
Show HN: hackathon for introverts - JacksonGariety
http://hackalone.org
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calinet6
I tend to dislike the idea of labeling introverts and generalizing them.

I used to be solidly in that introvert group, accepting that it was completely
fine to want to be alone, that it was who I was and that I should be proud of
it.

I went through a huge shift in college (one of the reasons I believe college
is a great experience) and now I'm far more extroverted than I used to be,
truly a sea change.

I believe that this change has been incredibly positive for me, and I wish I
hadn't held myself back so much by being too complacent with my personality.

You are who you are, and you shouldn't hate yourself or do anything harmful to
your self confidence, but don't be afraid of change either! And for pete's
sake, don't pigeon-hole yourself into a category just because you think you
fit it. Over your life, you will change more than you know, and hopefully for
the better—there's no reason to limit yourself.

So my recommendation is to collaborate as much as possible, go outside your
comfort zone, break the barriers that make you cringe, and learn from it to
grow as a person and as a coder.

~~~
testing12341234
You may be conflating shyness, social intelligence and introversion. Just for
clarity, here are some definitions which I don't assume everyone knows.

Shyness "is the feeling of apprehension, lack of comfort, or awkwardness
experienced when a person is in proximity to, approaching, or being approached
by other people, especially in new situations or with unfamiliar people"[0]

Social Intelligence "describes the exclusively human capacity to effectively
navigate and negotiate complex social relationships and environments"[1]

Introversion is "the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly
concerned with and interested in one's own mental life".[2]

When I was younger, I was told that all of these things were the same , and I
was very confused. While I felt more connected to my inner world than the
outer world, I had no problem dealing with situations (such as parties,
events, etc) where I met a large number of people. I wouldn't actively seek
these types of encounters out, but would navigate them (often with
compliments) when they came up. However, afterwords I would feel physically
and mentally exhausted. Only later in life did I learn a more nuanced view
about introversion/extroversion that dealt with which situations one finds
more or less rewarding.

I personally find small teams, often just me, highly rewarding and engaging.
Afterwards I feel mentally recharged, and can continue such encounters for
very long amounts of time. Conversely, I find that large groups are very
draining, and I have to take more time to recharge.

I would generally rank in the middle-lower levels in shyness. I don't actively
seek out encounters with strangers, but I do not feel a high level of
apprehension or awkwardness. For social IQ, I'd rate myself as average. I can
talk someone's ear off, understand empathy, and social situations do not
generally throw me off balance. However, for introversion I'm near the top.
Given any particular situation, I would prefer to be alone or in small groups,
even to point of possible negative social/group consequences (which I
generally understand and accept as the cost of the trade-off).

So while I agree with you that some introverts are pigeon-holing themselves,
there are people, like myself, who value their introversion and do not feel
that it is a limitation.

[0] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shyness> [1]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_IQ> [2]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introversion>

Edit: Typos

~~~
turoczy
Thanks for these definitions. In a post on Hackalone, I had incorrectly lumped
together "antisocial" and "introverted" as synonyms. Your definitions (and a
comment from a reader) clearly highlighted my error.

Irony: I'd classify myself as introverted and antisocial. But not anymore. Now
I'm just introverted ;)

~~~
victorhn
Unless you have a tendency to commit criminal acts or something against
society, which is the definition of antisocial, the appropiate word you are
looking for is asocial.

~~~
JacksonGariety
@victorhn is right, the two words are often confused.

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turoczy
We host a ton of hackathons. And at every event, there are inevitably
developers who prefer to work on their own, rather than joining teams. Their
creations are often on par with the team driven projects. But they're still
(pun intended) odd person out.

Love the idea of getting a bunch of these solo hackers together in the same
room to see what they can accomplish.

~~~
colbyaley
We've been doing this for a few weeks, and it's super fun. Want to get some
more people together and do them on a regular basis.

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JacksonGariety
Also, use command `shit HN says` to hear shit hacker news says. There are a
bunch of other commands as well not listed in help.

~~~
atldev
Thanks for the tip- that was pretty entertaining. Love the design and
attention to detail...up arrow repeats last command. It's a refreshing
departure from typical info sites and aimed well at the target.

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testing12341234
Love the idea. Any chance of getting information on the next event? The "next
event" listed was apparently for 3am this morning (which I would have been up
for).

~~~
JacksonGariety
You can schedule them yourself. Try the 'start event' command.

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rachelbythebay
"4. Only one guy to a each hack"

Oh, okay then.

~~~
civilian
They're using the non-gendered form of "guy".

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aaronblohowiak
and I believe this is becoming more common.. i believe the gendered-ness of
"guy" also has a regional component to it, but I have no hard data to back
that claim up. I agree with the other poster that using more descriptive
"contributor" avoids gender issues altogether..

Edit: after doing some more thinking/research, I now believe that the non-
gendered form is "guys", but that is still gender-biased: if you were in a
room and said "can all the guys sit on this side of the room?" the women would
likely not move to that side of the room. Similarly, if you were describing a
robbery and you said "a short guy with a purple hood", it would not be
ambiguous that you were talking about a male robber.

~~~
DanBC
> if you were in a room and said "can all the guys sit on this side of the
> room?"

Interesting. What would happen if you said "can all you guys sit on this side
of the room?"

I agree that other words avoid this problem and are more descriptive.

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sirclueless
Apparently it's aimed at introverts with Twitter accounts. I can't imagine
something less attractive to an introvert than broadcasting your life
publicly.

~~~
fusiongyro
Moreover, why would a bunch of introverts want to get together for this? Why
would they want to make presentations about what they've done? I'm all for
clever ideas but there's so many social elements to this I don't see why I'd
do this if I'm not doing hackathons. If you're not social, you're not social--
the end.

~~~
aashay
In a similar fashion to a few comments above, you may be conflating shyness
for introversion. One can be introverted and social at the same time.
Presentations specifically are a very different form of social interaction
than ad-hoc interaction with large groups; one involves speaking _to_ people
while the other involves speaking _with_ people. For example, I rank pretty
high on the "I" side of the MBTI[1] but I enjoy giving presentations and
speeches and I'm even a member of a Toastmasters club [2]. Given the choice of
presenting organized information to a group versus chatting up a bunch of
partygoers, I will almost always choose the former.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator>

[2] <http://www.toastmasters.org/>

Edit: clarity

~~~
fusiongyro
I think it's pretty amusing that you've decided to interpret a mass of
comments from people who find this idea ridiculous as an opportunity to
educate us all about the distinction between introversion and shyness. Clearly
if this distinction is meaningful, this idea will be a big hit. When it
instead falters, will you consider the possibility that perhaps you're just
unusual, rather than that we are all uneducated?

~~~
nollidge
aashay is hardly the first person to decide the distinction is meaningful:

<https://www.google.com/search?q=shyness+vs.+introversion>

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ImprovedSilence
I love love LOVE the terminal emulation idea for an informative website. I had
fun just poking around with the commands, and I got my information on what it
was and how everything goes sooo much faster than clicking through links.
Bravo on UX for this site!

~~~
DanBC
I loved the UX too.

The output of help re-flows when the window is re-sized. But the output of
other 'commands' didn't reflow. I'm not sure if that's a feature or not.

But it's a really nice way to present information.

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drivers99
It says the next event is in Portland, OR at 03:00 on 11/5 however it is
currently 09:00 on 11/5 there. Assuming it's the local time zone, the event
should be an old event. There aren't any time zones that would fit either,
must be a bug.

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rhizome
Are there designers who prefer to work alone as well? I would love to see a
hackathon-y mechanism for putting introvert/solo coders together with
introvert/solo designers, like a development-oriented Chatroulette.

~~~
JacksonGariety
Hackalones aren't specific to coders, you can design hack as well.

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JohnBooty
I love this idea!

I could never attend a "normal" hackathon because, while I really enjoy being
sociable and interacting with others, I struggle with my focus. I need quiet
and solitude to really get any coding done.

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tylerneylon
This is cool.

font-weight: bold;

would increase readability.

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bharad
How do I join a hackalone?

Very nice interface.

~~~
colbyaley
You can make your own!

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mwetzler
the competitor in me wants there to be a winner! adorable idea though.

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Toshio
Nice hack, but what is the point? How is this useful?

~~~
JacksonGariety
To learn and become a better programmer but with: No teams, no stress, no
conflict resolution.

