
We Built a Hacker News for Biotech - owensmp
http://news.harlembiospace.com
======
UweSchmidt
No idea how influencial harlembiospace is, but with all those "HN Clones"
these days it's worth pointing out that to build an "HN Clone" one should
start with being a major player in the respective industry. Compared to that,
putting up a forum software is nothing.

In the early days HN felt absolutely hardcore to me. Comments were clearly
part of an extended (or future) Y-Combinator application (and last time I
checked, the Y-Combinator application form is still asking for your HN
account) and there was absolutely no bullshit.

This was particularly clear in discussions about games - they were strictly
about the technical or sociological aspects, no one would ever admit to
playing (everyone's working on their starup, right?). I remember the first
tentative comments from the player's perspective being scoffed at, and even
today I feel a little dirty in those EVE online threads, heh.

Point is, knowing that "pg" was watching has always ensured a high quality of
comments, and indirectly made HN the place to be.

~~~
noir_lord
Changing this comment, the [Pending] thing is stupid.

Back to /r/programming it is then.

------
danso
It's funny...looking at the OP, I suddenly realize how much real estate is
wasted on HN and its single column layout...if the OP reduced font-size and a
little line-height, it could fit almost as many headlines above-the-fold as HN
does, using much less horizontal space.

But maybe I'm old, and too familiar with HN, and too resistant to change, but
HN's fuck-it-just-fill-the-column-with-a-table layout is comfortable in ways
that I've only noticed when doing direct comparisons to HN-like sites.

In regards to the OP, I think that what HN loses in information density, it
gains in "zen"...On the front page, there's simply less "conflict"...my mind
feels more relaxed at looking at a single flat list...and when I click through
to the comments, seeing just a long (and admittedly, too wide) column of
comments. With the OP, my mind has to divide itself between scanning the list
on the left and whatever may be on the right...and even if the right side is
mostly _blank_ (as it is with empty threads), something in my subconscious
thinks that _something is wrong_...it's enough cognitive burden to make the
experience not as effortless as it is with HN.

But I may be stretching here...HN works instinctively because I read it enough
for its quirks to be instinctive. But the bigger picture is that HN, day in
and day out, provides good reading material and almost never fails to
disappoint in the comment threads...so any HN-clones, regardless of improved
UI, still have that major hill to adoption to climb.

~~~
osmnshkh
Just in case you or anyone else is interested, OP is using Monocle, an open
source link sharing platform.

[https://github.com/maccman/monocle](https://github.com/maccman/monocle)

------
Lambdanaut
I think the biggest problem with the homebrew biotech world right now is that
even with the labs opening up, there's still such a barrier to entry.

There's a "hello world" to biotech, no doubt; extract some DNA from
strawberries or explore the tiny world with a consumer microscope.

But then what? There doesn't seem to be much potential mid-tier work to be
done in biotech. In contrast with software where there is a very visible
ladder you can climb.

Most of the biotech work seems to be in research, not development (unless you
own a huge firm)

Where does one go after they've exhausted the basics, and how can you make
money off of this stuff without working in a expensive lab for somebody else?

~~~
DaveWalk
I think your points are good ones, and that today's landscape basically
requires access to a lab if a biotech product isn't software or a medical
device. So for "homebrewers", as you say, it can be challenging to get
started.

But there is still a desire to develop biological therapies and tools and
businesses around them; I think it stems from the close ties --almost
symbiotic ties -- between biotech and academia. It reminds me of the earlier
days of computing, where those with big ideas were either working at an
academic institution or closely associated with it in some way.

If you are affiliated with an institution, the barrier to start working on
something "homebrewed" can be quite low. There has been a great upswing of
biotech incubator spaces in the past 5-10 years; I presume this has to be
partly driven by demand.

------
ritchiea
We see 1 or 2 of these "Hacker News for X" sites a month. Have any of you
succeeded and developed a community beyond the spike of interest you received
making the HN frontpage?

~~~
GigabyteCoin
[https://cryptanalys.is](https://cryptanalys.is) is my recently launched HN
clone dedicated to cryptocurrencies, cryptography, privacy and security.

My original submission was a complete dud without a single upvote ~23 days
ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7339368](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7339368)

I went to sleep feeling defeated after 2 months of work and went back to the
drawing board in the morning.

I've been experimenting with various forms of advertising over the last few
weeks since a one markmassie submit this to moderate traction ~19 days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7364288](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7364288)

Unfortunately I was completely unaware of markmassie's submission (I was under
the impression that it was impossible to submit the same URL twice to HN)
trending on HN and was only able to defend my site and encourage adoption of
it about 14 hours after the submission had made the front page and trickled
down to the 3rd or 4th page on HN.

So no, I wouldn't say I have "succeeded" yet, but readership and commenting is
slowly building:
[https://cryptanalys.is/newcomments.php](https://cryptanalys.is/newcomments.php)

And we seem to have peaked some interests in india apparently:
[http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/cryptanalys.is](http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/cryptanalys.is)

~~~
mightybrenden
I've been experimenting with one as well
([https://www.plantdietlife.com/](https://www.plantdietlife.com/)) I'm getting
a lot of interesting from physicians interesting in plant based nutrition. I'm
curious where diet's based on plants and biotech will merge. My buddy shared
this ([https://campaign.soylent.me/soylent-free-your-
body](https://campaign.soylent.me/soylent-free-your-body))

"Soylent is a food substitute intended to supply all of a human body's daily
nutritional needs, made from maltodextrin, rice protein, oat flour, canola
oil, fish oil, and raw chemical powders." -Wikipedia

------
johnvschmitt
TL;DR: For those asking, "WHY?" : It's about control.

Background: Every time there's a new forum site, people often ask, "why not
just create a subreddit or facebook group, etc". That would save much code,
debugging, & traffic/marketing.

However, the reason people still create 3rd party forum sites is not out of
foolishness. Rather, they are trying to control the community, & harvest the
benefits of the community over time (by either influencing the community, or
selling to the community, or both or more).

I like HN because it's better quality. The harvesting/controlling forces are
very benign, & the community here is great at keeping things relevant.

It is a huge challenge, though, to build up a quality community anywhere.

~~~
mightybrenden
I agree! That's why I built
[https://www.plantdietlife.com/](https://www.plantdietlife.com/) It might be
interesting to setup a meetup for people interested in harvesting sites like
this.

------
JTon
Kudos. Not in the biotech space myself, but I've bookmarked for a rainy day. I
particularly enjoy the UI. Arrow keys work to navigate posts (comment
section). Enter works to launch URL. Sexy.

~~~
preynal
It was forked from the monocle project
[https://github.com/maccman/monocle](https://github.com/maccman/monocle)

~~~
owensmp
Exactly - the fork we used is here -
[https://github.com/luminlabs/monocle](https://github.com/luminlabs/monocle)

Thanks to maccman for a great platform to build on

------
japhyr
I love it, especially the desktop interface. I love HN for the comments, and
it is really nice to be able to see the comments on the same screen as the
list of articles.

I'm not a big fan of the mobile version, but that's no critique. I haven't
liked any of the mobile HN versions; I just use the regular site and zoom in
anytime I want to vote on a submission or comment.

My only suggestion: I'd like to see the number of comments in the sidebar, so
I know which articles already have active conversations going.

Nice work!

------
zerop
Hacker news for X \------------------------

Hacker news -- [https://news.ycombinator.com/](https://news.ycombinator.com/)

data scientist -- [http://www.datatau.com/](http://www.datatau.com/)

Designers --
[https://news.layervault.com/stories](https://news.layervault.com/stories)

finance -- [http://www.boredbanker.com/](http://www.boredbanker.com/)

JavaScript -- [http://www.echojs.com/](http://www.echojs.com/)

marketing -- [http://www.inbound.org/](http://www.inbound.org/)

new Ideas -- [http://firespotting.com/](http://firespotting.com/)

growth hacking -- [http://growthhackers.com/](http://growthhackers.com/)

tech -- [https://lobste.rs/](https://lobste.rs/)

finance (one more) -- [http://www.streeteye.com/](http://www.streeteye.com/)

biotech -- [http://news.harlembiospace.com/](http://news.harlembiospace.com/)

Others -- [http://skimhn.com/](http://skimhn.com/)
[http://hckrnews.com/﻿](http://hckrnews.com/﻿)

(please add more)

~~~
mappu
Using the same software: [http://hackerjews.com/](http://hackerjews.com/)
(nsfw post-modern racist trolling) and of course
[http://arclanguage.org/forum](http://arclanguage.org/forum)

------
japhyr
Shameless plug: I just built a Hacker News for Education, and I'd love to get
some feedback/ interested users:

[http://educatornews.net](http://educatornews.net)

PS Also very happy to check out OP's take on building an HN "clone". I am a
math and science teacher, and keeping up with current science always makes my
classes more interesting and relevant.

~~~
protomyth
Have some faith and submit it as its own story.

[edit: is this it
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7399336](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7399336)
]

~~~
japhyr
Yes. And by the way, I understand your comment. I really should have shared a
more thoughtful response about this project before mentioning EN.

~~~
protomyth
"Yes. And by the way, I understand your comment. I really should have shared a
more thoughtful response about this project before mentioning EN"

I don't think I'm that insightful, but thanks. I get the feeling we need
"related" tags or something.

------
atulabhas
I am the one Indian who cannot code. I run www.fairobserver.com and, for full
disclosure, you should know that Matt Owens once worked with me. I wish he
could do this shit when we were working together. I am amazed at what Matt has
done. As a non-tech guy, I like the clean design and its user-friendliness.

------
rafeed
Cool, I was thinking about one for a while, but I see one problem. Harlem
Biospace doesn't really scream "Hacker News for Biotech". Not intended to
offend the Manhattan based incubator that charges $1k for a desk/month.

~~~
DaveWalk
Pricing aside, I disagree: YC is in part a startup incubator, no? Those driven
to work in an incubator space are precisely the kinds of people who can
benefit from a "Hacker News for..." site.

That said, there are many biotech incubators across the country, so perhaps
this isn't my/your favorite. But even so, I commend them for getting the site
off the ground.

~~~
Snail_Commando
> Pricing aside, I disagree: YC is in part a startup incubator, no?

[Update: Before you read this wall 'o text, please consider the comment in the
context of the update at the bottom.]

I disagree, YC is not an incubator. Well, to be fair, incubator is kind of a
nebulous term.

I define incubator as: "entity that charges entrepreneurs for privileged
access to ostensibly valuable [x y z]" or "entity that hires so called
'entrepreneurs in residence' to build companies under its roof in exchange for
exorbitant equity."

YC is only superficially similar to whatever you would describe Harlem
Biospace as.

The essential difference is in how the two types of entities derive value from
their offering.

The distinction is that [YC, 500S, TechStars] invest in the upside of
companies. Harlem [and its ilk] make money per unit of offering sold [units of
monthly [x y z] access].

The reason "incubators" (the ones that charge entrepreneurs) are usually worse
than the YC's of the world is because they adversely select for all the wrong
things, as a side effect of their design.

Since an incubator ostensibly helps startups win big, why _charge_ per unit
[startup]? Why not _invest_ in portfolio upside?

 _Per unit charges_ seem to be a good way of making money in the _near_ term,
at a constant rate (might not be sustainable if companies don't succeed in the
long run.)

Upside _investment_ seems like a good way to make money in the _long run_
(assuming you are sufficiently able to (a) pick the right startups and/or (b)
influence them to succeed.)

So _investment_ seems to signal that you believe that you can do (a) and/or
(b).

Sure, an investment portfolio may lose money on most of the companies.
However, if it has a group of companies of sufficient expected success, one
will likely reap massive returns.

If the value _investors_ provide is worth enough to attract the right kinds of
founders, the expected value of _investing_ in entrepreneurs should exceed the
expected value of _charging_ entrepreneurs.

In the long run, _charging_ per unit of offering, may signal that the long-
term value of the seller's [x y z] offering is relatively low when compared to
entities that are willing to _invest_ in entrepreneurs.

Basically, if you value the _unit cost_ higher than the _investment return_
you are signaling that you (a) can't pick good startups and/or (b) you can't
help a sufficient number succeed.

What kind of entrepreneur would want to go to that entity?

Since portfolio companies tend to return value later in their timeline, long-
term value of offering is what matters. The YC's of the world are willing to
eat the short-term costs and bet that they will influence some startups to
return big.

The Harlem's of the world are making a constant per unit income, but are
unwilling to bet on the long tail equity upside.

These incubators are not equivalent to [YC, 500S, TechStars], they are
glorified co-working spaces.

[Update: If you've read this far, please see the discussion further on the
thread. I unfairly characterized Harlem as an "incubator". Harlem Biospace
certainly offers value. I do stand by my comment on "incubation" in the
context of consumer internet companies. It's a different ball game for capital
intensive industries. One aspect of Harlem is that it is affordable lab space
that is group funded. Undeniably important.]

~~~
owensmp
Agree with you in general, however, Hb was established as it was because the
NYC ecosystem needed affordable lab space. The equipment made available
turnkey through the member fee each month would otherwise be a large capital
investment for each company. Thus we are providing considerable concrete value
and allowing projects to proceed that otherwise would not be able to. Above
and beyond this we provide a community of other life science entrepreneurs and
a physical hub for the broader biotech community here in NY that didn't exist
yet in the city.

Whether or not our model changes in the future remains to be determined,
however, as Dave mentions in his next comment the long timeframe tech risks
inherent to investing in many early stage biotechs present some unique
challenges to a YC model in biotech.

~~~
Snail_Commando
I just want to say, I jumped the gun a little with my original response to
Dave earlier. I misunderstood what Harlem actually was. I realized you made a
capital investment in lab space after I commented. Please see my second
response to Dave for elaboration.

I stand by my original statement about "incubators", but now I'm weaseling out
of calling you an "incubator". You definitely add essential early value.

Capital intensive companies definitely have different requirements than
consumer internet companies at inception.

I'm really sorry about mis-characterizing you.

If it were up to me, I might consider re-branding as a sort of bio-coworking
space or bio-collaborative space. For some reason, the word "incubator" makes
me think 1999 Silicon Valley. But that's probably just me.

It would be really cool if you started investing, too.

Best of luck, I genuinely want you to succeed.

------
pseut
Probably not something you should care about, but this site doesn't load _at
all_ in Konqueror.

~~~
pcrh
It also needs flash in order to run.

~~~
UweSchmidt
and Javascript.

~~~
pcrh
That's what I meant... :-|

------
anarchoni
Any more science related news aggregates like this?

F*ck it - list all the great aggregates like Hacker News.

~~~
qwerty_asdf

      > F*ck it - list all the great aggregates like Hacker News.
    

The [http://fuck.it](http://fuck.it) URL just redirects to porn.

Got a link?

~~~
anarchoni
list vs. lists

------
kissickas
Why are there invites, and why is there a limited number of them?

~~~
arash_milani
May they wanted to use that for creating traction in the first days of the
launch... then again everyone can just signup and this doesn't make sense...

------
mceoin
You should check out Berkeley Biolabs if you haven't already:
[http://berkeleybiolabs.com/](http://berkeleybiolabs.com/)

------
zxexz
This is amazing, thank you. I've been waiting for something like this for a
while now. Hacker News gets some biotech stuff, but not very much.

------
RTesla
Can you please make it extremely more simple. HN kills because it's so simple.
I dont need this full screen nonsense.

I really want this to work well.

I need an HN for biotech.

------
m52go
I hope the developers didn't spend a whole lot of time on this.

Sacha Greif's telesc.pe makes this really, really easy and it's all real-time.

------
feralmoan
This is great! Can anyone suggest a place where coders can reach out to people
in non-tech industries and solve real problems for a change?

~~~
bruth
[https://solvers.io](https://solvers.io)

Here is the one my team posted if you are interested:
[https://solvers.io/projects/R4Gr5vQTC8srHktEe](https://solvers.io/projects/R4Gr5vQTC8srHktEe)

~~~
rsmith
Great that solvers.io is seeing some activity, it's such a good idea.

------
bct
zerop posted a comment with links to many different HN clones here, but it's
marked dead. Maybe because it included too many links?

------
elwaz
Cool. Put you up there with Financier News

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

------
refurb
Nice job! I'm in the industry and was thinking about doing the same thing.
Glad to see someone beat me to it!

------
frozenport
Make the font size smaller and center the text. Most of the screen is occupied
with irrelevant data.

------
mauricio-OH
HN is the HN for Biotech and all tech and everything else. Nobody buys
tailored newspapers.

~~~
dragonwriter
Nobody buys HN, either.

------
micro_cam
Cool, I hope this takes off. I joined and posted a project a coworker and I
are working on.

------
z3phyr
Really, there is a huge field waiting! Hacker News for Astrophysics!

------
dakrisht
Nice work, look forward to adding to the new community.

------
dmix
Ah, the weekly "hacker news for X".

~~~
eli
Remember when it used to be "Digg for X"?

I kinda thought subreddits took a lot of the wind out of those sails.

~~~
DaveWalk
I think there is something about the HN layout that makes it feel more
"homegrown", which has no ads or images at all. Kind of reminds me of an old-
timey newspaper, or the WSJ "What's News."

Not saying it can't be improved.

~~~
krapp
It is simple. I honestly like it a lot compared to what passes for forums
nowadays. I'm still working on what I hope will be a decent open source clone
in Laravel for the masses (though i don't doubt someone else also is and
probably better.)

A lot about hacker news could be improved, I think, like adding a JSON api by
default and being able to control the depth level of comments. More
importantly though, I think the simple format facilitates discussion a lot
better than the noisy, avatar-riddled nightmares like phpbb, etc.

