
Show HN: Barnacl.es, a community news site for never-funded bootstrappers - Harkins
https://barnacl.es/s/8skxre/welcome_to_barnacles
======
junko
This is super refreshing! I really hope that this community lasts. For me,
even though I passionately believe in my project, the biggest problem is that
I can't motivate myself on a _day-to-day_ basis, so I end up getting
distracted. But I do notice that when I discuss my project with friends and
family, I can get rolling again. Going to a startup event gives that effect
too, but lesser as I always feel out of place - I don't want external funding
as huge as VC's, nor am I in a hurry to scale it asap and so on. It seems that
"organic" growing is most suitable for my profile; yes I want to make a profit
but I also want to make it a personal enrichment (my project is art/education
based). But without peer "push", the project can stretch for years at this
rate! A community like this could be a game-changer :)

------
onethumb
As a bootstrapped founder, exciting to see communities like this forming and
rising. It's such a non-traditional way to start, build and grow a business in
Silicon Valley that it can be baffling for new founders or those that want to
try something "different". I've been encouraged by the recent success of the
Tugboat Institute and its Evergreen movement, too, FWIW:
[http://www.thetugboatgroup.com/](http://www.thetugboatgroup.com/)

~~~
vox_mollis
_It 's such a non-traditional way to start_

Doubt this. Remember that VC is only available to those who already have an
"in" with the social proof network of the VCs.

We, like many many others, bootstrapped our business out of necessity, not out
of choice.

~~~
coldtea
Yeah, but parent wrote:

>It's such a non-traditional way to start _in the Silicon Valley_.

~~~
onethumb
Thanks for pointing that out. It is funny that this is a very normal way to
start a business almost everywhere else - but people do look at you funny in
Silicon Valley.

------
squeaky-clean
[https://barnacl.es/s/bwd2dt/please_upvote_the_show_hn_on_bar...](https://barnacl.es/s/bwd2dt/please_upvote_the_show_hn_on_barnacles)

:( C'mon, aside from being uncool, doing this is likely to get the post
automatically removed from the front page.

~~~
ihuman
Asking for upvotes is against the rules
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

> Can I ask people to upvote my submission?

> No. Users should vote for a story because it's intellectually interesting,
> not because someone is promoting it.

~~~
Harkins
Thanks for the quote, I was unaware from... well, everyone I've known who has
had a story on YC News and has asked for upvotes.

It's removed.

~~~
sillysaurus3
Here's a screenshot for anyone who didn't get a chance to see it:
[http://i.imgur.com/om0vvJV.png](http://i.imgur.com/om0vvJV.png)

~~~
Harkins
And my final sentence of the "Welcome to Barnacles" post included a request
for votes on YC News, though I didn't screenshot before I reworded that. I
honestly had no idea of the rule here, so I've removed it. If there's flags,
penalties, or removal I earned it. Nothing more to be done.

~~~
squeaky-clean
Seemed like an honest mistake. It's a little unfair to the other submissions,
but I mostly wanted to warn you guys that HN does attempt to detect vote
manipulation and removes posts (and the moderators will manually do it if they
notice).

------
c17r
See also [http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/](http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/)

------
jwr
Excellent idea. I hope the site will gather critical mass and become a living
community.

I suspect the community might become more Europe-oriented, because it’s more
difficult to get funding here and there are more bootstrapped businesses as a
result.

~~~
matt_o
> I suspect the community might become more Europe-oriented, because it’s more
> difficult to get funding here and there are more bootstrapped businesses as
> a result.

It's also a lot harder to set up any sort of business in most places in
Europe, at least compared to doing it in the US. I wouldn't be surprised if
this community will become centered on North/South America and Asia.

In the US, you could start selling widgets instantly (all legally, taxes taken
care of). Getting an LLC (something like a GmbH/Ltd) set up takes around 1-2
weeks tops, securing a company credit card - a few days.

Source: Self-employed US expat in Germany.

~~~
nekopa
You could go the way of a UK Ltd company, 4 hours to set up via an
incorporation website. I've used it to set up companies - US Ex-pat living in
the Czech Rep. Works all across the EU.

(At least until the Brexit happens)

~~~
matt_o
Thanks! I'll look into that!

I'll still have to take care of taxes locally here (tax residency, grumbles),
which are the biggest time sink. Maybe I should hop the border into the Czech
Rep. :)

------
sandGorgon
I was just checking this out yesterday because there were some pull requests
on lobsters referencing barnacles.

This is the first of many spin-offs using the lobste.rs source code and I
think it's a cool initiative!!

One of my feature requests to lobsters was to incorporate Oauth provider so it
becomes an alternative identity/auth source. The invite tree and the
moderation log will cause it to be one of the most trusted of these providers.

My request was rejected by jcs, but it will be cool to see you incorporate
this.

~~~
Harkins
I think it's the second; aesi.news is at least a few months old.

~~~
jordigh
At least the third, this has been around for a while too:

[https://ossnews.net/](https://ossnews.net/)

------
kmfrk
I feel so goddamn old writing this, but please make the font size slightly
larger.

~~~
MasterScrat
Analytic tools should record when their readers manually adjust font size, and
give a hint to the developers that they need to fix their design.

~~~
petercooper
_Analytic tools should record when their readers manually adjust font size_

Interesting idea! Is that actually possible? Does increasing zoom (as in
Chrome) actually affect any styles?

~~~
MasterScrat
If you look at this project: [http://tombigel.github.io/detect-
zoom/](http://tombigel.github.io/detect-zoom/)

You can't get zoom level directly anymore, but you can monitor the "Device
Pixel Aspect Ratio".

This tells you enough to know if the user zooms in /out.

------
marktangotango
I thought 'boot strapping' was formerly shareware, and later, misv.
Discuss.joelonsoftware.com was once very active for this.

~~~
pavlov
"misv" means "micro-ISV", right?

~~~
vram22
yes.

------
johnchristopher
Off-topic and out of curiosity: What software/hn clone do you use ?

~~~
Harkins
It's based on the Lobsters codebase, and my fork is available on GitHub.

* [https://lobste.rs](https://lobste.rs) * [https://github.com/jcs/lobsters](https://github.com/jcs/lobsters) * [https://github.com/pushcx/barnacl.es](https://github.com/pushcx/barnacl.es)

------
andrewfromx
i really like the name. I'm trying to start officecrashe.rs which: 1) is a
barnacle type idea - i.e. even if company doesn't make money, I'll run it
because that's success to me. and 2) after registering my first .rs domain and
dealing with all that comes with a domain like that, I feel for the barnacl
dot es people.

~~~
fiatjaf
What comes with it?

~~~
andrewfromx
well it's not a .com. Lots of little differences. Try it and you'll see.

~~~
fiatjaf
I own alhur.es, don't use it commercially, but haven't seen any difference.

~~~
andrewfromx
differences I've noticed:

1) some email validaters don't accept the domain as a valid email 2) it's more
expensive that a normal .com 3) there's less of a need for www. infront of a
non-.com (IMO) 4) sometimes when typing out the domain it'll turn hot and
clickable, sometimes not 5) you are super hipster and cool with a non-dot-com

------
sjs382
Interesting, but probably not enough differentiation to fork the community,
really.

Nonetheless, I've signed up
([https://barnacl.es/u/sjs](https://barnacl.es/u/sjs)) and added it to my
personal aggregator. Good luck!

------
niftylettuce
Very cool. I have been lurking to find a dedicated YC News-like Bootstrapper
site for a while.

------
meesterdude
I have a prediction: starts out strong, but devolves into shameless self
promotion. Its a common trend i've seen in a handful of "startup" focused
groups. But maybe this time will be different.

~~~
api
I've seen the same.

How has HN (partly) avoided this? I guess having a separate "show" category
helps.

I think the high-brow tone helps too. Sometimes it chafes but it's way better
than the alternative. People do self-promote here but to get away with it you
have to have some actual substance... any "hey look at me I am awesome" stuff
tends to get buried.

~~~
petercooper
HN had both the cultural and financial backing and motivation for a core group
to keep the site on target day after day in the early days. And it grew
slowly.

Most communities that don't make it start in a blaze of glory then the
curators/moderators tire of keeping that fire blazing day after day.

------
rubidium
Any way to get invited and retain being anonymous like you can on HN?

~~~
jordigh
Although this is a Lobsters instance, it's not invite-only:

[https://barnacl.es/invitations/open](https://barnacl.es/invitations/open)

Go forth and sign up in a veil of secrecy!

------
jarcane
_Why “Barnacles”? The venture capitalists own the term “startup” and it’s not
worth fighting over. There isn’t really any perfect term for this business
niche, so I punted on trying to invent one._

The term is "small business." There are millions of them all over the world.
More of them than there are "startups" by number at the least.

It never ceases to amaze me how warped and myopic the tech industry's
understanding of the world is.

~~~
Harkins
If you have a domain name using the term "small business" that you would like
to donate, my inbox is open.

~~~
LoSboccacc
I've smooth.business does that qualify?

~~~
chejazi
I feel like bumpy.business might be a more appropriate name for a site devoted
to startups :)

------
jsprogrammer
Isn't this site engaging[0] in brigading and vote-ringing?

[0]
[https://barnacl.es/s/bwd2dt/please_upvote_the_show_hn_on_bar...](https://barnacl.es/s/bwd2dt/please_upvote_the_show_hn_on_barnacles)

~~~
sillysaurus3
Yes.

