wdewind

18 ms·

121.
by wdewind 8y ago
Sorry yeah, I reversed the terms, in response to this: > The term "federation" is borrowed from political science for a reason. Just like in the USA, multiple federated states who share broad-strokes policies maintain interoper
122.
by wdewind 8y ago
I resent the "not too sharp" comment, and the implication that I hadn't even considered the idea that you're paying with your data coming from all three of you. I'll respond here to all of you that responded general
123.
by wdewind 8y ago
> I don't entirely understand why you assume that one node will come to dominate such that it will be equivalent to a centralized system? One, or a small number, and because this is the history of these types of things. > The ter
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by wdewind 8y ago
> I’d say it’s succeeding as much as facebook is. Maybe I'm defining succeeding too narrowly, and sorry to be rude, but what universe do you live in where this is even close to true? Some quick googling shows the network hadn'
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by wdewind 8y ago
This question very quickly turns into "who watches the watchmen" if you pull the thread long enough. THAT'S the moderation problem, not scale or cost.
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by wdewind 8y ago
Right email is the exact model I'm basing my thinking on. You don't see people running their own email servers, you see 4-5 companies in the world gobbling up the VAST majority of the network, even with weak network effects.
127.
by wdewind 8y ago
This is actually my exact point. Why did FB come after phpBB? And I guess I'd argue: there actually aren't that many phpBB communities, relative to the numbers of people on Twitter and FB. If Mastodon (or federation in general)
128.
by wdewind 8y ago
> I think you're maybe forgetting that the goal of Mastodon, or any federated (as opposed to distributed) system, is not to have every single user run and administer their own instances, but rather to enable users to freely select f
129.
by wdewind 8y ago
> Have you tried Mastodon? Yes. > You still pay someone else to run the server (or not, if you prefer), you can just choose who you pay, and which server. Sending toots does not require that you set up your own infra, re: the email ex
130.
by wdewind 8y ago
Also access to cheap/free labor, also perhaps underaged labor?
131.
by wdewind 8y ago
The broad approach to social networking presented by Mastodon and other federated networks is "spend your time/resources on funding the network instead of paying someone else much less to do it." It wont "work" for
132.
by wdewind 8y ago
Sure, people don't need to explain RDBMS frequently, but that code you wrote last week? Or that reason you can't do exactly what the PM wants? YMMV but I spend a LOT of time communicating difficult concepts to other engineers (n
133.
by wdewind 8y ago
Isn't a lot of the job of software engineering to quickly and concisely communicate complicated concepts? Might this actually be an accurate work sample? How else might you measure something like this? Also the next few lines kinda a
134.
by wdewind 8y ago
Since you're the one bringing this this time up I'll throw this out there: fiber is the source of as many problems as solutions. The idea that high fiber diets are appropriate for everyone is not supported by the science, and the
135.
by wdewind 8y ago
A well functioning market contains the incentives to bring correct information to it. If Ackman was right about Herbalife then he stood to make billions. He wasn't, and the process that unfolded over 5 years was a Good Thing, both fo
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by wdewind 8y ago
Sorry I don't really understand your point. Some people short sell on a "short" time line, but some people try and make large, long term plays via shorting. Ackman and Herbalife, being a canonical example.
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by wdewind 8y ago
Right, that's why the market is functioning well when it's rewarding you for bring that information to it earlier. That's what short selling does.
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by wdewind 8y ago
> There's no way I can see to get the outcome you want without wrecking the whole system that creates the wealth in the first place. This really sums up the economic conversation in America these days (and FWIW I agree!).
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by wdewind 8y ago
Why isn't the ability to short sell enough to balance this incentive out? If twitter is severely overvalued there's a ton of money to be made informing the market of that fact.
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by wdewind 8y ago
Sorry but do I really need to explain why on a human level having months/years of work thrown out might be emotionally painful? They're bankers not robots. And even if they were robots, having a deal like this fall through hurts
141.
by wdewind 8y ago
> Ok, so what's my point? Well, the mindset of those junior bankers is what permeates America. We're all temporarily embarrassed millionaires, right? It's a kind of shared madness. I think you're missing the point. I
142.
by wdewind 8y ago
I think your analogy is 100% spot on. I'm not arguing that the startup industry isn't shady, I'm arguing that it is and, much like the shady used car industry, and much like you said, you can totally find good deals if you k
143.
by wdewind 8y ago
> The context for this argument is that joining a profitable business carries less risk of being deceived / manipulated and waking up after 4+ years to a reality that is totally different than what you were repeatedly lectured to ex
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by wdewind 8y ago
> Compare that to options, which worth is hypothetical and up for debate. None of your fellow employees know more than what the founders told them. It's some glowing future promise that will only be broken a few years down the road.
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by wdewind 8y ago
> The question was about how startups are in general, so we must acknowledge that wildly optimistic equity value expectations are the norm. Isn't this true about life in general? Even when you go interview at bigco they are lying t
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by wdewind 8y ago
> Have you interviewed in many startups? "Sober view" is not what you'd get from a founder hard-selling you on any role. Try "wildly optimistic, unrealistically so". Don't join those companies. I've sp
147.
by wdewind 8y ago
> 1. The valuation you will get from the founders before being hired ("your equity will be worth $X millions when we IPO") is unrealistically optimistic. Even on the remote chance your startup becomes a huge success, you'l
148.
by wdewind 8y ago
Sorry I don't have a source, but what I really meant by that was: when you hear the stories of engineers getting "screwed out of options" it always boils down to things like liquidation preferences and taxes and things like t
149.
by wdewind 8y ago
Sorry yes that's exactly what I meant.
150.
by wdewind 8y ago
Right, you definitely have to understand what you're getting into. Being a successful startup engineer is probably a specialty in itself, that requires a mix of business knowledge and software knowledge. Many startups are beginning to

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