2 ms·

This needs downmodded so hard.

DanielBMarkham 19y ago
I think the question needed to be asked and answered. Is there something off-topic about asking what sorts of Web 2.0 businesses are appropriate for the board? If he had a business selling beanie-babies online with a slick AJAX interface I don't think anyone would care. If he were selling heroin it would be a scandal. So where's the line? I think it is an interesting question as far as being appropriate. It sounds like it is obvious to you that it is not.Perhaps you know something I don't. There's also the question of what kinds of industries people feel it would be okay to support. Would anybody here write a cool new web application to buy and sell cigarettes? (Assuming it was legal, of course). How about a wine rating and shipping service? I think I would have problems with the first one and not-so-much with the second one. Would you write a web application so immersive it had negative impacts on people's lives? Ouch -- that one cuts close to home, eh?
- mynameishere 19y ago
  He's peddling dope, and if you'd been paying attention you would have seen him do it many times before. If you want to talk business, okay: There is a period in every drug's existence where it is legal. This happened with heroin, cocaine, lsd, etc. In this twilight, money can be made, yes. And if the drug becomes successful, it will eventually be regulated or criminalized. There's nothing special about this.
  - DanielBMarkham 19y ago
    I've only been on a month or so. Like I said, you probably know something I don't. But there are also plants that continue to be approved as supplements. I know, because although I don't do any drugs at all (except alcohol and a bit of caffeine), I'm a big into supplements. Not for this board, but I wonder how the decision is made one way or the other -- what becomes an illegal substance and what is okay to use as a supplement? And how would one know ahead of time?
    - rms 19y ago
      I've looked into submitting kratom for approval as a supplement. You send a letter to the FDA and then they inspect the facility where the supplement is produced. Kratom will become illegal if there is political pressure to do so. I hope that the current political climate has moved far enough past war-on-drugs hysteria for this to happen.
- joshwa 19y ago
  > If he had a business selling beanie-babies online with a slick AJAX interface I don't think anyone would care. But he doesn't. There's nothing even remotely on-topic about his business... news.yc seems to be mostly about tech startups, or, at the very least, about new and disruptive business models. This is a fairly straightforward product business (with a few regulatory/marketing issues). Besides the social engineering of this site, there's not a much in the way of 'hacking' going on with his business. Thus, to me (and plenty of others), it's off-topic here.
  - DanielBMarkham 19y ago
    I believe you are saying that it's okay to have product business (beanie-babies) and also that it's not okay to have a product business (his stuff). I, for one, would like to hear about web businesses that integrate product sales into lifestyles. I think it's fine to draw the line at "stuff we think might be illegal and/or bad for people" but I sure would like to talk more about product-based web applications if that's okay with everybody.
    - joshwa 19y ago
      No, I'm saying that it's on-topic to have a product business if you're doing something truly 'hacker-ish' with it. If you have a yahoo or ebay store selling beanie babies, that's OT. If you have micropayment-based virtual beanie baby store that uses genetic algorithms to 'breed' new species of beanie babies with other users' virtual beanie babies, then lets you use on-demand manufacturing to buy physical copies of the new species, then you're back on topic. PS: if anyone uses that idea, give me 10% equity, please. "Spore meets Tamagotchi meets Etsy."
      - sethg 19y ago
        Also, this business has very little if any growth potential, because if kratom becomes "too" popular, the FDA and DEA are going to jump in with both feet. (And perhaps some big pharmaceutical company will patent a kratom-derived painkiller and crank it out on an industrial scale.)

I think the question needed to be asked and answered. Is there something off-topic about asking what sorts of Web 2.0 businesses are appropriate for the board? If he had a business selling beanie-babies online with a slick AJAX interface I don't think anyone would care. If he were selling heroin it would be a scandal. So where's the line? I think it is an interesting question as far as being appropriate. It sounds like it is obvious to you that it is not.Perhaps you know something I don't. There's also the question of what kinds of industries people feel it would be okay to support. Would anybody here write a cool new web application to buy and sell cigarettes? (Assuming it was legal, of course). How about a wine rating and shipping service? I think I would have problems with the first one and not-so-much with the second one. Would you write a web application so immersive it had negative impacts on people's lives? Ouch -- that one cuts close to home, eh?

mynameishere 19y ago
He's peddling dope, and if you'd been paying attention you would have seen him do it many times before. If you want to talk business, okay: There is a period in every drug's existence where it is legal. This happened with heroin, cocaine, lsd, etc. In this twilight, money can be made, yes. And if the drug becomes successful, it will eventually be regulated or criminalized. There's nothing special about this.
- DanielBMarkham 19y ago
  I've only been on a month or so. Like I said, you probably know something I don't. But there are also plants that continue to be approved as supplements. I know, because although I don't do any drugs at all (except alcohol and a bit of caffeine), I'm a big into supplements. Not for this board, but I wonder how the decision is made one way or the other -- what becomes an illegal substance and what is okay to use as a supplement? And how would one know ahead of time?
  - rms 19y ago
    I've looked into submitting kratom for approval as a supplement. You send a letter to the FDA and then they inspect the facility where the supplement is produced. Kratom will become illegal if there is political pressure to do so. I hope that the current political climate has moved far enough past war-on-drugs hysteria for this to happen.
joshwa 19y ago
> If he had a business selling beanie-babies online with a slick AJAX interface I don't think anyone would care. But he doesn't. There's nothing even remotely on-topic about his business... news.yc seems to be mostly about tech startups, or, at the very least, about new and disruptive business models. This is a fairly straightforward product business (with a few regulatory/marketing issues). Besides the social engineering of this site, there's not a much in the way of 'hacking' going on with his business. Thus, to me (and plenty of others), it's off-topic here.
- DanielBMarkham 19y ago
  I believe you are saying that it's okay to have product business (beanie-babies) and also that it's not okay to have a product business (his stuff). I, for one, would like to hear about web businesses that integrate product sales into lifestyles. I think it's fine to draw the line at "stuff we think might be illegal and/or bad for people" but I sure would like to talk more about product-based web applications if that's okay with everybody.
  - joshwa 19y ago
    No, I'm saying that it's on-topic to have a product business if you're doing something truly 'hacker-ish' with it. If you have a yahoo or ebay store selling beanie babies, that's OT. If you have micropayment-based virtual beanie baby store that uses genetic algorithms to 'breed' new species of beanie babies with other users' virtual beanie babies, then lets you use on-demand manufacturing to buy physical copies of the new species, then you're back on topic. PS: if anyone uses that idea, give me 10% equity, please. "Spore meets Tamagotchi meets Etsy."
    - sethg 19y ago
      Also, this business has very little if any growth potential, because if kratom becomes "too" popular, the FDA and DEA are going to jump in with both feet. (And perhaps some big pharmaceutical company will patent a kratom-derived painkiller and crank it out on an industrial scale.)