
Ask HN: What is your most failed side-project? - arisAlexis
I have spent my last year on two (fun) solo projects. One was a good vibes social network that I made an extremely complicated backend, coded the frontend and then decided to drop it. I put it on github and got 3 stars.<p>Second part of the year I coded a full Twitter clone (with some twists https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.writedown.co) that I wanted it to become a non-profit but actually noone used it except for my friends.<p>In total I spent almost a year coding useless stuff. Your experience?
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coderKen
When I first learnt to code I started out building stuff to solve problems
around me, turns out it wasn't a problem to people.

while in college \- myrumate.com [2011] I built a basic web app to help
students find roomates, especially students coming from long distances.

\- thestudybox.com [2012] (I still keep this domain don't know why) question
and answer site for students, a cheap stackoverflow clone.

\- Snatchh.com [2013] A classifieds sites for students to buy and sell
stuff.ly

They all failed but I learnt a lot about building stuff from scratch to
completion alone. Code was most procedural PHP(spaghetti) and I experienced
first hand the problem with a large smelly code base.

I still build stuff, but it's mostly small personal stuff.

Find the code here: [http://github.com/nkudo](http://github.com/nkudo)

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znpy
I was/am developing a web application to create beautiful flashcards, using
LaTex.

I coded a very basic MVP that basically let you create a deck of cards and
export it to PDF for print and cut.

I showed it to some university friends but none of them showed real interest.

I still run it on a dokku instance on Digital Ocean, because I use it myself
from time to time.

If anyone is interested, the stack was golang + gin framework + postgresql +
texlive + javascript + bootstrap + mathjax.

At the end of this all, it was a nice exercise in building something useful
with Go and I now have a nice tool in my toolbox.

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fiftyacorn
I wrote a website to stream google streetview for a given route. I then wrote
a client to connect it to the ant+ device(cadence, power meter, speed sensors)
on my indoor trainer to allow me to ride the route -

[http://www.routeviewer.com/](http://www.routeviewer.com/)

Unfortunately the refresh rates on streetview were too low, as its not
designed for this.

Should have built trainerroad

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ErikAugust
I get a lot of my education through coding "useless stuff" so it always
becomes a good way to learn something or other. That being said, several
hybrid mobile apps that are no longer living come to mind.

Also, an NES emulator that resides at
[http://www.playnesta.com](http://www.playnesta.com) \- if you're on Chrome or
even mobile it's pretty slick.

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arisAlexis
This is amazing!!! I am playing double dragon at work LOL

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ErikAugust
Hey there - glad you're liking it. Maybe I'll work on it some more, haha.

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paukiatwee
I personally built open source personal budget app [1] for fun and experience.
I built the app not for profit so there is not _failed_ project.

Instead of assume failed, I suggest make it as your portfolio for future
employment.

[1]:
[https://github.com/paukiatwee/budgetapp](https://github.com/paukiatwee/budgetapp)

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arisAlexis
Learning is always a plus we agree. I mean failure in a sense that it didn't
get any love or money and didn't turn out to be what you imagined.

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shanehoban
Should I count projects that I'm still working on as failing until proven
otherwise?

If so then [https://www.earpod.co](https://www.earpod.co)

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arisAlexis
No :) Only if you drop it

