4 ms·

Note for the hacker crowd: they don't mean free as in speech. They mean free as in beer that fell off a truck.

stackghost 8mo ago
When I was coming up, hackers embraced both those definitions. "Information wants to be free" and "fuck corporations" were our guiding principles. Edit: to the dead comment in reply to this one, of course it's more nuanced than "all information should be public at all times". It's almost like a 5-word axiom necessarily omits nuance in exchange for brevity. Hackers also used to exhibit critical thinking skills, sheesh.
- akoboldfrying 8mo ago
  [flagged]
  - staplers 8mo ago
    Meta, openai, google have a bridge to sell you
- redrove 8mo ago
  That’s long gone, especially around here. YC is YC. It’s sad the best we could do in terms of community forum is a VC’s website.
  - stackghost 8mo ago
    >It’s sad the best we could do in terms of community forum is a VC’s website. It is sad. There are definitely some talented people here but the pervasive corporate bootlicking is pretty hard to take, at times. Certain usenet newsgroups had a similar vibe, once upon a time, but usenet couldn't solve the spam problem.
  - vovavili 8mo ago
    Ycombinator is far from your average venture capital rent-seeking company. I am surprised that a person who thinks this way without added nuance would spent time on this website.
- dudefeliciano 8mo ago
  VC "hackers" still think that information is free and fuck corporations, just as long as it's not "their" information or "their" corporation
flexagoon 8mo ago
"Beer that fell off a truck" has a somewhat negative connotation, but FMHY-listed sites are generally not only free, but also high quality, especially the starred ones. Nowadays when I'm looking for a service to do something I just search FMHY instead of a search engine. Much better results.
- jl6 8mo ago
  “Fell off the back of a truck” is a euphemism for stolen goods; it’s not so much about quality (indeed warez releases are often stripped of ads/launchers/annoyances, rendering them very high quality).
  - vntok 8mo ago
    Copying Is Not Theft https://youtu.be/IeTybKL1pM4?si=TlFbbK8Z9q4s-hut https://youtu.be/IeTybKL1pM4?si=TlFbbK8Z9q4s-hut
aardv44rk 8mo ago
Speech isn't a medium in this context.
numbers_guy 8mo ago
They mean free as in a poem that can be recited by anyone who has listened to it previously.

When I was coming up, hackers embraced both those definitions. "Information wants to be free" and "fuck corporations" were our guiding principles. Edit: to the dead comment in reply to this one, of course it's more nuanced than "all information should be public at all times". It's almost like a 5-word axiom necessarily omits nuance in exchange for brevity. Hackers also used to exhibit critical thinking skills, sheesh.

akoboldfrying 8mo ago
[flagged]
- staplers 8mo ago
  Meta, openai, google have a bridge to sell you
redrove 8mo ago
That’s long gone, especially around here. YC is YC. It’s sad the best we could do in terms of community forum is a VC’s website.
- stackghost 8mo ago
  >It’s sad the best we could do in terms of community forum is a VC’s website. It is sad. There are definitely some talented people here but the pervasive corporate bootlicking is pretty hard to take, at times. Certain usenet newsgroups had a similar vibe, once upon a time, but usenet couldn't solve the spam problem.
- vovavili 8mo ago
  Ycombinator is far from your average venture capital rent-seeking company. I am surprised that a person who thinks this way without added nuance would spent time on this website.
dudefeliciano 8mo ago
VC "hackers" still think that information is free and fuck corporations, just as long as it's not "their" information or "their" corporation

flexagoon 8mo ago

"Beer that fell off a truck" has a somewhat negative connotation, but FMHY-listed sites are generally not only free, but also high quality, especially the starred ones. Nowadays when I'm looking for a service to do something I just search FMHY instead of a search engine. Much better results.

jl6 8mo ago
“Fell off the back of a truck” is a euphemism for stolen goods; it’s not so much about quality (indeed warez releases are often stripped of ads/launchers/annoyances, rendering them very high quality).
- vntok 8mo ago
  Copying Is Not Theft https://youtu.be/IeTybKL1pM4?si=TlFbbK8Z9q4s-hut https://youtu.be/IeTybKL1pM4?si=TlFbbK8Z9q4s-hut

aardv44rk 8mo ago

Speech isn't a medium in this context.

numbers_guy 8mo ago

They mean free as in a poem that can be recited by anyone who has listened to it previously.