

edw519 & rms Interview with Andrew Warner from Mixergy about Hacker News - edw519
http://blog.mixergy.com/why-communities/

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lbrandy
An interesting dichotomy occurs when he mentions "optimizing" for digg versus
how to optimize for hacker news. Ed (edw519, I presume) says.. no.. just... be
yourself. Be sincere. Don't try to game the system.

For a super-high traffic site like digg, it becomes absolutely paramount to
get your hooks into people because you don't have alot of time to make an
impact. An extra marketing once-over on the submission is virtually required
(not to even mention going a step above to rigging the system with some quid
pro quo or dummy accounts). It makes digg largely unappealing to me from a
submissions stand-point because, first, the traffic is of low quality, and
secondly, it seems... uhm... unsavory.

For a lower traffic site like this with a super narrow focus, it's much easier
to get noticed. And the traffic is of extremely high quality (presuming you
are on topic...) You are in the new queue long enough that your story is going
to live or die on its own much more than the magic title, etc.

~~~
AndrewWarner
Good point. Digg's top users spoke at one my Mixergy Forums. They were very
clear about what it took to get to the top of Digg. No hesitation at all.

~~~
rms
If I had a trick, I would have shared it...

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huhtenberg
Unless I'm missing something obvious - _that_ is not an _interview_.

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lbrandy
The audio is at the bottom. The video is like an intro :)

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AndrewWarner
Thanks for clarifying that. I wonder if there's a better/clearer way for me to
show videos in the future.

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davidw
Cool... nice that those silly karma points finally were useful for something.

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edw519
Scroll down far enough and you will find my picture on a CD jacket. That
picture and the quote from pg are both from this thread:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=202096>

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mrtron
Congrats, you are a celebrity! I can tell it is already going to your head
with this shameless self-promotion of your picture.

~~~
edw519
Thanks. Sometimes it's hard _not_ to make an ascii of myself.

~~~
mrtron
Oh no. That is an unfair characterization of yourself.

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babul
It is amazing how listening to people talk can then affect the way you read
their comments. It is like you have a better/newfound understanding of the
person they are based on their speech pattern, speed, accent, inflections etc.

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mixmax
He talks a about meeting in person. Am I missing something? Or is it just that
I'm living in the wrong place?

~~~
rms
Startup school functions as a defacto Hacker News meetup, plus there have been
some Pittsburgh ones.

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mixmax
Sucks to be in Europe :-)

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AndrewWarner
Or maybe Europe needs their own meetups.

~~~
davidw
Free Beer for Hackers here in Innsbruck:-)

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aswanson
Listening to this reminds of how sites like this remind me of sports talk
radio, commenting on the latest play (link). Always better with more people
around.

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fallentimes
If you want to see their faces, facebook them.

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AndrewWarner
edw519 & rms thanks for doing this interview. I loved the conversation.

