4 ms·

Let me tell you my raw impression of PH as an outsider. It's a cool kids club for cool SV startups as selected by founders and employes of equally cool SV star

Let me tell you my raw impression of PH as an outsider. It's a cool kids club for cool SV startups as selected by founders and employes of equally cool SV startups, where it's specifically "cool" rather than "notable" or "innovative". Secondly, while you can't join their ranks at will, you will be given a membership to comment on your own product should some cool kid submit it to the PH. Essentially they exchange memberships for adding content to PH and helping build PH's credibility. It's a reasonable approach, but they are just being ... too blunt and obnoxious about it.

rrhoover 12y ago
I appreciate the feedback, huhtenberg. Can you describe what you mean by "blunt and obnoxious"? Maybe we can improve our /about page copy or something else? On a related note: we just started handing out recommendations to give people in the community the ability to invite others to join the discussion. This way we can enable the community to help grow itself without opening the floodgate entirely. The site and team simply aren't prepared for it.
- huhtenberg 12y ago
  Blunt and obnoxious means that you don't bother with a basic reply when contacted for a feature, but then become suddenly one's biggest fans and friends, all forthcoming and excited once the product somehow ends up on the site. This comes across an exceptionally cynical, disingenuous and high-brown attitude. And, tangibly, the only benefit of joining in is the exclusivity of becoming one of the cool kids. But that's of a little value if one doesn't have any SV peeps to impress.
  - richardburton 12y ago
    This seems a little blunt and obnoxious. Ryan is trying to help people get their products out there. I'm sure he has a lot of inbound email and may struggle to reply to everyone.
- chancefeick 12y ago
  The site and team simply aren't prepared for it. I'm a fan of PH, but I don't think it's okay to change course on your answer here. Originally, it was closed to build a community with quality content. Now, it's closed due to scalability? Seems like your angle is changing due to pressure.
scollins 12y ago
You're not alone. I have had similar experience as an outsider on bunch of other similar sites as well. My submissions are "Pending Approval" for over a year. No reply to tweets or emails, when clearly new sites from SF are approved daily / weekly.
weixiyen 12y ago
Well, nobody would use PH if they begged for people to use it. Their success is directly correlated with the fact that they are a cool kids club, and everyone wants in. Psychology 101. Your comment, ironically, if anything, just made PH more desirable to the majority of the people that read it.
livestyle 12y ago
I don't think that is a fair assessment. I have been an active contributor for the past couple of months. I am NOT part of any club. I live in upstate NH. I'm certainly not cool. However I do think that you are noticing a trend that I have as well.. the actually innovative or disruptive products end up not getting as much attention as they maybe should. What I am interested to see is the social graph that get's developed based on our product preferences. I think it will be less about product leaderboards and more about product discovery. my .02

rrhoover 12y ago

I appreciate the feedback, huhtenberg. Can you describe what you mean by "blunt and obnoxious"? Maybe we can improve our /about page copy or something else? On a related note: we just started handing out recommendations to give people in the community the ability to invite others to join the discussion. This way we can enable the community to help grow itself without opening the floodgate entirely. The site and team simply aren't prepared for it.

huhtenberg 12y ago
Blunt and obnoxious means that you don't bother with a basic reply when contacted for a feature, but then become suddenly one's biggest fans and friends, all forthcoming and excited once the product somehow ends up on the site. This comes across an exceptionally cynical, disingenuous and high-brown attitude. And, tangibly, the only benefit of joining in is the exclusivity of becoming one of the cool kids. But that's of a little value if one doesn't have any SV peeps to impress.
- richardburton 12y ago
  This seems a little blunt and obnoxious. Ryan is trying to help people get their products out there. I'm sure he has a lot of inbound email and may struggle to reply to everyone.
chancefeick 12y ago
The site and team simply aren't prepared for it. I'm a fan of PH, but I don't think it's okay to change course on your answer here. Originally, it was closed to build a community with quality content. Now, it's closed due to scalability? Seems like your angle is changing due to pressure.

scollins 12y ago

You're not alone. I have had similar experience as an outsider on bunch of other similar sites as well. My submissions are "Pending Approval" for over a year. No reply to tweets or emails, when clearly new sites from SF are approved daily / weekly.

weixiyen 12y ago

Well, nobody would use PH if they begged for people to use it. Their success is directly correlated with the fact that they are a cool kids club, and everyone wants in. Psychology 101. Your comment, ironically, if anything, just made PH more desirable to the majority of the people that read it.

livestyle 12y ago

I don't think that is a fair assessment. I have been an active contributor for the past couple of months. I am NOT part of any club. I live in upstate NH. I'm certainly not cool. However I do think that you are noticing a trend that I have as well.. the actually innovative or disruptive products end up not getting as much attention as they maybe should. What I am interested to see is the social graph that get's developed based on our product preferences. I think it will be less about product leaderboards and more about product discovery. my .02