y ago
Even if they are 16 years old it's hard to imagine someone didn't at some point tell them to leverage the fact they are 16 years old. I don't know any teenager that wants to be seen as a teenager. They all want to be seen as an adult.
- Grimblewald 1y ago
  Right? Most teenagers would go through great lengths to assume an identity in their 20's at least. They spend their entire life thus far with age being a factor robbing them of credibility. Why now would they advertise what throughout life has been a thorn in thorn in their backside? Something they will have associated with a lack of perceived professionalism. Something associated with not being taken seriously. to me the whole thing reeks of marketing ghouls. This reeks of a group of talentless marketing ghouls trying to launch an unoriginal vibecoded product but absuing our heartstrings.

WilliamCranna 1y ago

I’m 16 you can see me on Twitter @willcranna

seba_dos1 1y ago
And I was 9 when I made my first applications, but it wouldn't be valuable to tout that while sharing them either.

WilliamCranna 1y ago

I’m not, you can see my journey on Twitter @willcranna

Grimblewald 1y ago
Your "journey" as far as i can tell is just your marketing journey. Youve just joined two months ago, and show nothing much beyond marketing posts or requests for help with marketing. not selling me on not being a bunch of old dudes using a kids image to sell a unsafe and poor quality product. if you genuinly are a kid, i'd recommend not using your age as a selling factor. Thats something someone would do to appeal to other kids, but rarely to sell to a serious crowd. It would at best tug at heart strings and get attention but thats will work once, maybe twice. I'd make sure i have a really good product before i waste those free and easy marketing chances.
- WilliamCranna 1y ago
  If i'm selling to students (kids) would they not be more interested in an app made for them by someone like them?
  - Grimblewald 1y ago
    you're selling the 16 year old angle on HN, where 20 years old and younger represents about 2% of the demographic. You're getting an unusually high level of negative responses in comments as well, so I am curious, did you buy 'upvotes' for your post to boost it? I can't imagine such a disconnect between upvotes and comments arising from controversy, since the project isn't controversial, just unremarkable and somewhat amateur. --- To answer your question: Personally? I don't think so. When I was 16 I was aware of how little I knew, and knew that by virtue of units life lived vs units experience possible to have gained, there was likely little to nothing I knew sufficiently enough about to be relied on over most adults, with the exception of, at the time, tech. Then, this was only true given how niche it was, so niche most folks did not yet even have a computer or even internet access. If it was common place for folks to access, even that would not have been true. So for that reason, I saw no reason, it shouldn't also be true for my peers. For that reason I would give low weighting to whatever peers offered. For example, that one friend who claimed to have all the answers when it came to girls/women, why would you treat them as anything other than full of shit? Or that friend who might claim to know more on a topic than our teacher. While plausible in some domains, it is extremely unlikely in general like the know-it-all would have claimed and required a higher burden of proof than they could provide. That being said, this humility came from having constant reinforcement that my assumptions were overly simplistic, or outright wrong. This reinforcement tempered an otherwise self-indulgent world view and sense of self. I have to wonder how things like sycophantic AI influence this aspect of natural human development. Terrible ideas reinforced as world changing and awesome, ideas lacking in depth or nuance left not only unchallenged but outright reinforced and celebrated. So, do I think kids would trust another kid to develop a worthwhile tool? Not in my generation, but perhaps kids in your cohort have a different attitude. They are inheriting a world on the brink of collapse due to mismanagement and are largely guided by sycophantic AI, and I have no illusion that this would breed a level of resentment and disregard for what older generations have to say / offer. You'd know better what kids your age would like and how they'd respond than I do by virtue of lived experience and my lack of insight on that demographic's wants/needs/perception of things, but if what was true for my cohort is true for yours, it would not help you sell your product.