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unnecessarily negative, belittling, and mean-spirited. has putting this person down made you feel better about yourself?

Avalaxy 14y ago
I really don't think it's "unnecessarily negative". I see so many people wasting their time by working on 'ideas' that aren't even real ideas. He could have used his time better doing something actually useful. A lot of programmers have a big tunnel vision. They want to create a 'startup' no matter what, and then they come up with a 'TODO list' and waste many months of their valuable time working on it, just to be disappointed when they realize there is no need for it. You can be very kind and tell him that the idea is awesome and that he will become a millionaire, but please be a bit more realistic and just tell him the truth.
- tomasien 14y ago
  I recognize you don't think it was unnecessarily negative, you're the one who posted it. I don't know that we needed that clarified. What you mean here is "I don't think I would use this" - you don't have to tell him his idea is awesome, but the way you put it made it seem like you are the gatekeeper of awesome and this does not qualify, so go ahead start over and move on. As OP made clear, he's scratching an itch and finds things like basecamp overcomplex. I agree, a trillion percent. We use Phabricator and it's great, but it took literally 3 days to get it all set up. If we were just starting out, I'd love to use something lightweight like this.
- anil_mamede 14y ago
  > A lot of programmers have a big tunnel vision. They want to create a 'startup' no matter what But it is not the programmer's fault. Many incubators preach that everyone must have an ideia, no matter how awful it is.
  - mgkimsal 14y ago
    No, it's still a developer's fault. Just because people say to do something doesn't mean to do it. Likewise, many other parties preach something different. Building out a full app then testing out a hypothesis was probably a waste of time. Putting up a landing page and promoting out to his network would likely have yielded very similar results - people saying "we don't need another todo list". faster, and cheaper.
- localhost3000 14y ago
  the guy asked for feedback on his product, not his life decisions. to make the leap is presumptuous, pompous, and, yes, unnecessarily negative. there are polite ways of giving negative feedback, for instance you might have said: "hey thanks for posting. looks like you've done a good job putting it together. i worry that there isn't a market for it, though, given all the competition that currently exists and people's general inability to monetize these sorts of products. maybe use this as a jumping off point for something else?" instead, your original comment is full of vitriol and, in one fell swoop, you've managed to put down the creators of "thousands of project management apps, hour tracker apps, wannabe social networks, twitter sentiment tools, accounting apps, photo filter apps, a/b testing websites, etc." you, sir, must surely be without flaw to make such broad and sweeping generalizations about your fellow community members. it continues to amaze how certain members of this community cannot recognize the vast chasm of constructive criticism that lies between the extremes of '[telling] him that the idea is awesome and that he will become a millionaire' and telling him he has wasted his time working on an idea that "isn't even a real idea" (and we won't even address the absurdity of that last sentence...).
  - acabal 14y ago
    To be fair, the title of the post does say "startup" which implies the goal is to make money, and the poster asks for advice on revenue streams. If he had said, "Check out my weekend project, enjoy!" that's one thing, but calling the eleventy-billionth todo list app a startup is going to get replies like the OP. Personally I agree in sentiment, if not in tone, with the OP; there's a trillion todo list apps, finding one the poster could have worked with would have freed valuable time for developing something else. Unless of course this was an app done for learning purposes, but the poster doesn't say that.
- adam 14y ago
  Not only is this mean spirited, I think it's fairly short-sighted. I've tried several to-do list apps and none of them have quite worked for me. I end up going back to scrap pieces of paper laying on my desk or stickies, both of which are sub-optimal. In fact I've never met anyone who fully recommends their to-do list software, their recommendation is always filled with caveats and things they still do "the old way." Yes the market is saturated but that doesn't mean there is nothing innovative to be done here. I say more power to this person for building something for himself and putting himself out there to see what others think.

Avalaxy 14y ago

I really don't think it's "unnecessarily negative". I see so many people wasting their time by working on 'ideas' that aren't even real ideas. He could have used his time better doing something actually useful. A lot of programmers have a big tunnel vision. They want to create a 'startup' no matter what, and then they come up with a 'TODO list' and waste many months of their valuable time working on it, just to be disappointed when they realize there is no need for it. You can be very kind and tell him that the idea is awesome and that he will become a millionaire, but please be a bit more realistic and just tell him the truth.

tomasien 14y ago
I recognize you don't think it was unnecessarily negative, you're the one who posted it. I don't know that we needed that clarified. What you mean here is "I don't think I would use this" - you don't have to tell him his idea is awesome, but the way you put it made it seem like you are the gatekeeper of awesome and this does not qualify, so go ahead start over and move on. As OP made clear, he's scratching an itch and finds things like basecamp overcomplex. I agree, a trillion percent. We use Phabricator and it's great, but it took literally 3 days to get it all set up. If we were just starting out, I'd love to use something lightweight like this.
anil_mamede 14y ago
> A lot of programmers have a big tunnel vision. They want to create a 'startup' no matter what But it is not the programmer's fault. Many incubators preach that everyone must have an ideia, no matter how awful it is.
- mgkimsal 14y ago
  No, it's still a developer's fault. Just because people say to do something doesn't mean to do it. Likewise, many other parties preach something different. Building out a full app then testing out a hypothesis was probably a waste of time. Putting up a landing page and promoting out to his network would likely have yielded very similar results - people saying "we don't need another todo list". faster, and cheaper.
localhost3000 14y ago
the guy asked for feedback on his product, not his life decisions. to make the leap is presumptuous, pompous, and, yes, unnecessarily negative. there are polite ways of giving negative feedback, for instance you might have said: "hey thanks for posting. looks like you've done a good job putting it together. i worry that there isn't a market for it, though, given all the competition that currently exists and people's general inability to monetize these sorts of products. maybe use this as a jumping off point for something else?" instead, your original comment is full of vitriol and, in one fell swoop, you've managed to put down the creators of "thousands of project management apps, hour tracker apps, wannabe social networks, twitter sentiment tools, accounting apps, photo filter apps, a/b testing websites, etc." you, sir, must surely be without flaw to make such broad and sweeping generalizations about your fellow community members. it continues to amaze how certain members of this community cannot recognize the vast chasm of constructive criticism that lies between the extremes of '[telling] him that the idea is awesome and that he will become a millionaire' and telling him he has wasted his time working on an idea that "isn't even a real idea" (and we won't even address the absurdity of that last sentence...).
- acabal 14y ago
  To be fair, the title of the post does say "startup" which implies the goal is to make money, and the poster asks for advice on revenue streams. If he had said, "Check out my weekend project, enjoy!" that's one thing, but calling the eleventy-billionth todo list app a startup is going to get replies like the OP. Personally I agree in sentiment, if not in tone, with the OP; there's a trillion todo list apps, finding one the poster could have worked with would have freed valuable time for developing something else. Unless of course this was an app done for learning purposes, but the poster doesn't say that.
adam 14y ago
Not only is this mean spirited, I think it's fairly short-sighted. I've tried several to-do list apps and none of them have quite worked for me. I end up going back to scrap pieces of paper laying on my desk or stickies, both of which are sub-optimal. In fact I've never met anyone who fully recommends their to-do list software, their recommendation is always filled with caveats and things they still do "the old way." Yes the market is saturated but that doesn't mean there is nothing innovative to be done here. I say more power to this person for building something for himself and putting himself out there to see what others think.