5 ms·

What I love about this kid is that he admits it's a "stupid" app. If we could get a lot of SV to admit the same thing, perhaps we'd have a healthier culture. B

What I love about this kid is that he admits it's a "stupid" app. If we could get a lot of SV to admit the same thing, perhaps we'd have a healthier culture. But no, it's business-y-fake-success-killing-it-bullshit all the way down.

maaarghk 13y ago
absolutely what I came here to post, props to the kid for this. I am sick of companies like pretending like their app will "change the way people <whatever>". No it absolutely will not. It's a runaway success sexting app, or a runaway success "stupid game" - just admit it and I'll respect you more for it!
- mattgreenrocks 13y ago
  I recently saw Phacility's copy (company behind Phabricator code collab tool), and I tell everyone about it: "Phabricator, except you pay money for it." Actually, the entire Phabricator (http://phabricator.org/ http://phabricator.org/) site is so anti-business-y it's delicious. The bottom of the page links to Pokemon. I realize it's just it's own sort of marketing aimed at people like me, but it is worth pointing out.
  - djulius 13y ago
    +1 for the starcraft races and the selection of Pokemon.
  - elwell 13y ago
    Ha, look at their pricing page: http://phacility.com/pricing/ http://phacility.com/pricing/
  - danudey 13y ago
    More Phabricator goodness: - When closing a ticket, you can choose 'Resolved', 'Invalid', 'Wontfix', or 'Spite'. - When choosing custom permissions for an object, you can choose allow/deny 'when the moon' 'is full'/'is waning'/'is waxing'/'is new'. - Submission buttons for text fields are sometimes 'Submit', and sometimes 'Clowncopterize' or 'Avast!' or something equally ridiculous.
  - elwell 13y ago
    > The bottom of the page links to Pokemon I love that, but I wonder if those unrelated links could lower SEO rating slightly. I'm half-joking.
  - xymostech 13y ago
    About 50% of the bullet points on the site are great too: Under "Actively Developed": - Most patches make it better. - Only some break it. - Written in PHP so literally anyone can contribute, even if they have no idea how to program. - Even babies and dogs can contribute. Or under "Track bugs": - Keeps track of bugs. - You can assign them to people. - Maybe you could fix them eventually. (optional)
- spada 13y ago
  Agreed. I own a stupid website that's getting some attention recently. it's so much easier talking to reporters and other interested parties when i'm not pretending it'll have any impact beyond making some people laugh and perhaps cringe.
dperfect 13y ago
It's easy (or easier) to call your own app "stupid" when it's a single-person effort. As soon as you bring on other people to help, it's hard to call it "stupid" - not because the app changed and not because you think it's any less stupid at that point, but simply because by calling it "stupid," you're ascribing the label to someone else's work (which may or may not be welcome). For a team to maintain that perspective (that their app is not going to solve world hunger any time soon) requires some real humility and open communication. You've got to take it seriously enough to produce quality work, but not so seriously that you convince yourself it's anything more than a stupid app at the end of the day.
- joshlegs 13y ago
  > As soon as you bring on other people to help, it's hard to call it "stupid" only if they have egos you have to worry about offending. egos can be a really horrid thing.
- visakanv 13y ago
  > As soon as you bring on other people to help, it's hard to call it "stupid" Depends on the people you bring on! If you're upfront about how you feel about your app, and make sure that they relate/agree, I don't think it should be that much of a problem.
- krisgenre 13y ago
  You know the biggest reason for Steve Job's success was his ability to call stupid things stupid.
  - owenversteeg 13y ago
    What‽ Steve Jobs called all his projects "revolutionary", "amazing", and other hyperbolic adjectives. Remember his speech to Sculley? "Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?" He believed that what he did was changing the world.

maaarghk 13y ago

absolutely what I came here to post, props to the kid for this. I am sick of companies like pretending like their app will "change the way people <whatever>". No it absolutely will not. It's a runaway success sexting app, or a runaway success "stupid game" - just admit it and I'll respect you more for it!

mattgreenrocks 13y ago
I recently saw Phacility's copy (company behind Phabricator code collab tool), and I tell everyone about it: "Phabricator, except you pay money for it." Actually, the entire Phabricator (http://phabricator.org/ http://phabricator.org/) site is so anti-business-y it's delicious. The bottom of the page links to Pokemon. I realize it's just it's own sort of marketing aimed at people like me, but it is worth pointing out.
- djulius 13y ago
  +1 for the starcraft races and the selection of Pokemon.
- elwell 13y ago
  Ha, look at their pricing page: http://phacility.com/pricing/ http://phacility.com/pricing/
- danudey 13y ago
  More Phabricator goodness: - When closing a ticket, you can choose 'Resolved', 'Invalid', 'Wontfix', or 'Spite'. - When choosing custom permissions for an object, you can choose allow/deny 'when the moon' 'is full'/'is waning'/'is waxing'/'is new'. - Submission buttons for text fields are sometimes 'Submit', and sometimes 'Clowncopterize' or 'Avast!' or something equally ridiculous.
- elwell 13y ago
  > The bottom of the page links to Pokemon I love that, but I wonder if those unrelated links could lower SEO rating slightly. I'm half-joking.
- xymostech 13y ago
  About 50% of the bullet points on the site are great too: Under "Actively Developed": - Most patches make it better. - Only some break it. - Written in PHP so literally anyone can contribute, even if they have no idea how to program. - Even babies and dogs can contribute. Or under "Track bugs": - Keeps track of bugs. - You can assign them to people. - Maybe you could fix them eventually. (optional)
spada 13y ago
Agreed. I own a stupid website that's getting some attention recently. it's so much easier talking to reporters and other interested parties when i'm not pretending it'll have any impact beyond making some people laugh and perhaps cringe.

dperfect 13y ago

It's easy (or easier) to call your own app "stupid" when it's a single-person effort. As soon as you bring on other people to help, it's hard to call it "stupid" - not because the app changed and not because you think it's any less stupid at that point, but simply because by calling it "stupid," you're ascribing the label to someone else's work (which may or may not be welcome). For a team to maintain that perspective (that their app is not going to solve world hunger any time soon) requires some real humility and open communication. You've got to take it seriously enough to produce quality work, but not so seriously that you convince yourself it's anything more than a stupid app at the end of the day.

joshlegs 13y ago
> As soon as you bring on other people to help, it's hard to call it "stupid" only if they have egos you have to worry about offending. egos can be a really horrid thing.
visakanv 13y ago
> As soon as you bring on other people to help, it's hard to call it "stupid" Depends on the people you bring on! If you're upfront about how you feel about your app, and make sure that they relate/agree, I don't think it should be that much of a problem.
krisgenre 13y ago
You know the biggest reason for Steve Job's success was his ability to call stupid things stupid.
- owenversteeg 13y ago
  What‽ Steve Jobs called all his projects "revolutionary", "amazing", and other hyperbolic adjectives. Remember his speech to Sculley? "Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?" He believed that what he did was changing the world.