
Ask HN: What Hacker News comments have you bookmarked? - pardavis
Frequently while browsing this site I see a comment that is profoundly insightful about culture, mindset, career, relationships, coffee grinders, etc.<p>I realized today that I’ve always considered them in the moment and let them go. Perhaps I should have been bookmarking them and revisiting with a different perspective.
======
AWebOfBrown
A quote about salary, that I bookmarked as I could see myself making the same
mistake:

"Salaries never stay secrets forever. Hiding them only delays the inevitable.
Last year we were having a discussion at lunch. Coworker was building a new
house, and when it came to the numbers it was let loose that it was going to
cost about $700K. This didn't seem like much, except to a young guy that
joined the previous year and had done nothing but kick ass and take names..."
(edited for brevity).

"...The conversation ended up in numbers. Coworker building the house pulled
about $140K base (median for a programmer was probably $125K), and his bonus
nearly matched the new guy's salary, which was an insulting $60K -- and got
cut out of the bonus and raise in January for not being there a full year,
only 11 months.

Turns out he was a doormat in negotiating, though his salary history was
cringeworthy. It pained everyone to hear it, considering how nice of a guy he
was. In all honestly, $60K was a big step up for him. Worst of all, this
wasn't a cheap market (Boston). The guy probably shortchanged himself well
over a half-million dollars in the past decade. This was someone who
voluntarily put in long hours and went out of his way to teach others, and did
everything he could to help other departments like operations and other teams.
On top, he was beyond frugal. Supposedly he saved something around 40% of his
take home pay, despite living alone in Boston. He grew up in a trailer park.

He spent the next day in non-stop meetings with HR, his manager and the CTO.
That Friday he simply handed in his badge without a word, walked out and never
came back.

Until 3 months later. As a consultant. At $175/hour."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2439478](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2439478)

~~~
stakhanov
Salary-porn seems to be a category that generally gets a lot of attention on
HN. Personally, I feel a bit ambivalent about it. Obviously it's useful to be
able to compare & benchmark, because one should go into any decision-making
process being well armed with information. But on the other hand: The
information exchanged is never enough to truly contextualize the numbers
appropriately, and it's a potential source of huge amounts of cognitive
dissonance. You have to be pretty good at being a stoic to try to break the
information down to something objective and not let it get to you.

For example: The $175/hour number you just mentioned, and the fact that you
seemed to imply that you're taking it for granted that it represents a
successful outcome would be clearly a source of cognitive dissonance for most
people. -- If he manages to do 2000 hours at $175 every year, that would be
$350k which would be impressive. But then it may be nothing: if it is a highly
specialized thing where you don't manage to get a fulltime workload out of a
year, where you might spend the majority of your time with non-billable hours
for project acquision, where you maybe have to cover costs of travel or time &
money for certifications, where you have to carry high risk, etc. etc. ...it
is usually impossible to properly resolve such questions to the point where
it's useful for benchmarking and for extracting conclusions that are
actionable to yourself. But the cognitive dissonance remains.

~~~
HenryBemis
I won't downvote, I want your opinion to be visible so other people can read
this. I am one of those 'suckers' that left a job/career (call it what you
will) in the Big4 to go solo.

Apart from boosting my annual income x4, I am no longer involved in
backstabing, politics, shitstorms, and other permanent employment
'pleasantries'. The C-levels who sign my invoices keep me out and away from
all that. I have gained their trust and they keep me around to get-the-job-
done. I do get some surprises every now and then, but nothing I can't dance
around those. The gig economy (up to a level) works for me.

>where you don't manage to get a fulltime workload out of a year

I only NEED to work 3 months in a year, and spend the other 9 sitting on my
behind doing my hobbies. Of course I work as much as possible (8h/day -
5d/week) and I do take some time off (by European 'standard'). I found it that
once I start monitoring the contracting market, getting weekly alerts, see the
trends, etc. it is possible to build on your existing skillset to make sure
you remain relevant. E.g. anyone in Europe with a good GRC knowledge had
plenty of time to get in shape for GDPR.

~~~
tmaly
> I found it that once I start monitoring the contracting market, getting
> weekly alerts, see the trends, etc. it is possible to build on your existing
> skillset to make sure you remain relevant

What data sources and techniques do you use to monitor trends?

~~~
HenryBemis
I have registered to services like Reed, or JobServe. I have some wide-enough
searches that send automated reports, and some very narrow (e.g. "GDPR",
"SOx"). It looks like spam, but it gives me a good idea of how many contracts
are available, for which areas/domains, and at what rates. This way I can see
when the market increases or drops for the narrow searches. The wider terms
searches help me identify new and upcoming trends.

It looks tedious and time consuming, but after the first month, just scrolling
through 3-4 emails gives me a pretty good idea of where the market is going.

------
RickS
Sometimes I feel that it can be a lucrative trap to become invested in a
single person, and then accumulate expectations that far outweigh the
responsible obligations of any friendship. As I have gotten older, a pattern
that is working much better for me is the campfire model - I just try to keep
a metaphorical campfire going, for people traveling through this life to stop
and warm themselves upon while I tend it. I cannot know which direction people
are traveling from, or to, or how long their journey has been or will be. But
all people need to warm their calloused hands and feet, and I can keep this
fire with a bed of rosy coals.

Sometimes someone will stop at my fire and warm themselves without my ever
having paid attention, but to them it may have meant all the difference in the
world. By keeping this obligation in mind, to simply expect people to need a
place to sit a spell, I can at least believe I am helping.

The campfire is a nice way for me to remember we're all suffering, that not a
one of us is unique to loneliness. Because sometimes that person who sits down
at your fire is the person you have been waiting for, and only by making a
seat for them were you able to ever meet.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18536601](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18536601)

~~~
zemvpferreira
Thank you, I really enjoyed the original discussion.

I’ve often been thinking of time distribution and personal CRMs lately. It’s
very easy to fall in the trap of spending all your time with a significant
other - and find out years after that all your relationships are ghosts of
their former selves. I see that in my parents: at 70 they might have 10 people
between them that they care about and see more than twice a year. How sad is
that in a marriage that hasn’t gone well for two decades?

But the campfire analogy is so bleak, so distant from other people. I don’t
have a neat visual for it but what I would like is to spend quality time with
a core group of 10-20 people per week, good times with another 20 every month,
and see another 100-200 every year at least (mostly family). Is anyone
managing a schedule like that?

~~~
chirau
Unless you are including large group gatherings like parties and reunions,
meeting 100-200 other people you know is by no means an easy task. I'd say,
for me, almost impossible at the moment.

~~~
samschooler
I think they actually mean maintaining a relationship with 100-200 people (can
be existing contacts) not necessarily create new relationships.

------
memco
This is the only comment I have bookmarked in my years of lurking:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18964418](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18964418)

> The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior (in whose honor I had a day
> off of work today) never once called for 'tolerance', the boycotts and sit-
> ins were not a demand for tolerance - they were a demand for integration. To
> tolerate is to "otherise" \- you are _allowed_ to continue being as your
> are, but on the outside. To integrate, you do not require permission, but
> you do not continue as you are - both "sides" are transformed by the
> process.

~~~
minecrafter6561
I heard Zizek say basically that exact same thing, it’s a common point he
makes in certain talks. [https://www.google.com/amp/s/bigthink.com/good-
thinking-is-g...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/bigthink.com/good-thinking-is-
good-questioning-2604428681.amp.html)

~~~
memco
Thanks so much for the link! I think this is a powerful idea and look forward
to studying it more.

------
Austin_Conlon
This impersonation of The Economist writing style is hilarious:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11050299](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11050299)

>Mocks Populi

There is a an apocryphal story in which your anonymous correspondent was on a
small business jet somewhere between Davos and Dubai, when he asked a former
Thatcher minister what shade of pink the Financial Times newspaper was.
"Parlour," the minister replied. It is in the spirit of this self-referential
anecdote that an auspicious news peg has provided an opportunity to sound off
on a pet saw and perhaps let on that I went to Cambridge.

Broadly, this newspaper is neither here nor there on a given issue, other than
to say that it is different from what you expect - and for reasons that may
surprise you. The prediction will be driven by the available data, include a
smirk at the newcomer, and give a sop to the status quo. All things equal, it
will predict outcomes that are some function of the sum of elements by the
number of elements, and provide a view that is "radically centerist," if
perhaps a bit smug. A reversion to the mean, indeed.

\-- Every Economist Article Ever

~~~
hencq
Haha this is incredible. I love the Economist and have had a subscription for
years, but this is spot on.

~~~
dajohnson89
this toothless centrist smarminess is what led me to cancel.

------
weinzierl
You can favourite comments on HN and the lists are public so you can browse
others favourites. This is a little known feature but I like it. For an
example here are my favourite comments:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=weinzierl&comments...](https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=weinzierl&comments=t)

I didn't put a lot of thought in it, I just favourite stuff I might want to
reconsider later. One example I still like is:

>You can hide from your your boss, your wife, or even your mother, but you
can’t hide from Facebook.

Browsing others pages can be quite insightful for what they find notable. Not
everyone uses this feature, so not everyone has favourites and it takes a
little digging to find good ones. For example here are Thomas Ptaceks:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=tptacek&comments=t](https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=tptacek&comments=t)

~~~
elamje
I cannot find the comment favorite button for the life of me. Is it unlocked
at x karma, or am I missing something?

~~~
jhund
You click on the comment's time stamp to go to the comment detail view. There
will be among others a favorite button.

~~~
elamje
Thanks!

------
debaserab2
"The separation of design and construction into phases is a hangover from
civil engineering. It has the baked in assumption that the design phase is
relatively cheap, short and somewhat unpredictable the construction phase is
expensive, long and predictable. The root problem is the assumption that
specifications can be validated for correctness, like a blueprint for a bridge
can. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a persistent myth in
software development."
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12080968](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12080968)

"OOP is just a mental model. Deep down everything is made of bits. The church
of OOP has failed but if something looks like a duck, walks like a duck and
talks like a duck it probably is useful to make a duck class. We're now down
to fighting for nuances. You can do most things with OOP or without OOP but
each path has some upsides and downsides and most of the time it's good to use
some things it provides where it makes sense and not get too religious about
it. The great architect has the foresight on how the code will be used in five
years and design it accordingly."
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18250466](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18250466)

------
factsaresacred
On 'simple to recreate' Evernote making $800,000 per Month:

> _This is the biggest mistake most of the people make. If it worked that way,
> every weekend app released here would be making tons of money...But this is
> NOT app v /s app game. This is business v/s app. And you can't take down a
> business with an app. You need to create a business. Sure you can build a
> better 'app' than Evernote or make a better burger than McD's but you can't
> make a better business, the day you do - you are in game._

On building one-person startups (both from jasonkester):

> _Your $10k MRR niche won 't be "app that lets people hail taxis, and network
> of contract drivers." It'll be "reception table plan designer for wedding
> coordinators". Google is not now, nor will they ever be, having a meeting
> where they decide to allocate a few hundred engineers and marketers to crush
> that space.

There are tens of thousands of niches like this that will pay for teams of 1-3
people to live on the beach after a few years of work._

and

> _Personally, I prefer to listen to the person who has tried a thing and
> declared it possible, rather than the person who has never tried that thing
> and declared it impossible._

On the risk of choosing Firebase (and similar PAAS providers):

> _Way to risky not to use for startups, IMO. What would you prefer, spending
> half your time doing backend development to get a system that might be 80%
> as reliable as Firebase on the off chance that your startup will survive
> long enough for your custom engineered solution to bare fruit, or spending
> all your time actually building your product and launching quickly so you
> can determine whether or not your startup is even viable?_

------
wallflower
This is a very wise comment from jlcfly in what a senior developer should
aspire to do, especially if they feel they are approaching or have reached
their personal asymptotic limits for technical skill.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8649415](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8649415)

"Teach them to be better than you. That may seem counterproductive. I have a
type A personality, and I have decent coding skills. I've been in your
situation a number of times. I also know there's these mythical expert
developers out there that I can't seem to find (or afford). So, what to do? A
few years ago I realized that if I continue down this path, I'll end up with
some serious health issues due to the stresses that come along with having a
reputation for being a really good developer. So, I decided that instead of
searching for developers better than me, I would teach developers I work with
how to BE better. It's taken a lot of patience. And it's taken me quite a bit
to LET GO of my way of doing things. I had to take my ego out of the picture.
(VERY hard to do.) Nowadays, I realize that developers don't have to BE better
than me. I simply have to ALLOW them to do what they do without being so
obsessive about it. Turns out, even junior developers really CAN do good work.
They just need a little guidance that only comes with experience, and then
they need me to get out of their way."

------
jakelazaroff
"I try to optimize my code around reducing state, coupling, complexity and
code, in that order.":
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11042400](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11042400)

------
sevensor
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19294191](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19294191)
: A meta-circular evaluator in Prolog. (User triska's comment history is full
of gems.)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17020655](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17020655)
: A question I had asked about interfacing Excel, which provoked some useful
responses. I now use this as my authoritative list of ways to extend Excel's
functionality.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18314265](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18314265)
: Fascinating comment about, well, all kinds of stuff, but mainly PostScript.
(DonHopkins. Another user whose comment history is a seam of gold.)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16014573](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16014573)
: Great post about the history of terminals and terminal emulators. (JdeBP)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15027372](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15027372)
: Introduction to the market for produce by the produce buyer for a small
grocery. (LightRailTycoon)

------
YjSe2GMQ
"The Single Greatest Predictor of Future Stock Market Returns":
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14948078](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14948078)

And here's the live (well, lagging a few months, but this is a very slow
signal anyhow) version:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14950203](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14950203)

~~~
ummonk
If I remember correctly, that was suggested half-jokingly by the author to
demonstrate that any metric where the numerator is proportional to the stock
market will tend to predict future returns (because of mean-reversion).

Edit - here you go: [http://www.philosophicaleconomics.com/2013/12/valuation-
and-...](http://www.philosophicaleconomics.com/2013/12/valuation-and-returns-
adventures-in-curve-fitting/)

~~~
YjSe2GMQ
Yup, I should have included the link you posted for a complete picture.

The value of the stock allocation metric is in that it seems to be the
strongest mean that the stock reverts to, in the sense that it has strongest
predictive power. It is not that surprising because it uses to the raw
supply/demand dynamics.

~~~
DavidSJ
But the author’s point is it’s only predictive in hindsight, due to reversion
to _the mean of the past data_ (since investment allocation is basically just
measuring price over the short run), not to some objective mean that also
applies to the future.

~~~
YjSe2GMQ
Well that's the hypothesis - that since reversion to the mean stock allocation
has always happened it will continue to happen. There's things that can
invalidate the assumption, like the widespread common wisdom of HODLing index
ETFs (till retirement, no matter what). If the hypothesis is false we could
see stock market allocation go all the way up to 80%, or even beyond.

Am I wrong?

~~~
DavidSJ
The author was not presenting it as a serious hypothesis. They were showing
how compelling it looks at first glance, and how deceptive that naive analysis
is, because of the unfair advantage the chart gets (in the sense that it
inherently looks better than its predictive value). They did this to knock
down many other valuation-based measures, not to advocate for this one.

Reversion to _what_ mean, is the author’s point. The mean for the twenty years
between 1900-1920 is different from the mean for 1900-1940, is different from
the mean for 1900-1960, etc. The mean is continually shifting. _All_ data sets
revert to their own mean, on average, by definition. The mere fact that a data
set does so is tautological and thus provides no evidence — no confirmation of
any scientific hypothesis.

Edit: see my other comment for the quote of what I consider the key passage in
the article.

------
acheron
"Javascript Delenda Est", by zeveb,
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11447851](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11447851)
:

 _> Can we please try to stop talking about this specific language ecosystem
as an awful deplorable hell hole or whatever?

Back in the second century BC, Cato the Elder ended his speeches with the
phrase 'Carthago delenda est,' which is to say, 'Carthage must be destroyed.'
It didn't matter what the ostensible topic of the speech was: above all,
Carthage must be destroyed.

My opinion towards JavaScript is much like Cato's towards Carthage: it must be
rooted out, eliminated and destroyed entirely. I don't know if I'd go quite so
far as to say that the fundamental challenge of mass computing is the final
destruction of JavaScript — but I want to say it, even though it's false.

JavaScript is a pox, a disaster, a shame. It is the most embarrassingly bad
thing to become popular in computing since Windows 3.1. Its one virtue (that
it's on every client device) is outshone by its plethora of flaws in much the
same way that a matchstick is outshone by the sun, the stars and the
primordial energy of the Big Bang added together.

JavaScript is the XML, the Yugo, the Therac-25 of programming languages. The
sheer amount of human effort which has been expended working around its
fundamental flaws instead of advancing the development of mankind is
astounding. The fact that people would take this paragon of wasted opportunity
and use it on the server side, where there are so many better alternatives (to
a first approximation, every other programming language ever used), is utterly
appalling.

JavaScript delenda est._

~~~
norswap
How incredibly sad that this is the top comment at the time of writing.

~~~
artursapek
I mean, using javascript for server code _is_ batshit insane.

~~~
rhizome31
I had a quick go at Node.js and was surprised to find some interesting things.
In particular I found the event model and the stream API rather nice. I have
no idea how it's like to maintain a real-world code base though. Libraries
seem to have very narrow scopes which means managing a lot of dependencies and
that might be painful in the long run.

------
om3n
Regarding dealing with difficult problems:

"Like almost all problems in life you have only 4 options: #1 Change you
(accept what you are unable to change)

#2 Change the other (convince them to follow your vision)

#3 Fly (divorce, quit)

#4 Stay and suffer (include drinking, doing drugs, whining)

It is amazing how many people chose number 4."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16126082](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16126082)

~~~
bagacrap
I'd file "doing drugs" under #1, at least if you choose the right ones.

~~~
bgun
Experiencing enough of #1 or #4 eventually makes them indistinguishable.

------
zachwill

        Very frequently, the right answer for a MVP is something
        like an e-mail newsletter, or a Salesforce extension, 
        or a CSV file, or an IDE plug-in, or throwing a pizza 
        party for your target market and performing the service 
        for them yourself.
    
        I’ve seen startups charge $10K+/month to dump a CSV file 
        on a client’s FTP server. Go where the user can most 
        conveniently make use of your product; for a lot of 
        businesses, that is neither app nor website.
    

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18826554](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18826554)

------
pmlnr
"Napster is the future of the internet. It will come back. But the world has
to evolve on a social level before this can happen.

We saw the same with the printing press: the Powers That Be first banned it,
then tried to control it, and eventually had to relent. It will happen with
data sharing too, eventually. It might take a century, but it will happen."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19034200](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19034200)

------
dekervin
I bookmarked a comment, making a point on the life cycle of platforms:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19612180](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19612180)

"This is basically a repeat of SEO. At first, you have the early adopters.
Things grow organically and it doesn't feel like a zero-sum game because there
aren't many players.

Next comes the growth phase, where more people get involved, and start
competing for attention/clicks/votes/whatever points system.

Next comes the exploiters, who discover weaknesses in the system and take
advantage of them. They tend to make a lot of money because there's not much
competition in this niche.

Next comes the crossover, where the exploit knowledge becomes public, and
everyone now must do it because everyone else is.

Next comes the shutout, where the company running things starts actively
punishing bad actors, but by this time, being a bad actor is essential to
survival, so people do it anyway. It becomes a game of cat-and-mouse, new
exploits, new mitigations.

Eventually, the company manages to fix their algorithms enough that the
exploits don't offer decent marginal returns anymore, and it returns to what
the company originally intended: 1% of people are successful, 99% of people
make next to nothing, and the company makes shitloads.

And then the new big thing comes out. The old system goes into decline and the
new system starts to take over. Rinse and repeat. "

 _I map comments I like into coherent arguments using this [0] (An example
here [1] ). I would love to share maps with others even if it is not ready for
public use ( you only live once ! )_

[0] [http://clean-ico.appspot.com/](http://clean-ico.appspot.com/)

[1] [http://clean-
ico.appspot.com/static/site/Symbol/index_argume...](http://clean-
ico.appspot.com/static/site/Symbol/index_arguments_block.html?symbol=crypto_is_for_unbanked)

------
rainhacker
On asking for a raise[0]:

> _What if you went to your manager, or whoever you feel is the right person,
> asked if you could speak one on one, and said... "I really love working at
> this company. The work is interesting, I love the people, the culture, <one
> more legitimate pro goes here>. But I also know I could be making X if I
> went elsewhere. I love the work I'm doing, and I want to keep doing it here,
> but I also don't want to be leaving money on the table. What can we do?"

This phrasing, pretty much verbatim, has worked really well for me in the
past._

On multithreading in Redis [1]:

> _The problem with clustering still becomes lower queries per GB as instances
> can’t share data. Redis itself runs in RAM so storage is at a premium. One
> of my main reasons for doing multithreading, and FLASH in the first place
> was to make Redis work well for much larger value sizes.

I really think we have different use cases in mind._

A book recommendation [2]:

> _" Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell. Not an easy read, but it deeply
> changed the way I think about incentive structures and the law of unintended
> consequences. It's a tough pill to swallow for people (like myself) who
> cling to utopian ideas, but the older I get the more I realize we must live
> in the world as it exists, with human nature as it really is. Dreaming of a
> better world is counter-productive if one does not engage with reality. We
> can build a better world, but only by being honest about the current state
> of things._

Links to parent comments: [0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19539485](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19539485)
[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19370712](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19370712)
[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19087418](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19087418)

------
dmitryminkovsky
This one from December:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18777949](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18777949)

>> But he was tenacious; he would never give up on anything.

> To be fair, in my mind this is the one most common trait I find in
> successful entrepreneurs and leaders. I've seen leaders who I didn't think
> were particularly bright, or extroverted, or empathic, but man, did they not
> get stressed out by obstacles that came in their way. They either
> sidestepped them or overcame them, but they did not dwell on them and let
> those obstacles lead to self doubt.

Also really appreciated this articulation
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19350161](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19350161)

> Leadership is basically just people-engineering and business-engineering.
> Engineers use tools to build products, and so do leaders.

> The immediate assumption is that people are tools/resources to build the
> product. That's talking like an engineer.

> Don't use your team to work on a project/product. Use the project to work on
> your team. They're not there to build the product. They're there to gain
> some personal fulfillment. Use the development of the product to grow them.

------
e12e
I have quite a few. The most recent favorite is this one, which actually
features verbatim quotes - and highlites the level of editorialisation in the
(us) news:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19405173](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19405173)

" js2 37 days ago | parent | un-favorite | on: Beto O'Rourke's membership in
America's oldest hac...

Fox News: "Young Beto O'Rourke wrote 'murder fantasy' about running over
children, was part of famed hacking group: report"

CNET: "Beto O'Rourke has serious hacker credentials. The presidential
candidate was a member of hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow"

WaPo: "'Psychedelic Warlord': Beto O'Rourke's past life as a teenage hacker"
and "Beto O’Rourke’s hacking universe, explained."

Sources: (... See original comment...)"

~~~
testcase_delta
I would love a website that contrasted editorializing of the day's news and
rated them. Is this something machine learning could accomplish? Sentiment
analysis, perhaps?

~~~
bun_at_work
This is a bit off, maybe, but close to what you're mentioning:
[https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-
news](https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news)

------
hadrien01
This comment from nightcracker about GDPR privacy consent:

 _You enter a coffee shop. Before you can do anything, the owner takes a photo
of you, and grabs your hand to take your finger print. He quickly writes down
the date, time and what clothes you are wearing.

He gives you a smile as he starts his speech. "Before we continue, we at
Coffee City want you to know we deeply value your privacy. We need your
permission to store your information, improve your coffee experience,
personalize your coffee suggestions and share it with our partners. Do you
consent?"

You don't fucking value my privacy. I get some serious doublespeak vibes. If
you valued my privacy you'd leave me the fuck alone and stop saving
information about me._

~~~
comvidyarthi
This is a very interesting take. The only problem in using this analogy for
social media companies is that in a coffee shop you pay for the coffee. In
case of social media you don’t pay for anything. So there is no incentive to
maintain your privacy:

~~~
mortivore
That's beside the point. They are saying one thing, then act in another way.
It is a good analogy.

~~~
BoorishBears
It's a terrible analogy.

The fact you pay isn’t besides the point… it’s literally the entire point.

If a Starbucks did that and said “btw, the coffee is free”, there’d be a line
out the door and half way around the block.

In fact, Starbucks does that and they don’t even give you free coffee. You use
their wifi and next time you walk in they’ve got your fingerprint, if you have
their app they have even more info, and people accept all this gladly for
what? Free wifi and occasional rewards in the app?

You’re underestimating how much people value _anonymity_ over privacy, and
free stuff over both.

~~~
falcolas
The coffee may be free, but every 30 seconds, there is a new salesman talking
to you and making you look at their highly customized sales pitch. You can try
and ignore them, but then your peers at the coffee shop try and shame you by
saying "But the coffee's free! Think of the poor baristas!"

~~~
BoorishBears
People literally would not care.

The Starbucks app will send you daily notifications and targeted ones, people
do not care.

Has it ever occurred to people who are so anti-advertising that the reason we
live in an ad driven world is because that’s what consumers want over just
paying fair value for things?

Otherwise why would a paid alternative to gmail not exist? In fact, if people
actually wanted that, why would Google not sell it to them? Google's accounts
do not care if 10 cents comes from ads or from your pocketbook.

------
weinzierl
> sanj on July 18, 2007 [flagged] [-]

> Did you win the Putnam?

> If not, please don't be "bolder" than this guy:
> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Vakil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Vakil)

> cperciva on July 18, 2007 [-]

> "Did you win the Putnam?"

> Yes, I did.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35083](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35083)

~~~
bhl
Reading those comments make me wish that I had known about this site back in
2007, back when graham responded to comments about his essays or when now-
famous founders browsed as well [1].

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35095](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35095)
(Same thread btw.)

~~~
nanokilo
Crazy to look back at that exchange between him and Drew Houston knowing what
we know today about the success of Dropbox (which hadn't even launched at the
time of that comment!).

It's easy to look back at the "good old days" with the benefit of hindsight,
but I'm sure that even today many of the famous founders of tomorrow can be
found commenting here on HN. We just don't know who they are yet.

~~~
pvaldes
There are a lot of redundancy in themes, but I didn't notice a decreasing in
quality of the discussion. The good now days are perfect to me.

~~~
paulgb
It really is amazing, I've been here nearly 12 years now and the quality of
discussion hasn't devolved. If anything, it was a bit more cynical/negative
ten years ago than it is now.

~~~
code_duck
I feel like there are more brief and superfluous comments than there are used
to be, but just as many or more lengthy and substantial comments.

~~~
penagwin
Your comment gave me an interesting idea. What would happen if we imposed a
minimum char-limit for say, hacker news comments? On one hand I'd expect more
descriptive responses, fewer comments that are a short "Your wrong but I won't
tell you why", etc. Comments just spamming letters would be fairly easy to
detect.

On the other hand what would this minimum char/word length be? Even your
comment is fairly short, but it's descriptive and fully communicates your
point...

~~~
compiler-guy
Then you end up with comments like you find on leasehackr.com, which has a
twenty character minimum: “Agreed. 202020202020”

------
sid24rane
These comments from "How to come up with monetizable side projects ideas"
post.

\----------------------------------------------

1\. Find a popular SaaS product. Like Intercom, Algolia, Segment. Make sure it
doesn't have a free plan. This guarantees there's a market for the tool. Check
out GetLatka for ideas. [https://getlatka.com](https://getlatka.com)

2\. Build your own take on the product. Find the minimum set of features that
make it valuable. 10% of the work for 80% of the value.

3\. Sell it at a 50-90% discount. There will be price sensitive customers that
want the popular product, but don't want to or can't afford it.

4\. Target bottom of funnel marketing channels: Targeted quora questions.
Paid/organic search queries. Set up retargeting ads on Facebook. Product hunt
launch it. That should get you a steady stream of customers.

I don't think this is a great way to build a million dollar business, but is a
very easy way to make a few hundred. Shoot me an email if I can be helpful.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Don't exactly copy another product. It's damn important to reinvent defensible
products that either, and hopefully do all of:

a) solve a slightly different problem

b) target different users

c) solve the problem in a 10x better, compelling way

\-------------------------------------------------

TIME. Time is the MOST precious commodity. Help users SAVE TIME. Save time
finding something of value to the USER. You can't "presume" how much to
charge. You have to "TEST" pricing then keep jacking it up until your
customers don't pay. How can you pay for something what does not offer value.
Stay small. Stay NICHE. Grab a slice from a BIG market. Forget millions. slap-
yo-self with fury with delusions of becoming a millionaire, and make a goal of
making enough to avoid being trapped in a 9-5 lifer situation. It take a LOT
of luck + skill + market segment expertise. Like you have to KNOW the market
you are going to be competing in. Assisted living , senior care , retirement
calculator is VERY hot now. You'll be at it after your day gig 6pm-2am testing
/ building / iterating. Good LUCKY. launch a free beta version learn what
customers value and how much they will pay ( ask them) THEN when you have
enough people crack addict addicted to your service / app start charging. Be
merciless. But offer excellent customer service. Always be honest.

\------------------------------------------------

While I agree with some of the tactics here (make a twist on similar ideas,
contact businesses, buy a business, brush up an existing product you built)

I'm going to suggest an alternative method that has worked for me.

Start with the money.

If you want monetization to be guaranteed you need to prioritize that first.

Take this method and rinse/repeat for you and your skills.

1) How much do you really want to make from this a month, what would make you
happy?

Let's say you decide $1k a month would make it worth it after time, expenses
and payment processing fees.

2) You then decide how many customers you really want to have to find and how
much support email you want to answer.

Usually developers pick prices like $6 and wonder why no-one buys. This low
price screams a lack of confidence in the product. That you aren't taking it
seriously. That you may not be around in 8 weeks.

Starting without monetization in mind or equally, pricing low is the death of
a product because for someone who dislikes marketing you just set yourself a
huge marketing mountain to climb.

At $6 each, finding and selling to 150+ customers - when you don't even have
one yet is a huge trek to your $1k happy place.

Let's say you feel more confident about finding and serving 10 customers
really well. That seems achievable, right?

So with just 10 customers we're looking at a $100 a month product, right?

Whoa, you're thinking you could never build something that's worth that much.

Maybe you're worried it's enterprise level costs now and that's not the type
of product you want to build.

Don't worry, a $100 product can be really simple.

Often developers think that a big cost means solving a big problem and that a
big problem needs a big solution. Not true at all.

A big problem can be solved with a small elegant solution.

3) Now we know how much we want to make and how many customers we need and how
much we are going to sell it for.

We now need to find the problem we are going to solve.

So how big of a problem needs a $100 per month solution?

Not very big at all really.

Let's say a business owners time is super-conservatively worth $50-$100 an
hour.

So to add value, we are looking at saving someone between 2-4 hours a month on
a task they normally have to do manually. That's not too bad!

Or maybe you want to help them reduce their business costs by $200-$400. Also,
very possible. Now we have the value proposition.

We know what kind of problem we are looking for, so value will be clear for
the customer.

4) Now we decide _who_ this is going to be for.

Don't pick people the same as you. They have the same skills and can solve the
same kinds of problems that you can.

Pick a group of people :-

\- That are easily identifiable by what they call themselves on social media
(blogger, podcaster, videographer, designer, public speaker etc)

\- Make sure they are a group you like interacting with, that you have some
experience of working with already in some way (please pick a group you like
and care about)

\- Make sure they are the decision maker in their own business (don't pick
employees of big corps)

\- What tech skills have you worked with that overlaps with this customer
group?

Let's say you've worked on a few video platforms in the past so you know that
space well, so you choose to help YouTubers.

5) What is the issue that we are solving?

Ok, so now we're helping YouTubers to either save 2-4+ hours a month or reduce
costs by $200+ - for your $100 MRR product.

This is where we breakdown what it takes to run their business.

What stops them being more profitable?

What tasks do they do everyday?

What can be automated?

What do they hate doing in their business?

If you know this space even a little, you will have answers here.

Maybe video storage is a huge expense.

Perhaps running their community takes up too much time so they can't scale.

Is just publishing a video end to end super time consuming? Look at why.

If you don't know what matters to them, ask. Make a hypothesis and see if it's
true.

In just a couple of DM's you might find that they spend a whole day a week on
something repetitive. Or are spending money on something that you can
optimize. Write a few possibilities down.

6) Make an offer

In just a day or two you can go from no idea, to identifying a significant
pain point for a group of people that's easy to reach.

Now you consider a couple of small technical solutions for the problems you've
found.

You go back to a couple of your ideal customers and make them a proposition.

Something like - "You said you spent X hours on this particular problem. If I
built something to solve that, this week, would that be worth $100 to you?"

If it's a huge pain point they will bite your hand off. If you get weak
responses - no worry, you've not built any code yet. You can use the
conversation to get to a deal.

They might say it's worth less so you find out what features would be needed
to make it worth the $100.

Maybe they suggest a different problem that is more urgent for them.

After a few conversations you should have at least a couple of paying
customers and a clear solution.

8) Building

Now you know exactly what you need to build and have customers waiting. There
is no excuse but to launch. This will help you focus on the truly essential
code.

As you build, reach out to a few more potential customers. (we made sure they
were easy to find earlier) Ask them if they have the same problem. Show them
what you have.

Go through a few cycles of building and feedback. Make sure people are paying
you what you set out in the beginning - or close to it.

Ask your starting customers for referrals. You'll reach your 10 customers with
zero marketing spend.

You then have all of the elements needed to scale further if you wish!

Remember that code comes last in this method for a reason. Only build when you
have paying customers.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18047553](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18047553)

------
jakobegger
I loved this comment about the state of the shareware / try-before-you-buy
industry:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18469100](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18469100)

------
krrishd
“Those ideas are also based in my anecdotal experience, and perhaps it comes
from a willingness to question some "fundamental axioms from scratch", but at
the same time maybe that's a) not always a bad thing to do from time to time,
and b) if your fundamental axioms are good there is no reason that you won't
come back to them.” -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17296020](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17296020)

“Augmenting human intelligence, while leaving the hearts as they are, is a
loss, not a gain.” -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17196155](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17196155)

------
Invictus0
I maintain my favorites list with a great deal of selectivity. You can check
it out here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=Invictus0](https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=Invictus0)

------
marco_craveiro
@jasonm23's comment:

"Emacs is basically a text centric computing platform, built with a flavor of
Lisp."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19650942](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19650942)

------
th0ma5
I've bookmarked so much it doesn't mean anything anymore. I tried a few years
ago to index it all, but with the rate limiting that went nowhere. I should
probably revisit pulling it all out of the common crawl now that I think about
it. Or perhaps someone knows of some mirrors?

~~~
dhruvkar
Did you try the HackerNews API? [0].

I've never used it, but it states in the README that there is no rate limit
currently (~8 months ago).

0\. [https://github.com/HackerNews/API](https://github.com/HackerNews/API)

~~~
amrrs
Yes, It's nice. I've used it to create a Bitbar plugin for mac
[https://github.com/amrrs/hn_headlines_bitbar](https://github.com/amrrs/hn_headlines_bitbar)

------
maximente
not tech related at all but this response about Hitchens nearly made me cry.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3360051](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3360051)

~~~
nothrabannosir
Thanks for this. I still miss him regularly. With every passing political
debacle.

------
janvdberg
I just checked, I had these two bookmarked:
[http://piks.nl/upload/upload/Screenshot%202019-04-22%20at%20...](http://piks.nl/upload/upload/Screenshot%202019-04-22%20at%2008.26.06.png)

------
dandelion_lover
1\. "Just like a steel door, when somebody else has the keys, you are not
secure - you are imprisoned."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12751461](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12751461)

2\. "Do not use the Internet. Do not use phones. Do not use bank accounts. Do
not travel by plane. Do not enter public spaces. Do not show your face.

Otherwise you accept our Terms of Service.

Thank you for trusting us."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12958035](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12958035)

------
a_c
Bookmarking this. Since it gave me pointers to so many good comments

~~~
pardavis
I kind of thought this post would languish in the new queue. My heart and mind
are warmed by the conscientious people here.

------
Brajeshwar
Ah! I don't bookmark but I usually copy a few of them to my "Notes" app. I
quote them, share them, and sometimes tweet them based on context. Some of
them are pretty good, I don't even have to refer to my notes and can blurb out
the substance (if not verbatim).

Once there was a longish story about how to fix a furniture company (in
context to Evernote). I have shared that with quite a lot of people, including
quite a few CXOs.

~~~
cinbun8
This one? -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18022154](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18022154)

~~~
garren
That is fantastic. Really hits home. I’ve been at my current company for
years. I’ve seen it grow from a small, scrappy, barely getting by but
absolutely enjoyable company, to a large, top-heavy, meeting-centric, proper
business. I’ve been in a position in which my manager knows nothing about my
project or day-to-day, only that customers are happy.

------
csours
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1510177](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1510177)

Commentary on limitations of SQL - SQL is not composable.

This comment made me think of composability in other other contexts as well,
such as requirements specification.

------
filomeno
I used to enjoy reading Larry McVoy's comments here,

[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=luckydude](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=luckydude)

Unfortunately, he hasn't written any comment here for more than a year.

------
wallflower
Not bookmarked but saved a copy.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=121413](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=121413)

> APOLOGIES for making this post so annoyingly long, but I really hope you
> find value in the words below.
> \-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to first share a personal experience from my early trading days to
illustrate where I'm coming from. I used to wake up at 4:30 am everyday in the
Chicago suburbs to beat rush hour traffic and make it into downtown Chicago at
6:30 am. In order to wake up so early, I fell into a habit of sleeping at 9:00
pm and like a robot waking up at 4:30 am. This simple routine was indirectly
helpful when things seemed darkest.

For the first six months, I lost money and was ridiculed constantly by other
traders who were more successful than me (which was about 20 other guys
CONSTANTLY using me as a punching/whipping bag). The only thing that kept me
going was the fact that some of the very same traders that would be making
wise cracks at me for losing money were some of the most successful people I
knew at the time. For better or worse, if I needed a trader to model myself
after, it was the same people that were telling me how bad a trader I was -
and although I was not open to really hear what they were saying, they were
right about my skills in every way (but their feedback was always packaged in
some sort of insult).

After racking up some rather hefty losses, I was determined to quit at one
point during month four, but because I had a habit of waking up at 4:30 am I
simply "forgot" that the night before I told myself I would quit and spare
myself further humiliation...by then I was warned that I was now on the red
list of traders ready to be cut. Also, my personal savings were starting to
approach zero (the base "draw" for house traders was enough to pay for food;
you usually make your money on a percentage of your profits, and I was deep in
the red at the time).

To say the least, there were many excellent reasons to be "reasonable", forget
about my dreams, and quit.

After 4 consecutive "failures to quit", I realized that I didn't quit because
somewhere deep down I was hanging on to a dream, however remote at that point:
that I could somehow be as successful as the other traders that I knew. At the
same time I realized that I had hit rock bottom in that I couldn't even
succeed in failing! Very tough times indeed...

An interesting point to note here is that although my losses were starting to
get very large, the people who were funding me as a trader kept me because I
had one redeeming quality: EFFORT, and this helped build tenacity. Other
traders who barely traded but had a fraction of my losses were cut much faster
because they didn't put forth much effort. They were not willing to take
losses and be bold/brave and fight it out; I was willing to take risks, and
this saved me from getting cut faster than others.

Slowly I began to reinterpret the constant humiliation I was suffering:
perhaps the other traders were right about their "jokes" and there might be
something in what they are saying that will help me get out of the red. I also
realized that since I had failed at quitting (which was now the ULTIMATE
failure), there was no further failure for me and that if I took baby steps
they were surely to succeed (this translated into taking smaller
trades/profits).

Only after improving upon my abilities as a trader and channeling my energies
appropriately did I succeed and earn everybody's respect as a trader (and you
have no idea how this made me feel!). I quickly made enough in commissions to
be trading my own account, and be successful as an independent trader onward.
When I look back at those final months of 1999 (yeah that's right, I was
losing huge cash at the end of 1999 when the entire market was going crazy
UP!), there was more good than bad even when I was getting my ass handed to
me. It's just that I was intentionally creating my own feedback (I'm right
everybody else is wrong) instead of seeing the results I was getting
(losses/insults) as feedback and information that would help me be successful.

I kind of snicker every time I see somebody ask for feedback on their startup
on YC.News only to end up justifying themselves by telling everybody why they
did what they did when they get negative feedback, which is the feedback of
greatest value. If somebody tells you how crappy your idea is, thank them that
they even spent a few brain cycles considering your idea.

The lessons I learned from this that are perhaps relevant to your questions:

\- Determine if you believe in yourself to succeed as an individual (I know
this sounds odd, but for a moment just examine your thought patterns and your
actions and see what message you are sending to yourself; do you listen to the
voice that says you can't or are you paying attention to the feedback from
your efforts and the results you are getting?)

\- Search deep down inside and see if the project you are working on is
something you believe in or not. If you can't sell yourself, then you
shouldn't bother trying any further...

\- ANY attention you get for your efforts is good attention. If you get LOTS
of negative feedback, then be grateful - you've jumped the first hurdle of
getting people to give a damn about what you are doing! :)

\- There is responsibility and accountability that goes with both success and
failure. You need to be ready for both because they can be equally painful in
equal ways. The amount of accountability that comes with success can be more
unbearable than the accountability that accompanies failure. I personally know
of some very talented people who enjoyed phenomenal initial success only to
find just as fast that they were in over their heads.

\- The more you resist the possibility of failure then you are less likely to
recognize possibilities that will help you succeed. If you are afraid to fail,
then most certainly you are afraid to succeed. This sounds counterintuitive
but it's based upon the fact that fear makes your mind less supple and less
responsive to the changes that will push you out of the game - or conversely
it will lessen the impulse to jump on the opportunities you need to succeed.

\- The results you get has everything to do with your users/market and less to
do with you as an individual; it's sometimes hard to separate these two. See
the other side of the equation and what side you are on before trying to solve
it. Don't ever think you are above the feedback of your users...EVER!

\- Don't have expectations (this is just setting yourself up for failure).
Because you are starting out you may not know what is best to help you succeed
- ESPECIALLY if you're lacking motivation. Keep in mind that whatever results
you get from your efforts will lead to more possibilities (in the form of
additional information).

\- Have some behavioral "context" within which to exercise discipline and
structure. Seek to grow your efforts within this context. My context was my
sleep schedule. It was a routine that was so ingrained that my drive had a
laser focus. This might not work for some, but it worked for me.

Finally, I will add that in my opinion failing hard and fast is MUCH better
than failing slowly. The faster you know for certain something isn't going to
work out, the sooner you can cut your losses and move on to your next idea.
When you eventually succeed, you will look back at all the times you were
quick to cut your losses and get to where you are...

\---------------------------------------------------------

Please do NOT contact me asking for advice in trading/investing. This is a
VERY personal thing, and it has everything to do with who you are, NOT with
how much information you have, or which tools you use, or who you know.

------
xenophonf
I can't remember if it was a comment or a post that linked to a really
interesting article? blog post? rant? on how difficult actually modelling
neurons is. It went into a lot about the genetics and epigenetics of the
neuron, but I can't seem to recall the author or find the article. I wish I'd
bookmarked it. :/

------
saagarjha
Just look at people's favorited comments (for example, mine is at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=saagarjha&comments...](https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=saagarjha&comments=t),
though I don't actually use the feature very much).

------
JustSomeNobody
I don't usually bookmark comments. I'll favorite an entry that has a comment I
want to save for later so that I can come back and see the comments on _that_
comment. For instance, if someone posts a relevant link. I'll favorite the
entry so that I can see what other links people offer.

------
relaunched
"Does depend on number of donkeys vs number of coyotes though. They're ornery,
not magic."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8044508](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8044508)

------
pvaldes
This, for example:

[https://e360.yale.edu/features/extreme-botany-the-
precarious...](https://e360.yale.edu/features/extreme-botany-the-precarious-
science-of-saving-rare-endangered-plants)

------
snazz
About the magic of good error messages (parent comment is good too):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17859210](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17859210)

------
valueprop
Shameless plug: I save insightful paragraphs to
[https://booxia.com](https://booxia.com) using a browser extension, and then I
get reminded about them via email.

------
skun
I have all my bookmarked comments over here:
[https://pinboard.in/u:shrayasr/t:HN/t:QA](https://pinboard.in/u:shrayasr/t:HN/t:QA)

------
dontbenebby
None actually. I have a high threshold for upvoting, so my upvote history
tends to be it's own record of things I found insightful or useful (with some
humorous things thrown in occasionally) :)

------
varjag
This one on practicalities of open borders:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17437888](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17437888)

------
EventH-
The middlebrow dismissal:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5072243](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5072243)

------
krm01
Is there an easy way to bookmark HN comments?

~~~
detaro
click the timestamp on a comment. You then can either click the "favorite"
link, which stores it at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=krm01&comments=t](https://news.ycombinator.com/favorites?id=krm01&comments=t)
(but note that list is public), or have a direct link to the comment to
bookmark elsewhere.

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noahster11
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13759706](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13759706)

I always enjoy the satirical content about last weeks hackernews posts

~~~
0_gravitas
I love how while these comments are from years ago, if they were posted today
I wouldn't be able to tell.

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therealmarv
[https://twitter.com/shit_hn_says](https://twitter.com/shit_hn_says)

