In the social sites I've worked on the first core group of users were always friends/associates of the creator. Get your friends(like 50+) using it to give you a base of people then start trying to attract the unknowns.
I understand, you mean "lighten up." I come here more for the information and insight than the humor, and a lot of that information lives in the comments. We already have Reddit for fluff and everything else, so why clone that here?
I just think sarcasm (like your comment here) and certain strains of humor (the replicating meme, for example) are counterproductive, though I don't by any means wish to discourage original/well-thought-out humor.
Ah, yes, it's good to keep things very concise, and only comment when it adds something of value to the thread. One wouldn't want to muck it up with sarcasm, tired old nerd humor, or pointless whinging in response to a good-natured one-line attempt to subtly point out amusing contradictions endemic in concepts like "social news software".
Good thing we've nipped that sort of thing in the bud, so the beautiful signal can shine through unhindered by noise.
> Startupping (or Hacking) doesn't have to be all gloomy and doomy, you know.
Smiling and laughter wastes precious calories and time. Time that could be spent perfecting your quirky web2 startup into a soulless corporate killing machine.
If we allow jokes on news.yc, people might start having fun, and fun is the antithesis of productivity!
