

NCombinator - pitdesi
http://ncombinator.com/

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jack-r-abbit
Isn't it bad form to SPAM this place with duplicate submissions?

Original Post: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3955265>

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railsjedi
We didnt post the second one. Someone else did because the first one got
banned.

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ColinWright
No, it didn't get banned. Check your facts - it's still there, currently in
position 110 (as I write)

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railsjedi
lol, sure. it goes from #1 to #110 in 1min?

It's ok. Don't worry, be happy!

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ColinWright
It is current known behavior. If an item gets five or six flags it will
plummet. I've done experiments, I know this to be a fact. It doesn't require
any intervention by moderators or anything else.

The severity of the hit on ranking was introduced some time ago - I can
probably track it down if you like - but I doubt you'd take my word for it.

And if you'd care to check my posting history you'll find that I've spoken out
against this several times, but you're clearly not interested in facts or
evidence, you're clearly just annoyed that your posting has fallen off the
front page.

And yes, this comment is snarky, and no, I'm not going to edit it to be
milder. I'm annoyed at your tone when all I'm trying to do is share with you
with the knowledge I have accrued over many experiments on the topic.

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Dylan16807
I don't really see why the distinction matters. Somebody pushed a button and
it got shoved multiple pages back, votes [mostly] discarded from
consideration. Whether it's 'community' or moderators seems minor.

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jack-r-abbit
I think maybe the only distinction that mattered was that being flagged to the
point of getting pushed 4 pages in is not the same as being banned.

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jQueryIsAwesome
For all practical reasons it is the same, almost no one goes to the 4 page;
most people just check the front page and maybe the "new" page.

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jack-r-abbit
heh... I kind of just assumed everyone consumed HN through a feed reader. I
almost never go to the home page.

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zinssmeister
Surprised I didn't see a twitter link on their site, in case anyone else was
looking: <http://twitter.com/ncombinator>

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jack-r-abbit
I'm surprised you didn't see it either... since it is there. In the Details
block, bottom... all there Twitter stuff. :) I'd link you to it but the site
doesn't have any sort of deep-linking into that single long page.

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wittjeff
Usability feedback: I completely missed the fact that there was a Details
block until you mentioned it. Why? I don't know. Maybe I was assuming that
their info was in one floating block as with LaunchRock.com.

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jack-r-abbit
right. I have a bunch of usability feedback I could give if I thought it would
matter. Some of it may be personal preference but... ack... that loooooong
single page with no navigation is... well... special.

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rattray
This seems interesting, I left my email. Gotta say, though, really turned off
by the ninja stuff (and 300 picture). No, I don't wage covert warfare in
feudal Japan. I do, however, enjoy shipping great code as fast as possible.

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hkmurakami
When I saw the name (NCombinator) and the Ninjas, I was all but convinced that
this was a tongue and cheek, well designed humor page.

Alas...

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railsjedi
We figured we'd err on the side of humor. Rather that than take ourselves too
seriously.

Startups are damn hard. A support network needs to be fun, not a drag.

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saiko-chriskun
I loved the page, don't listen to these fools :P

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hkmurakami
Is the page well designed? Exceedingly so. I was quite impressed myself.

Are the ninja references distracting, if not outright disenfranchising for a
good fraction of Ncombinator's audience? I am asserting that unfortunately,
this is the case.

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dkrich
Heh, as a developer with business credentials as well, I find it somewhat
ridiculous that it takes such a hostile tone towards business people towards
the end. You do realize that 1) many businesses are needed for which
designers/developers are a small part of the product and 2) sales and
marketing are usually vital for growing businesses?

I was somewhat interested until I read that and got the impression that this
seems like a glorified meetup group for web dev enthusiasts. I already know
how to code. I am more interested in connecting with people who compliment me.

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railsjedi
Good feedback. I'll tone down the rhetoric. I'm absolutely not opposed to
business guys. Just teams entirely composed of business guys "looking for a
technical cofounder".

Right now it is a glorified meetup and support network. But it's also a
"pact". Join and ship every week. Formalizing that and bringing together
people who can uphold it is something I greatly desire and that's why I want
NCombinator to exist and be successful.

We're very open to suggestions on how to make it better though. Had to start
somewhere.

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seivan
I like the "hostility" towards business guys in an early stage startup where
delivering a product is key.

If they can't build it, they have nothing to do there, not early on anyway. A
single developer who can design > business guy.

Keep it up!

"2) sales and marketing are usually vital for growing businesses?" sounds more
like hostility against developers, as in marketing is some obscure dark magic?

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tweiss
Good idea, but I see one big problem: market of lemons, i.e. the really good
teams will concentrate on getting into YC or Techstars and only the mediocre
teams and ideas will participate in NCombinator. But since there are plenty of
good teams & ideas that get rejected by YC, there should be plenty of fish
left. I like the direction in which NCombinator is heading, a big part of the
value that YC adds is in the support network and mentors. We need something
like this in Berlin too!

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jeremyarussell
Watch as it gets back to how many points it had awhile ago.

Curious though how this would violate any terms of service.

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gte910h
Seems a bit trademark infringy.

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railsjedi
But... they start with totally different letters :)

Just kidding. The name is going to change, but the idea will remain intact.

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stcredzero
I like the idea of hyper lightweight goals and structure.

 _Are you a cargo cult?_

I think they should take on as one of their goals not to avoid being a cargo
cult, but to simply be self aware if they are one. Just for the paradox.

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philipp-spiess
What happend to the old post?

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railsjedi
We got booted. Apparently YC is not amused with our idea.

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mindcrime
That sucks. I can't see why YC would get all up in arms over this. Not like
you guys are really competing with them or belittling them or anything. This
strikes me as a great thing for people who don't get into YC or who can't
participate in YC for one reason or another...

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coopdog
I'd say they're pretty great competition

The teams who finish will probably have an mvp, maybe a pivot or two,
hopefully some user traction. That might be enough to get to VC's in this
climate. Or even just bootstrap and own the company 100%

It's also far more likely that the good teams will get sniffed out by angels
at this early stage rather than giving pg a bite at the apple

Having said that you're right, I think pg will want to be close to these kind
of things rather than futilely trying to kill them

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ArekDymalski
I think it's not nice to refer to Y-Combinator as "that other thing" and then
advertising here.

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ojr
probably a good place to build a twitter presence #forwhatitsworth

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flavien_bessede
Censorship is probably due to the NCombinator name.

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infocaptor
Nice idea, applied for it. I am 2 weeks away from launching so excited to see
this version. I think it is really a good idea because it does provide a venue
for startups to help each other. The other day I attended a Tie roundtable at
CMU and the feedback and advise experienced people were giving was really
good.

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joshua_abe
Hmm.. Censorship. Nice.

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rapind
Jumping to conclusions. Nice.

