Facebook hid webpages bragging of ability to influence elections - <AUTHOR> https://theintercept.com/2018/03/14/facebook-election-meddling/ <comment><USER2> Just a few years ago, the talking heads were fawning over a few politicians you might know, who claimed their social media strategy was the linchpin in winning the election. Political campaigns of a certain bend would brag about how rich their voter targeting data was and how much more effective they were with their advertising dollars online.

What I'm trying to understand is if the average reader thinks these methods are bad in general, or just bad when the "wrong" person uses them well?

Political advertising is actually important - we _want_ issue focused ads helping communicate candidates stated positions on hot button issues. And yes, we even want the hit jobs when behavior warrants it and should be highlighted.

Is "influence elections" supposed to be a scary way of saying getting your word out? If the ads were lies, report them to the FTC or FEC. If the ads were effective, isn't that the whole fucking point?

<comment><USER3> I think the notion of political advertising is to some extent unethical, because it relies heavily on marketing candidates rather than presenting their positions. It's on thing to have the relevant information made easily accesable and another to push a rhetoric and narrative that is purpusefully manipulative. I would say that an effective ad is manipulative, thus has no place in the conversation of governance.

My main concern - which I haven't seen mentioned as much - is not how this data is being used to target voters with ads. At the end of the day if i can convince you of something with words that's fair game. I am concern with how this information is used to manipulate the voiting system - GERRYMANDERING.

I can ignore political ads. But if they know enough about me to classify me into a party AND control districting that's a problem. I encourage open political discussion, but it seems like that is being exploited and commotatized with big data to our disadvantage. Finally, the big winners aren't gop/dems. It's the people selling them this data and lining their pockets with money.

<comment><USER4> > it relies heavily on marketing candidates rather than presenting their > positions

That's the same thing, only one is said in nefarious tone and then the same is said in neutral tone. If you are trying to convince somebody to change their mind (and that's the purpose of having political ads - if everybody already agrees with you, why waste any time?) you need to say something that would change their position. Which, described in nefarious tone, is "manipulation". Of course, if my team does it, it's "education" instead.

> GERRYMANDERING

Facebook or any social media has zero influence on districting. It's wholly in the hands of local politicians. If you want it to change, some "manipulative" ads (or other ways of explaining, like pamphlets, in person conversations, articles, books, marches, whatever works) are needed to elect different politicians or cause the current ones to change their actions out of fear of not being elected again if they don't. I don't see any other way of doing it, do you?

Of course, if everybody follows your example and ignores political ads (and other political persuasion content, as being "manipulative"), then any change would be impossible - everybody would be convinced in the same things today as they were yesterday, and everything would remain the same. Maybe some hugely significant and catastrophic events would cause some people to change their minds, but without them being able to persuade their peers, it would be mostly insignificant.

<comment><USER3> >That's the same thing Yea, I'll conceed that.

>Facebook or any social media has zero influence on districting I don't think facebook or big data are responsible for districting.

I think that access to their data makes district gerrymandering a certainty, rather than some guessing game. In the past I'm guessing they had to go door- to-door to take the temprature on issues and try to figure out where people stand politically. Today some guy with access to this data - that we willingly make available - and a python script can do the same thing in a weekend with a much higher degree of success.

I think this is a more significant consequence of the social media age, than say targeted ads. I can ignore the ads when I'm watching hulu. But I have no power over how it's being used against me. Maybe this an overly reductionist view on something that is far more complex and nuanced, but I'm open to changing my mind.

<comment><USER4> I don't recall politicians ever having problem with setting up gerrymandering, way before Facebook was a thing. It doesn't have to be exact on the individual level, for its purposes plain old voting patterns data is more than enough.

<comment><USER3> That sounds interesting and scary at the same time. Can you elaborate some more on that?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> And while FB is destroying democracy I just got an email from Pinterest with subject "St patricks day (sic) Pins picked just for you" _8_ days after St. Patrick's Day.

I guess at least I don't have to worry about Pinterest interfering with elections.

<comment><USER6> I laughed way too hard at this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's totally anecdotal but I asked a few people about this and everyone had never heard, or seemed particular interested in hearing about Cambridge Analytica.

I mentioned the whole thing about phone contacts and the response was basically "Wow, sucks to be them I guess".

I wonder if it clicked that it probably affects them too.

</comment><comment><USER8> I am no fan of Facebook. Even though I have an account I barely use it.

But, Facebook sells ads. So, it is not surprising that they want to show off their "influence". I am sure similar language can be found even on cosmetic, electronic etc product "wins".

The only issue here is Facebook trying to hide the page. And, that is the worst thing they can do in the given climate.

</comment><comment><USER9> Okay, let's all settle down here with the pitchforks. It is totally reasonable for Facebook to a) sell politics are and b) want to tout their effectiveness. It is even reasonable for them to c) pull the pages down in the midst of this PR nightmare.

Facebook deserves most of what they're getting right now, but this is sensationalist media.

</comment><comment><USER10> I have a difficult time coming up with a better solution than one: Facebook must be broken up under anti-trust law. Social network share is as dangerous as, if not more dangerous than, market share.

<comment><USER11> Oh since when Facebook is a monopoly? There are dozens of social networks out there. Even Google Plus exists. You dont have any ground to pull an anti trust on FB.

<comment><USER12> Google Plus is kind of irrelevant nowadays in the social media space.

<comment><USER11> It does not matter, it still exists.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> One thing is this article is completely correct:

WHEN MARK ZUCKERBERG was asked if Facebook had influenced the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, the founder and CEO dismissed the notion that the site even had such power as "crazy".

It is indeed "crazy". US voters decided the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Millions of venues were used to hold the debate about it, Facebook included, but in no way unique. Presenting it as if only Facebook mattered is undoubtedly very flattering to Facebook (do you want to advertise your business in the place where decisions about US elections are made, or on some dead trees painted with dirt?!) but is completely insane if you take your head out of the Red Scare promoted by the media, take a breath and give yourself a minute to think and analyze the data.

Of course Facebook, as any advertising platform, brags about how powerful they are. And Facebook specifically has been caught claiming wider audience than 100% of the target demographics (don't have the link handy but wouldn't be hard to find it). But it's just that - bragging.

</comment><comment><USER13> [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/magazine/the-obama- campai...](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/magazine/the-obama-campaigns- digital-masterminds-cash-in.html)

</comment><comment><USER14> Anyone selling political ads is selling the ability to influence elections. Why else would a campaign buy any?

</comment><comment><USER15> I don't understand how using Facebook for political brainwashing is scarier than using it for brand awareness, product marketing etc. It's the same. If Trump used it for his gain then I must say he was just better at marketing. Hilary should have done a better job at selling herself. If Pepsi markets it's product better than Coke to me then I'll choose Pepsi :)

Yes, the data was mined and illegaly sold to Cambridge Analytica, but there are so many other entities who did the same. It's safe to assume that vast majoritybif not all of member data is out there being used/sold unless nobody in your friend list gave permissions to these apps or you have no friends.

<comment><USER16> > _" I don't understand how using Facebook for political brainwashing is > scarier than using it for brand awareness, product marketing etc. It's the > same."_

Setting aside the partisanship for a moment (because I think it's something people should be concerned about regardless of their politics), I think influencing the electorate or the government (or sowing distrust amongst different segments of society) is more likely going to have an effect on my life than influencing which brand of cola sells more unit sales (to use your example). So, yeah, I think it's potentially scarier to use it for "political brainwashing" (again, your words).

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> _Asked about the delisting, a Facebook spokesperson said that "a number of the studies have been archived, but they're still available at the individual links." Asked why the "Government and Politics" section had been removed entirely, the spokesperson did not reply._

I'll just bet they didn't. "We're covering our ass like it's on fire" is probably a bad PR, move, but it's painfully obvious that's what's happening. The funny thing is they're hurting themselves even more with half-baked apologies. They're going back to the playbook they've used for the last dozen scandals, but this is different.

Facebook the company might survive this, but Facebook the social network is going to die.

<comment><USER18> Nah. People outside our bubble don't care.

<comment><USER10> > _People outside our bubble don 't care_

This time, it feels flipped. My Silicon Valley circles repeat that this will blow over in a week. Outside that bubble, wheels are turning for the first time (to my recollection).

<comment><USER19> On that note, the Facebook stock is marked as a definite "buy". If you see the stock price movement, it's been a boon since 2013. Depending how you see this FB fiasco, it is both a PR disaster, and a great opportunity to "BUY" Facebook stock.

I believe that Zuckerberg will patch-up this mess (for now) and the investors just managed to buy something for 10% cheaper. There is a rule in forex trading: most events' results last 4 days. Perhaps for FB it will last a bit more. But when it comes to stock that's a different game. FB can make the comeback of this 10% in a couple months (tops) and continue being profitable.

Check stock price since 2013. FB stock definitely to continue performing similarly.

[1]: [https://www.tradingview.com/chart/FB/r2H0bemr-FB-Facebook- Li...](https://www.tradingview.com/chart/FB/r2H0bemr-FB-Facebook-Life-and- Times/)

<comment><USER17> It's very naive to believe that past performance is a perfect predictor, and a good way to lose your shirt.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> [https://www.google.com/ads/elections/](https://www.google.com/ads/elections/)

[https://www.google.com/ads/elections/campaign- playbook/mobil...](https://www.google.com/ads/elections/campaign- playbook/mobili) ze/

[https://business.twitter.com/en/help/ads- policies/restricted...](https://business.twitter.com/en/help/ads- policies/restricted-content-policies/political-campaigning.html)

(lest the implication be misunderstood, it is that "hiding web pages" is a non-story, unless i have missed the authors point. online ads for candidates are still not regulated in the same way as similar ads on "traditional" broadcast media such as TV, radio, cable, satellite. google, twitter, etc. are still open for business.)

<comment><USER21> Um, yeah. Political campaigns can buy ads from Google. I'm not sure why that would be surprising or objectionable unless you believe all political advertising is bad.

<comment><USER22> As a European I'm surprised. In my country, every form of political advertising, TV or online, is strictly regulated.

<comment><USER23> That doesn't say much. It's regulated in the US too, including digital.

What matters (and what is different) is what the specific regulations are.

<comment><USER24> In practice, Citizens United obviated any US regulations on political advertising. A rich patron can pour as much money as s/he desires into advertising on behalf of a campaign, and we don't have a right to know who that person is.

<comment><USER25> > In practice, Citizens United obviated any US regulations on political > advertising. A rich patron can pour as much money as s/he desires into > advertising on behalf of a campaign, and we don't have a right to know who > that person is.

No, Citizens United didn't do that. That right always existed. If you're a billionaire, you always could purchase TV ads that feature (for example) you talking about how great Candidate Foo is, and why Candidate Foo will be the best thing since sliced bread. That is a fundamental right of free speech in our democracy - the government cannot restrict you from praising or criticizing a candidate. They can restrict you from coordinating with the candidate to make those statements, but they can't restrict you from your own independent speech.

The Citizens United decision ruled that people preserve this right when acting as a group. So instead of one single billionaire purchasing ad spots, a group of people could pool their money and purchase the ad time instead. Or they could launch a crowdfunding campaign. All of that is still perfectly legal as long as the person (or people) running the ads aren't coordinating their efforts with the candidate and the candidate's campaign.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> please, keep taking your political advice from social media sites and ad networks, and if it turns out to be bad advice, try to sue them. :s

</comment><comment><USER27> The press is really kicking Facebook's ass lately.

I guess it's because it's newsworty now and gets clicks?

Because, I don't think Facebook was any better 1-2 years ago, but you hardly ever heard about it in this light.

<comment><USER28> More than that, the traditional press hates Facebook because Facebook is stealing its business. I thought Wired ran a good story about it [1].

[1] [https://www.wired.com/story/inside-facebook-mark- zuckerberg-...](https://www.wired.com/story/inside-facebook-mark- zuckerberg-2-years-of-hell/)

<comment><USER29> Not just traditional press. Facebook also competes with forums and blogs. Somebody who has worked hard to achieve prominence in those formats and venues will naturally feel threatened as they become less relevant. Some of the criticism might be justified, some of it might be sincerely meant, but the (lack of) emphasis and perspective is often driven by that fear. Bloggers' and forum heavyweights' comments about $target should be taken with the same grain of salt as NYT or Wired commentators'.</comment></comment></comment>


CDC: If all Americans wore masks, COVID19 could be controlled in 6-12 weeks - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000007344183/redfield-cdc-masks.html <comment> just-juan-post Several points:

\- Do we trust the CDC this week? Yesterday they were corrupt liars and not to be trusted. See also next point.

\- Is this a political stunt to push off blame? "Jeez if everyone just wore a mask we would be done with it, not my fault X people died".

\- What happens once it's "under control"? Do we continue lockdowns and lifestyle restrictions as they exist today? I have yet to see any country with reasonable conditions to end their lockdowns. Under what conditions will the lockdowns and lifestyle changes end?

The definition of "under control" seems to be ever changing.

<comment><USER2> Also, i've not actually seen anyone not wearing a mask in Public. I understand there are _parties_ and events, but every store i've been in (in the south at that) has had masks on.

I think it's just a fluff piece.

<comment><USER3> It really depends on where you are. There are areas where people gather and mask wearing is spotty or non-existent. Our neighbors recently had a large party with lots of guest because it was their son's 10th birthday and they thought he deserved a big celebration. Only a few of the people wore masks. I also drove past a group of people outside a church this past weekend and only a few were wearing masks.</comment></comment></comment>


Avast Antivirus confirms it was hacked - <AUTHOR> https://blog.avast.com/ccleaner-fights-off-cyberespionage-attempt-abiss <comment><USER2> Is there any anti-virus beyond the built-in that's actually worth using?

I've run nothing but Windows Defender on my own machines, and haven't had any issue since before Windows XP.

On the other hand, I've had to use a whole host of shit under duress at work, and all I've ever seen it do is slow beefy desktops to a crawl, delete parts of various dev tools, and fight over who can lock and scan files. Now they are tied into sketchy cloud services that require creating logins, and are getting themselves hacked.

<comment><USER3> For home use, Windows Defender is fine, and you really don't need a third- party AV.

For businesses it's Defender ATP, which looks about the same as every other AV/EDR product. Haven't personally used it so no comment, other than their Linux support doesn't look great right now.

What slows down endpoints is usually shitty security engineering, and multiple pieces of security software doing essentially the same thing (my company uses three different monitoring tools which all hash executables). 9 times out of 10 you can blame some manager in your security team who bought unnecessary endpoint security software to cover their ass after they listened to a bullshit sales pitch.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The title is misleading, it was not hacked. There was an detected attempt, but it was mitigated.

<comment><USER5> The original title is: " Avast fights off cyber-espionage attempt, Abiss"

However, there is an unclear statement in the blog post on whether there was in fact a successful hack or a failed attempt:

"When analyzing the external IPs, we found that the actor had been attempting to gain access to the network through our VPN as early as May 14 of this year.

After further analysis, we found that the internal network was successfully accessed with compromised credentials through a temporary VPN profile that had erroneously been kept enabled and did not require 2FA."

<comment><USER4> Seems like the internal Avast network was _compromised_, but not the products itself.</comment></comment></comment>


Study: Climbing a Tree Can Improve Cognitive Skills - <AUTHOR> http://www.unf.edu/publicrelations/media_relations/press/2015/UNF_Researchers_Reveal_Climbing_a_Tree_Can_Improve_Cognitive_Skills.aspx

<comment> once-in-a-while And falling down from climbing a tree can improve landing skills.

<comment><USER2> _" Oh I already know how to fly" said Little Bear, "Although, so far I only know how to fly straight down."_

I suspect that the risk factor helps in focus. In general exercise seems to improve cognitive function, exercise which requires thinking and planning seems to help more than just simple exercise.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> So does walking, what's the difference? I would rather walk than risk dying.

<comment><USER4> Climbing a tree is more fun (for some people) :-)</comment></comment>


MMOWAM: Massively Multiplayer Online Whack-A-Mole - <AUTHOR> http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JoshMarinacci/20160815/279016/MMOWAM_Massively_Multiplayer_Online_WhackAMole.php <comment><USER2> Pretty cool, thanks for sharing!</comment>


Show HN: DatoCMS – A client-friendly CMS for any static website generator - <AUTHOR> https://www.datocms.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hi guys, creator here. We started building DatoCMS as a side-project a year ago as Contentful was way too complicated for our web agency average brochure website client. We quietly launched the product 4 months ago: Since then we are getting steady signups and paying customers through organic traffic. Customer feedback has been an invaluable tool so far to route our development roadmap. Eager to receive some more feedback here :)

<comment><USER2> My feedback is: I was interested because I thought it was something that would allow me to "edit files in the browser", in the sense that it would keep the contents and a virtual file structure somewhat like what I keep for my static sites in my disk, but since I have to define a schema that is too complicated for me.

This is not a criticism nor a feature request.

<comment><AUTHOR> There's other solutions that implement this approach.. Prose.io for example ([http://prose.io/](http://prose.io/))

<comment><USER2> Prose.io does nothing GitHub itself doesn't offer.

But hey, maybe someone will write something like what I described. Maybe I will.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Love the idea and it looks slick but if it's not open source and I can't host it myself then that's a show stopper for me and my clients.

<comment><USER2> So you have a lot of clients who will pay you but you want the person who wrote this highly complex tool to give you their source code for free?

Would you consider paying a price for a hosted version of the product (not the source code)?

<comment><USER4> That is an uncharitable reading of the comment because the person did not ask/demand that the software be open sourced. Instead it provided specific feedback as to why the software did not meet their business needs.

Those needs are not without historical precedent where a company has taken a dependency upon another company that later folded or changed direction or updated the product in incompatible ways or repriced it in ways that changed the value proposition. The decision to only use open source software looks like it was made based on client's best interests and professional experience.

<comment><USER2> I was about to disagree with you, but reread the original comment and it indeed can be read that way.

At first I read it as if the commenter were complaining of the closedsourcedness of DatoCMS.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Looks pretty awesome!

What if I want to use CDN to host images? Maybe I've missed something but I could only find an option to Upload images.

<comment><AUTHOR> Images uploaded to DatoCMS are already served using Cloudflare on top of Imgix. Imgix is a great CDN service that also handles on-the-fly image processing for you (crop, resize, watermarks, etc). Super handy.</comment></comment>


Panda 4.0: The Biggest Losing Sectors - <AUTHOR> http://www.rocketmill.co.uk/panda-4-0-biggest-losers-sector

<comment><AUTHOR> I wonder how this looks like in the US. Does anyone have any data that they could share?</comment>


E-cigarette smoke damages DNA and reduces repair activity in mouse lung - <AUTHOR> https://www.pnas.org/content/115/7/E1560 <comment><USER2> > While the NNAL level in E-cig smokers is 97% lower than in tobacco smokers, > nonetheless, it is significant higher than in nonsmokers

They really fail to emphasize this fact clearly. There's a popular delusion that e-cigarette users believe e-cigarettes are completely safe. I think most know they're not entirely safe, but a 97% reduction in harm is a pretty big win.

It's telling that the headline is 'E-cigarette smoke damages DNA and reduces repair activity in mouse lung' and not 'E-cigarettes 97% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes.' Finding evidence that they're wildly less harmful isn't as sexy as being able to say you've found evidence that there's _some_ harm possible.

<comment><USER3> I believe that what you are trying to tell us is that there is bias in the media.</comment></comment>


PyCharm 1.5 Released - now with Django Template Debugging - <AUTHOR> http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/whatsnew/

<comment><USER2> PyCharm also has excellent JavaScript support: [http://www.jetbrains.com/editors/javascript_editor.jsp?ide=p...](http://www.jetbrains.com/editors/javascript_editor.jsp?ide=pycharm)

This, the IDE's cross platform support and the IdeaVIM plugin have basically converted me back to an IDE toting developer again.

<comment><USER3> Does it support coffeescript (indirectly or directly)?

<comment><USER4> <https://github.com/netzpirat/coffee-brew>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The template debugging looks awesome. I wonder if there is a project that provides django template debugging as a stand alone thing? I don't see myself ever moving from vim to Jetbrains.

<comment><USER6> As a former vim user myself, if you do use IntelliJ or PyCharm I can recommend using the IdeaVIM plugin:

<http://plugins.intellij.net/plugin/?id=164>

<comment><USER7> O rly? Have you actually used it? I tried for months while using RubyMine. The IdeaVIM plugin was one of the reasons I was ultimately driven back to regular vim...the inconsistencies and bugs were pretty bad...to the extent that some things like undo would lose your changes completely (i.e., no redo). I really wanted to like RubyMine/IntelliJ/IdeaVIM, but the bugs were a deal killer. Coupled with the fact that many were known issues and there was no commitment to fix them and my choice to go back to vim was easy.

I should note that the vim support in netbeans and eclipse was just about flawless. It's a shame IntelliJ couldn't steal/adapt one of those projects to work within its IDE set.

<comment><USER6> Yes, rly. Of course I have actually used it -- I use it daily. I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.

I find the small bugs in IdeaVIM well worth the added bonus of using IntelliJ over using vim alone or using netbeans or eclipse. I fiddled with eclim and jbvi and other vim-ish things, but IntelliJ really is the best Java IDE IMHO.

<comment><USER7> So do U and CTRL+R now properly undo and redo? When I used it, if you used U to undo, there was simply no way to ever redo anything...

<comment><USER2> What platform are you on? My windows install seems to be prone to odd keyboard collisions, but mac is fine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Aside from all the goodness and awesomeness that comes with PyCharm, I would like to say I've noticed faster program startup with 1.5 with respect to 1.2.1. So I'm glad features are not the only thing being added with this release.

With respect to the Vim vs PyCharm Discussion. I think Vim is great. It's fast, light, and you can customize the hell of it (if you're patient). With that said PyCharm is also great. After you start it up, it is also fast, and you can also do a whole bunch of customizations. At the end of the day, I'm gonna use the tool that is going make me more productive. For me that tool is PyCharm. Now I know some of you are just as productive on Vim, and more power to you guys. However, I would say it would be reasonable to assume that most of the population (of programmers that is) would be more productive through the extensive set of tools that have been so thoughtfully implemented into PyCharm. So my advice is to use the app that makes you crank out good clean code the fastest. I also recommend for everyone to at least give PyCharm a test drive by using the trial, specially if you are a Django developer.

</comment><comment><USER8> Could some one please elaborate on vim Vs PyCharm? I mean pros and cons?

<comment><USER3> I thought of asking the same question, but decided to do some googling.

Found this interesting review by Guido: <https://profiles.google.com/gvanrossum/posts/CGh9MoWU53V>

Overall, it seems to be a great editor for doing work in Python. I have been using vim as my main code editor for C++, Python, Ruby, PHP for nearly 10 years and it is hard for me to imagine leaving vim.

But no one says you can't use PyCharm and vim together. What I mean is that, when I am sitting down to work on some code having PyCharm seems great. But when I just need to make some quick edits, then vim can be used. In the end, the results of our work is just text chunks that are in a DVCS.

I think I will give the 30-day free trial a shot to see how it works compared to my vim setup (using <https://github.com/astrails/dotvim> as a base for my current vim seutp btw). And I recommend you to just give it a shot and see how it works for you and your workflow.</comment></comment>


Tampermonkey: Greasemonkey for Android - <AUTHOR> https://market.android.com/details?id=net.biniok.tampermonkey <comment><USER2> I don't own an Android device - The 'Install' button there would seem to indicate that you can install this right now on your Android device and it works with the default browser.

Is that correct? So this basically means, Android's browser (is it called Chrome? Or something else?) has support for plugins, right?

<comment><USER3> Of course, that's what Flash is after all.

<comment><USER2> Oh, right. I forgot that Flash can work on the Android Browser.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This could allow to build an ad-blocker for the default android browser, right?

</comment><comment><USER5> Any tips on which scripts would be particularly useful on Android?</comment>


Ask HN: Rails Devise Auth Equivalents for React, Angular, Vue.js etc.? - <AUTHOR> What libraries exist which give an out of the box auth & login solution similar to Devise for Rails?<p>I like the devise library as for very little configuration you get registration, confirmations, account management, oAuth integration, lockable accounts and password reset without having to reinvent much yourself. So what else exists out there that would work with React / Angular / Vue etc in a similar way? <comment><USER2> Passport.js

The issue here is that rails is full stack, while the three libs you mention are frontend only. You will need something for the backend like Express or Prisma</comment>


Can We Code Without Comments? - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/appsflyer/can-we-code-without-comments-maybe-2075abfc2ace?source=linkShare-29bf9cbbbc63-1523009932 <comment><USER2> Comments should explain why something was done not what it is doing. The code should explain what is being done and the comments give it context, so perhaps a legislation change meant rewriting something to do with tax or a bug caused by interacting with another piece of software required the change. That's what you comment not a human version of what the code is doing.

<comment><AUTHOR> But is it maintained like code? Maybe we can try to improve our code to avoid having many comments?

<comment><USER3> Good code is legible and may not have a lot of comments at all, but the comments that are there add value.

And honestly, what codebase doesn't have these:

        // This looks weird and redundant, but is necessary because of a
        // sneaky bug in libbar (libbar issue tracker #123) that might be
        // fixed in their upcoming 2.0 release. Without it a race condition
        // can occur at seemingly random intervals. See our issue tracker
        // #456 for the whole nasty story.
        barProvider.fertilizeFoos(null);

No amount of code is going to convey the same crucial information.

And yes, a professional programmer will maintain that piece of documentation.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: VC funds competing company, would they maintain confidentiality? - <AUTHOR>

I'm due to meet a VC for a consultation but they fund a similar business, and I'm worried they will pass on my idea to the competitor.
The product we are creating is in the consumer apps market.
My "competitor" does not actually directly compete with my idea, however they do provide a solution to a very similar market and it's possible that they would want to produce my product and include it as part of theirs.
Put it this way, one of my exit strategies is to be bought by them and my business plan describes the advantages of my product over theirs.
I've invested about $50K into this so far and we're ready to launch in a few months and have the resources to take it to launch, but not close enough that we can show a live working demo at the consultation. If they tell the competitor where we're up to, the competitor would likely have the resources to squash us. It's not an idea where we can do a quicker MVC.
I'm London-based and there are many VCs but not that many with a history of tech startup successes, so I do want this particular VC firm's advice, if I can trust that they won't suggest my idea to my competitor, especially once I've pitched and sold it as a winner.
The consulatation is being offered as a marketing exercise by a startup incubator and it's just to get feedback. If investment results so much the better but at the moment we're not desperate though we do want VC involvement before or shortly after launch.
The fact that they know and like this particular market might be a big advantage over other VCs I could talk to who simply don't normally invest in tech startups and certainly not ones that produce consumer apps for my customer base.
What would you do? <comment><USER2> Why would you partner with someone you don't trust? And if you take VC money, you are partnering.

Know instead of guess. My gut says communicate your concerns about a potential conflict before any meeting.

An ethical person will probably appreciate your willingness to avoid placing them in a compromising position. If there is an issue, the VC may pass you to someone without a potential conflict.

Good Luck.

</comment><comment><USER3> 1\. Don't tell them anything you wouldn't tell a customer.

2\. Launch fast.</comment>


Slate star codex isn't really deleted - <AUTHOR> https://web.archive.org/web/20200609065651/https://slatestar... <comment><USER2> I imagine the loss has much more to do with the fact that the blog may no longer be updated anymore, than the fact that old content has disappeared.</comment>


Announcing the FastMail Calendar - <AUTHOR> http://blog.fastmail.fm/2014/06/23/announcing-the-fastmail-calendar/ <comment><USER2> I switched from gmail to fastmail about six months ago and I'm very happy. It's fast, relatively cheap ($40 a year for 15 gigs of storage) and they aren't scanning my email to serve up advertisements. The addition of calendar is just another bonus that I'm immediately adopting.

Another great feature is the ability to use as many domains and email aliases as you want. I have all of my custom domains set up with both send a receive service, including DKIM. Also, if I ever need a throwaway email address, I just set it up, send an email, and then delete the address.

</comment><comment> Dorian-Marie Here is an actual screenshot of the calendar: [https://www.fastmail.fm/static/homepage/images/calendar.png](https://www.fastmail.fm/static/homepage/images/calendar.png)

<comment><USER3> I'd argue its a better presentation than Google Calendar, and I love Google Calendar.

<comment> Dorian-Marie For comparaison: [http://i.imgur.com/8i7w27C.png](http://i.imgur.com/8i7w27C.png)

I still prefer Google Calendar or Apple Calendar interface:

[https://www.apple.com/osx/apps/images/galleries/calendar_her...](https://www.apple.com/osx/apps/images/galleries/calendar_hero_2x.jpg)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> What are the security benefits gained by using FastMail over Google (in the context of a state-level eavesdropper)? Is it that FastMail is a smaller target? If you take all your centralized information from Google and move it over to FastMail, it's still centralized - what am I missing?

<comment><USER5> From a government spying perspective, I'd say there's no benefit. Fastmail servers, at least for US customers are in the NYC area at nyi.net, iirc.

I imagine most customers (myself included) are using fastmail instead of Google to avoid Google, or similar, not to avoid the governments.

<comment><USER6> This is exactly why I switched to Fastmail. It isn't for the 'tinfoil hat' crowd, who already know to avoid any service with assets in the US. Some of us think having an advertising company handle our email no longer makes sense.

I think anyone looking for a third-party commercial email service free from government snooping is already off to a bad start.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is great! Well done. And not just from the Google Apps alternative perspective, the user interface is different. People might debate some of the major differences; but the infinite or continuous calendar scrolling feature along with the toolbar at the bottom makes navigating your calendar(s) easy. It feels more natural than Google's … The syncing was easy to set up too; and will make transitioning off of Google a breeze.

</comment><comment><USER8> I've been putting off switching away from google apps for my personal domain until fastmail had the tripod of mail+contacts+calendar in place, now to wait a couple of months for the initial bugs to be ironed out and it's happening.

<comment><USER9> I've ben using beta.fastmail.fm since I signed up. The calendar has been in Beta for months. Big bugs would most likely already have been fixed.

<comment><USER8> Always there is a difference between "bugs discovered in beta" and "bugs discovered when you let your application loose on the wider public". I don't have time to deal with bugs in my calendars, so will wait.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Good to see someone taking up competition against Google/MS.

If only they'd move their servers to Iceland (they already have backups there).

<comment><USER11> There are only a handful of independent nations in the world. They are Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and "the international community."

Iceland is a part of the empire. I wish that it weren't so. I do sympathize with your wish for privacy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is awesome, especially the two-way sync with iCloud is really neat if you want to use it on devices with no iCloud support.

<comment><USER13> I was excited to see this, and it works quite well, my only wish is that I could manage one calendar and have the changes push out to all connected calendars.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I'm waiting contact synchronisation and I'll only need google for the play market ! pretty neat.

<comment><USER15> You should check out the alternative app store F-Droid. It is completely free software apps, and all are Ad-free and high quality. There are alternatives or replacements for just about anything you might want, and you don't need Google anything.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Very nice. Unfortunately for iCloud sync, you need to provide your Apple iCloud account email and password. Not a very good security practice, but Apple doesn't provide any other way to accomplish this.

Fastmail does use Google authentication to access the Google Calendar.

</comment><comment><USER17> What I'm really wanting is the ability to have completely separate IMAP accounts for my various domains, but it's good to see they're adding calendaring, that seemed like an odd omission

<comment><USER18> I know they've been working on it for a while, I remember reading at least one progress report or the like.

They undoubtedly got diverted by being bought by Opera when they sold the company to it in 2010 and did various things for it, then bought the company back in September of last year. Now that they're again their own masters, we've been seeing a lot of improvements ... and I myself am happy that I can continue using their older "classic" UI because I don't think their New and Improved one is, at least for myself and how I use it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> This might be the feature that makes me switch my personal email.

<comment><USER19> It's worth asking, is there a similar set of services that one could run on their own? Controlling one's own data and all that...

<comment><USER13> I guess you could try OwnCloud, but I'm unaware of it supports mail in any capacity.

<comment><USER20> OwnCloud's calendar doesn't support subscribing to changing calendars (like Facebook event feed; you have to setup an automatic import manually).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> This is excellent, I've been very happy since switching to FastMail and now this just adds even more value. Keep it up FastMail!

</comment><comment><USER22> I like this - really looking forward to a full featured google services replacement coming out of them.

</comment><comment><USER23> Interested in switching off gmail. How are folks getting new email notifications on mobile?

<comment><USER24> I'm using fastmail and [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onegravity...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onegravity.k10.pro2&hl=en) on push notifications, no issues at all. Very happy with it</comment></comment>


Publishers Must Adapt to a "Distributed First" Model - <AUTHOR> http://blog.naytev.com/publishers-must-adapt/ <comment><USER2> At the time I'm writing this, there are five top level comments. Three (3) are from _new users_ (BergintheBay, shrave, & yawaworht), one is from a user who has only made a single comment (this one) in their 201 days on HN (jkalan), and one who has made a whole 3 comments (including this one) in their 910 days on HN.

Something seems more than a little fishy!

<comment><USER3> It doesn't help that their comments also have the same structure :-)

<comment><USER4> Indeed - and I also fail to see what was so "insightful"/"good"/"fascinating" about it either, just some relatively old stats and some copy badly in need of an edit. Clearly a voting ring.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I sense a voting ring...

<comment><USER6> This was an insightful comment. It's about time we take advantage of social platforms and synergy to better our platforms against predatory users. Publishers absolutely need to unlock their strategies and adapt to a framework more suited for modern global information warfare and social engineering trends. What I'd like to see, in my opinion, is a mechanism for identifying and purging spurious content with zero barriers to exit in an old-style curation mode of operation. Without that, I think most social networks will be doomed to repeat history.

/s because I mean really honestly

<comment><USER7> Ha! Well done.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Facebook Instant Articles and Google AMP are accelerating the decline in website ad revenue. Will be interesting to see what new business models emerge - paywalls will just hurt growth even more for most top publishers.

</comment><comment><USER9> This was an insightful read. It's about time we take advantage of mobile platforms and synergy to better our model's forecasts for web development. Publishers absolutely need to unlock their strategies and adapt to a framework more suited for modern global infrastructure and social networking trends. What I'd like to see, in my opinion, are two competing hierarchies with zero barriers to entry in an old-style competitive mode of operation. Without that, I think most developers will be doomed to repeat history.

</comment><comment><USER10> Good read. Important to note that as Facebook continues the trend of being the portal for eyes on all content online, publishers will need to ensure they hit the right audience EVERY TIME. This isn't done on their native websites, it's done via distribution.

<comment><USER7> But none of that matters if the publishers can't make money off the distribution -- and most of these deals simply don't allow for that. Apple made some changes recently but it's still not enough, and considering that many B2B sites still can make very good money with direct sales, there's very little incentive to participate.

It's kind of like those sites who want journalists to write for them for "exposure" (or ask photogs to use their photos, or artists to use their art, etc. without paying)-- sure, maybe millions more eyeballs see your writing, but you're making nothing off of it and just hoping you'll get something down the road. Meanwhile, the smart writers are taking gigs that maybe only a few thousand will read but they will get paid reasonable rates (and sometimes very good money) every time.

Not to say that many B2B publishers won't participate, but it'll be at a smaller scale and, I think, always with an eye on the trade-offs, which, again, aren't so great right now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Fantastic read. I can speak from experience that distribution is the first priority when launching a new publication. To be a destination in this day and age will not happen unless you leverage existing platforms first. Go to them, and then (hope) they come to you.</comment>


Idea Debt - <AUTHOR> http://jessicaabel.com/2016/01/27/idea-debt/ <comment><USER2> This, this is probably the biggest and yet least recognized obstruction for wannapreneurs. I know because I've been there myself for years and have only recently realized what I was doing. I would get really excited about an idea, start working on it, only work on the interesting parts (not on what actually had to come next) and then let it fizzle away as the next wave of emotion came with another idea. I would justify this cycle with the emotion dip itself, if the next step in the process was not interesting or uncomfortable, that I was my reason to leave it. Surely the next idea won't have any of those areas.

The author mentions piles of lore and doing research. For me, research was basically entrepreneurial porn. My mind thought I was getting something that it really wasn't. I thought I was making progress by researching everything but in reality, I was just building piles of lore. A company I'm currently working on, with all this in mind, I've decided to do no extra research beyond what is needed in the moment. Forcing myself to steer clear of the research trap and instead only work on what is going to get me to the next point.

I could go on and on about this topic, it's not talked about nearly enough. It seems like everyone has an idea for a company, app, startup, etc. Us developers sometimes roll our eyes. We think it's their idea that is bad, or that they're just following the startup hype. In reality though, none of that is true, the reason there idea isn't coming to life is because they're simply not doing it.

<comment><USER3> I don't know if this is just me, but I used to be full of ideas, half finished projects and several projects that I talked myself out of.

Since having children, I no longer have ideas, and rarely work on anything than paid contract work.

Has anyone else experienced this? I feel void of ideas.

<comment><USER4> A lot of the excitement in a project comes from learning: "can I do it," "what will happen," etc.

After a certain point in your life, you grow convinced that you've seen it all before, and that has a way of draining you of excitement. Children are a common tipping point because they also make you _less selfish_. Nobody is asking you to make those projects, so it has to come from within, and if you act only for others, you never get around to it, because there's always another household crisis looming in the distance.

The only way to pull through is to turn it into a habit, instead of relying on your whims alone.

<comment><USER3> That's an interesting take on it. I'd never perceived that, but you're right (in my case anyway). I have two children under 6 so there is very little 'pause time' until they are in bed asleep, and by that point I'm shattered.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is why I moved a huge portion of my TODO list into an IDEAS list. This is an outliner document (Org-mode) that contains notes on lots of different ideas.

So why didn't I just delete those items? Because writing down that stuff helps me not to think about it the whole day if I don't want to.

The IDEAS list grows and grows, but that's okay. I don't feel obliged to implement any of these ideas. Whenever I recall an idea, I go to that document, add some notes, and that's it. No deep research, no domain buying, no name searching. Just writing or extending on what comes to my mind, and roughly structuring it.

From time to time it happens that I do want to implement one of these ideas. And in that case I have some nice, simple spec to start from.

As a side note, I started to do that after I read "Writing, Briefly" from Paul Graham ([http://paulgraham.com/writing44.html](http://paulgraham.com/writing44.html)), which contains the following great advice:

        ...
        when you finish, leave yourself something easy to start with;
        accumulate notes for topics you plan to cover at the bottom of the file;
        don't feel obliged to cover any of them;
        ...

These points are applicable far outside the scope of writing. In that sense, my IDEAS list is the clearly separated "bottom" of my TODO list that contains the "accumulated notes".

As a final note, this concept seems to be somehow related to the Not-To-Do list that some people advocate.

<comment><USER6> This seems similar to the idea of a spark file?

[http://lifehacker.com/5941997/defrag-your-brain-with-a- spark...](http://lifehacker.com/5941997/defrag-your-brain-with-a-spark-file)

 _edit_ Also do you have anything written down about using org-mode for todos and ideas?

<comment><USER5> _> This seems similar to the idea of a spark file?_

Indeed! The concept of a "spark file" describes exactly what I'm doing.

 _> Also do you have anything written down about using org-mode for todos and ideas?_

This is pretty basic Org-mode usage. My To-Do list is just nested headings, each with a TODO or DONE marker (Shift+Left, Shift+Right). My IDEAS list doesn't even have those markers, it is just nested headings and nested lists. The only "advanced thing" that I do is moving items via Mod+Up and Mod+Down. This is very handy, as that moves the whole subtree up and down. And I'm using the "Tab" key for folding and unfolding subtrees.

Org-mode offers much more than what I'm using here. I'm not yet a power-user of Org-mode. For example, the "agenda view" might simplify a lot of what I'm doing (not for IDEAS, but for TODO, meetings, etc). But I didn't find the time to dig deeper into Org-mode yet.

<comment><USER7> I would highly recommend learning some of agenda mode. I originally started with only using the tree editing features. But one of the coolest features is the agenda mode and the fact that you can create custom views which pull in all the details you want. Here is the view I use all the time:

      (setq org-agenda-custom-commands
          '(("w" "Agenda and Next todos"
             ((agenda "" ((org-agenda-ndays 1))) ;show anything scheduled for today including habits
              (todo "NEXT|IN PROGRESS"
                    ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Working On"))) ;things that I am currently working on
              (todo "TODO"
                    ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Check Todo's"))) ;Todo items to check on periodically
              (todo "WAITING"
                    ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Waiting On"))))))) ;things I am blocking on

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is one of the reasons we put together "Finish Up Weekend" \- [http://fuweekend.com/](http://fuweekend.com/)

It's a hackathon weekend when you're not allowed to start anything new. You are only allowed to bring things to finish. It's not strictly coding, we've had lawyers, screenwriters, artists, authors, and sewing projects completed. The positive peer pressure is great.

When you finish something, you get to ring a bell so we can celebrate briefly.. and then get back to work.

And there are no prizes, just the satisfaction of getting things done.

<comment><USER9> Love the idea! Don't see any upcoming dates, though :(.

Do you guys do anything in Chicago?

<comment><USER8> Not yet but we're looking to spread the model.

Drop me an email and I'm happy to chat details. :)

<comment><USER10> Montreal plans? I'd love to help set it up here.

<comment><USER8> Email me. :)

I'll be in Montreal in a few weeks for Confoo and would love to chat over a beer or coffee.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Thinking of this as 'debt' doesn't seem quite right to me. It's not like someone's going to come and break your kneecaps some day if you don't act on these ideas. You don't owe these ideas to anyone, and you don't have to 'pay them back'. Calling this debt is like calling the hours while we sleep and are not being paid 'income debt', or calling our front lawn 'food debt' because we haven't planted a garden there. How dare we!

I'm as guilty as anyone of amassing ideas and half-baked projects in various files and/or boxes of junk around the house, but I don't think of them as debt. They're all opportunities. Some are good, some are bad, and some have been missed, but they're not debt. I happen to think that some of them have the potential to make me a lot of money should I choose to implement them, but there are no guarantees. There is nobody out there saying, "Here's a check for $20M if you implement that idea right there, and you get to keep half."

'Follow your dreams'...'Do what you love and the money will follow'...'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' these are phrases that all sound great from the other side of success, but when you have a normal life with a family and a mortgage, the decision to pursue your opportunities is not as cut and dried. Having to weigh the consequences of not earning a paycheck to pursue one of these opportunities against food on the table or missing a mortgage payment, or even just not spending those evening free-time hours with your kids changes the equation substantially.

<comment><USER12> I think the idea is that some people experience them as debt they owe themselves. If you've never felt that way, I can see why this would not make sense to you. (No sarcasm or harshness intended; I mean that straight.) Some of us had to come to this conclusion by a harder route. For myself, I still learned it fairly early, but I do remember _learning_ it. My natural inclination was to finish everything.

As I type that, it occurs to me for the first time that I grew up in an environment where that was explicitly said to me sometimes. Even to this day, my now-retired father can be heard angsting about the projects he has not finished, and he tried his well-meaning best to pass that on to me. Perhaps this stems from the problems of leaving the physical projects he primarily works on half-done; a half-done remodeling is an ugly thing. A half-done car restoration takes up a lot of space and gets worse over time if you don't work on it as it basically rots. But creative projects have different rules. I've got at most a few hundred kilobytes of old programs lying in my sentimental directory... who cares? Who even knows? It's so tiny I tend to even forget it exists.

<comment><USER13> I can see that - I've got ideas I've spent money and time on and I kind of think I owe myself a finished thing which has failed to materialize.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I love my idea debt. Not only are they a connection to my younger self, but old ideas are a rich ore to be mined for new ideas. Some of my best current ideas are old ideas that have been tweaked by experience or external change so they are now relevant. Keep working on your ideas, but make sure you are actually turning some of them into reality.

<comment><USER15> I find it amazing how many of the ideas from my vault exist in some form or other in the real world now.

<comment><USER16> I love the phrase "if you're the only one with an idea, it's probably a bad idea" :)

<comment><USER14> This could be shortened to "if you have an idea then it is probably a bad idea" since most ideas are bad.

<comment><USER15> People seemed to take it as if I was bragging about how many good ideas I have had (parent comment 2 levels up). In reality what I find amazing is that most of my ideas were terrible, solutions looking for a problem, and I'm glad I didn't pursue them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11374746](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11374746)

Self-regulation of goal setting: turning free fantasies about the future into binding goals.

Oettingen G1, Pak H, Schnetter K.

Abstract: Fantasy realization theory states that when people contrast their fantasies about a desired future with reflections on present reality, a necessity to act is induced that leads to the activation and use of relevant expectations. Strong goal commitment arises in light of favorable expectations, and weak goal commitment arises in light of unfavorable expectations. To the contrary, when people only fantasize about a desired future or only reflect on present reality, expectancy-independent moderate goal commitment emerges. Four experiments pertaining to various life domains supported these hypotheses. Strength of goal commitment was assessed in cognitive (e.g., making plans), affective (e.g., felt attachment), and behavioral terms (e.g., effort expenditure, quality of performance). Implications for theories on goal setting and goal striving are discussed.

too academic, didnt read: To act, also think about _now_ instead of only dreaming what _could_ be.

<comment><USER18> I read somewhere that fantasizing about new features, off spins, optimizations, marketing tactics and etc would release enough dopamine that you'd eventually lose interest as the real deal wouldn't do better. I'll see if I can find it.

But what you posted is interesting and seems to be a perfect fit here and my project app/game graveyard. Someone actually said that I'm not building, im playing with borrowed Lego, pretty much sums it up. I think it boils down to analysis paralysis, that's the root cause. Any anxiety, any doubt, lack of focus, and procrastination stems from that. At least arrived at after really digging.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> While a lot of people have tons of ideas that they can only execute on a few of them, there's quite a few people have the talent to make things that don't have the deluge of ideas invading their mind every day.

I think the idea people should be a little less protective of their ideas, especially the ones they know will never get made, and flesh them out just enough so others can run with it, and then put it out there somewhere.

I know there's a couple sites based on this concept, but maybe it could be something where ideas could get upvoted and the more visible ones might get people on board.

I don't know, sometimes I think that's what people are trying to do when they make a project open-source sometimes.

But yeah, there's a bunch of junk I come up with that aren't bad ideas, but I'll never realistically invest the time to get them done, especially considering all my other projects.

<comment><USER20> It's called crowdsourcing and I haven't seen it really work because ideas are a dime a dozen. Create. Don't think about it.

<comment><USER21> As a programmer, I have skills to build basically anything, but I don't have any ideas for what to build. If someone gave me an idea that would really capture my imagination, I would really appreciate it.

("Yet Another Ad Network" doesn't capture my imagination)

<comment><USER22> Why would someone give you their good ideas for free? This is what happens when engineers repeat the falsehood that "ideas are worthless". Well, engineering without an idea is also worthless.

<comment><USER21> > Why would someone give you their good ideas for free? That is exactly what a > comment above suggested

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Steven King has said something that I've come to support, that note/list- keeping is a great way to let bad ideas survive. He claims that a really good idea will survive in your head on its own, and a bad idea will die. And that by writing down every idea, you are polluting your landscape of possibilities by immortalizing ideas that are better left forgotten.

<comment><USER24> I would disagree with Steven King here. Once you write down ideas, it allows you to reconsider them later in a different light, a difference context. I believe that is extremely valuable because it is crucial to analyze an idea from various perspectives before embarking on implementing it. Embarking on an idea not well thought out can be extremely expensive.

<comment><USER25> Yep, definitely. The process of writing anything out (ideas, emotions, plans) lets you separate out the roles of describing the idea vs criticising it. Trying to evaluate them in your head requires you to do both simultaneously.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> This is pretty stark contrast to James Altucher's "idea machine" concept. That's where you push yourself to come up with 10 ideas daily in order to build your "idea muscle" concept. Some days he'd come up with 10 ideas for one specific person or business.

It seems a bit odd, but the guy did make millions repeatedly (after squandering 100% of his wealth, repeatedly).

<comment><USER27> I think they can be reconciled.

Idea debt is over-valuing existing ideas. You just have a few dozen plans that you keep going over and not acting on.

Coming up with a bunch of ideas would make that harder. You would have thousands and thousands if you kept them, so you just discard them while still improving the skill of having good ideas for when it counts.

<comment><USER26> I like this line of thought. If you are an _idea machine_ , you're actually a lot less likely to be tied to any one idea and ride it down to the bitter end. Instead, you'd realize that most ideas aren't that great and it would take a higher and higher bar to impress yourself.

Maybe the dangerous thing is when ideas are in a state where maybe they're _plans_ but you're uncertain and instead of executing on them or deciding not to you just let them accumulate and sap your attention.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> IMHO the problem is talking. When you talk about your idea you receive big part of gratification for almost no effort.

<comment><USER29> I fully agree. I've seen this happen with my younger self countless times. I would get excited about an idea, tell someone all about it, and then suddenly feel less motivated to work on it. Anything I'm serious about, I try not to talk about anymore as a result.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> > "If… you have 'binders of lore' and no book... you're living with serious > Idea Debt."

Moving from a daydream to some actual artefacts the first step _away_ from Idea Debt, not further into it. In technical terms, this could be writing a script instead of building an application or creating a spec and some documentation before writing some code. I'd argue that this is where you start to flesh-out and make real your idea.

Binders of "lore" would be an amazing resource to have at hand when you actually do come to writing your book. Surely this isn't a waste of time but it's where the idea ruminates, develops and matures. If anything, it improves the quality of an idea and can help make that idea a reality.

<comment><USER31> Inventory is waste. It is one of the most insidious kinds of waste since it feels productive generating it. In reality it is waste.

It being waste doesn't mean you dont need it - that's how waste builds up: you create stuff in case, or you save things in case, or you build an extra large buffer just in case. It's all done with good intentions. If one of your goals in life is to be effective you need to work to eliminate as much inventory as possible, same as the other types of waste.

Overproduction, Inventory and Overprocessing are the three most insidious types of waste - they seem like good things.

Why not gold plate the thing? Just add these few features in case you need them. Why not make a few extra just in case, why not save that thing that you may need later or maybe you will finish at some point.

The other types of waste are more clearly negative.

<comment><USER32> Creative people over-produce ideas _because that 's what being creative means._

The problem isn't having too many ideas - it's not finishing any of them, ever. At some point you have to spend enough time on at least one project to get it out into the world.

That always means work that can be boring and feel like a chore, even if the project is the most exciting thing to happen since the invention of fire.

The difference between professionals and amateurs is that professionals have a balanced tolerance for that part of the process, and understand that you have to do at least some of the boring stuff to finish.

Amateur dabblers have none at all. When they get bored they move on, so they never finish _anything._ (In extreme cases they never truly start.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> 509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded, here's a mirror: [http://web.archive.org/web/20160204103028/http://jessicaabel...](http://web.archive.org/web/20160204103028/http://jessicaabel.com/2016/01/27/idea- debt/)

</comment><comment><USER34> One of the most damaging pieces of information I ever applied to my life was the idea that not finishing thigh things was bad or undesirable. You know why? Because the result of internalising that wasn't that I finished more things, but rather that I started fewer. I no longer got even the learning I previously did from the start of a project and the research involved etc.

To this day I am still struggling to return to where I constantly started projects all over the place only to leave them unfinished. It was so, so much better that way.

</comment><comment> the-dude aka Brain Crack : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHCQWjTrJ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHCQWjTrJ8)

</comment><comment><USER35> I consider myself a very productive person ... But I just removed about 30 years of work from my todo-list, after reading this article.

</comment><comment><USER36> I'm guilty of this, but I can't stop. What I do now is focus more more on "micro-ideas" which I can finish start to end in a day/weekend/week. Consequentially, these ideas are much harder to come by

</comment><comment><USER37>
          ....................................................
          ||                                                 |
          ||                                                 |
          ||                                                 |
     Idea | |                                                |
     Debt | \                                                |
          |  \                                               |
          |   \                                              |
          |    \                                             |
          |     `.                                           |
          |      `b                                          |
          |        \                                         |
          |         `.                                       |
          |           ' _                                    |
          |              "o                                  |
          |                `..                               |
          |                   `-.                            |
          |                      `-.._                       |
          |                           `--..                  |
          |                                `'"---............|
          |                                                  |
          '`''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
                         Technical Debt

The less you plan and think about an idea, the more technical debt you will accumulate.

</comment><comment><USER38> Related: "Brain Crack" by Ze Frank

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHCQWjTrJ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHCQWjTrJ8)

</comment><comment><USER39> I used to have ideas on a to-do list, but it was torturing me (especially as it takes a few orders of magnitude to come up with an idea, however elaborate, than to do it; and doing it is also a reality check - some things seam clever until you start doing it and meeting contradictions).

Now it is a separate list, entitled "n-th-priority-tasks-tml.md". And I try to keep no regret for not doing things.

For doing, as cheap as it may sound "just do it". As I heard from one writer "Imperfect books have one advantage: they exist". (At least for me perfectionism is the prime reason for delaying such projects.)

And one advice from a friend of mine, when I was delaying (for 2 years) writing a quantum game ([http://quantumgame.io](http://quantumgame.io), coming this March!): "the only thing you lack is sitting on your ass and writing code". She was right.

Also, one of my write ups:

"If you have a great project, do moonlight. Don't wait for better times, because they won't come. Maybe you overstate the need of money, institutional support or social confirmation?" from [http://crastina.se/theres-no-projects- like-side-projects](http://crastina.se/theres-no-projects-like-side-projects)

<comment><USER5> _> Now it is a separate list, entitled "n-th-priority-tasks-tml.md". And I try to keep no regret for not doing things._

It's interesting to read that I'm not the only one doing this. See also my comment: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11032799](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11032799)

I chose the name "ideas" instead of "n-th-priority-tasks" to clearly distinguish this list from actual tasks. Because they aren't. None of those entries deserves to be named "task", until one starts to get serious about them and creates a prototype. And this will happen only to a tiny fraction of those entries.

<comment><USER39> The title may be misleading (actually, I remember it is "n-th-priority- things.md"). I've just checked its heading (I keep this file always open) and it's "n-th prority ideas".

I read your comment before posting my own. :)

When it comes to their length and (what is more important) being specified, it varies a lot. From a blog post I have in mind and can write in a few hours, to things that make take months or years.

I was thinking about making it public, but:

\- most of them are idiosyncratic and a few words stands for a long idea,

\- I am afraid of self-censorship (is it good enough for the public? doesn't it sound offensive?).

When it comes to tasks-ideas separation, it reminds me of [http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd073010s.gif](http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd073010s.gif) (I used to have to do bullets which were there for years - and they were causing so much pain).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> I've got a 'Current Task' text file, in which I write down everything I need or want to do that I'd expect I'd forget otherwise, prioritized by how soon and/or how urgently the thing needs to be done (Thank you, David Allen [0]). For example, the top of the file right now is my agenda for a meeting that's about to happen. Once the meeting's done, the agenda will go in a logbook file, and any action items will take the agenda's place.

I have colossal idea debt, as measured by the size of the CurrentTask file. Scrolling past the most urgent items, I've got everything in there from ~ 'change that code' to 'Read 'To Kill a Mockingbird'' to a list of writing prompts that have moldered there for years.

The nice thing, though, is that the file forms an external inventory of my plans, intents, and ideas. Putting them in there lets me focus on what needs to be done now, while removing the fear of forgetting later. I'll periodically purge, moving the things that no longer matter into the logbook.

[0]'Getting Things Done', David Allen

<comment><USER41> Reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is totally worth it. And doesn't take very long...

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> The majority of this thread's comments relate personal experiences, so I might as well contribute mine as well. Nearly a decade ago I started work on a project. For eight years progress consisted of taking notes and daydreaming. I was going to write a book that would make me famous. Over the years the dream- ideas progressed from a paper book, to an iPod book, to a HTML5 book. The daydreams always kept up with the available technology. Finally, two years ago, I suddenly started working on the thing. It is a travelogue, written for Android. The difficulties of implementation were unexpected and surprising. And now that it's approaching completeness a new set of unexpected problems arise. I'd assumed that simply writing a book would be enough to sell it; but apparently a lot of marketing is required. Daydreaming has benefits, but it costs time.

Edit: Having mentioned marketing; here is video screen cap of the book: [https://youtu.be/yX4JTS-eIqQ](https://youtu.be/yX4JTS-eIqQ)

</comment><comment><USER43> I know this feeling, and it's what's held up most of my own projects. Heck, most of my one off articles too, I must have hundreds or thousands of drafts on my WordPress blog, most of which never end up going anywhere.

So why is this the case? Well, a few reasons really. One is because I have an awkward tendency to never, ever be happy with something simple. Ever. So the idea ends up getting more and more complicated, and I end up giving up after realising that even a team of about 200 people with a multi billion dollar budget couldn't successfully pull it off in a reasonable timeframe. Add a touch of perfectionism, and well, you can probably guess how many of my actual projects have even been started.

Most of the rest usually end halfway through after the fun part is over.

But maybe I'll finally try and get some stuff done this year. Like, not starting anything new until the things I was planning to work on/have already been working on are completion.

</comment><comment><USER44> The post was a very nice read and hit a personal chord for me. I'm that guy that hoards domain names for all these amazing project idea's. I've started to organize projects into Trello boards, most important ones get their own project board and details start to get hashed out.

The funny thing is that I've flat out closed many boards, because I've lost interest or the idea doesn't seem to solve the problem any longer. That's OK. I think it lets me distill down the best ones for true idea investments. As long as it's full-filling and you learn something along the way, then why not?

</comment><comment><USER45> Sadly, I have been a vicitm of idea debt. As a young developer I had a grande vision of starting an online network of websites. I spent a solid month planning them all out, designing the logos and everything. Needless to say, when I showed the work to my boss he was less than impressed that I put off client work to plan our company's world domination.

I still have all the logos :) [https://www.dropbox.com/s/7uxj41grx7s79mg/all- logos.jpg?dl=0](https://www.dropbox.com/s/7uxj41grx7s79mg/all-logos.jpg?dl=0)

</comment><comment><USER46> I've had this vision for a revolutionary system when I was 12. I think about it every single day. Yet, my only accomplishment is thousands of pages of notes and ideas about possible use cases for this system. I haven't wrote a single line of code. I tried blogging about it, but I can't decide where to start. You can find glimpse of the idea in some of my HN/Reddit posts/comments, but that's about it.

This have never felt satisfied or truly happy since. I don't know what to do next.

<comment><USER47> I glanced briefly over your posts and it seems that you're dealing with a _complex system_. The trouble with those is that you can't just break it down to a simple prototype, because by simplifying it you lose exactly the properties you're interested in.

Actually building it, requires a solution to a couple of hard problems, which themselve pull in even more. So the longer you work on it, the slower you make any progress and the easier it is to get lost just by the sheer range of ways to tackle it.

However, somehow those complex ones are just way more interesting for myself, I pick them every time over "the simple things", but the result is, that I too can't show any visible progress, because it's not done yet and no simple prototype can show/imitate the _system_ as a whole. If you ever discover a sound methodology for these kinds of problem, please tell me about it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> The concept is probably related to something you could call 'recursive idea debt' or 'recursive learning debt' in tech - when you come up with an exciting idea, and because you have no constraints you start thinking about this great new technology you would learn for that project and use. And then you would find 3 other interesting technologies or concepts related to that which you would want to learn more about. And so on.

<comment><USER49> Definitely been hit with this. On the flip side, I usually learn something new and useful out of it.

I'm an "early" programmer, so there's a ton I don't know. When I start breaking an idea I get to things like "oh, how do I have this running in the background while the user is still doing something?" That got me into Rails background workers, the Sidekiq and Foreman gems, etc. All were super useful for me to know about, and concepts that I knew existed in a vague sense, but hadn't actually gotten to yet.

That said, these totally take me down a rabbit hole, and are ultimately counterproductive towards the core idea if they are distracting enough.

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> You might want to learn something from J. C. R. Licklider:

[http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SN--t9jXQc0](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SN-- t9jXQc0)

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ncCPTgWX6a8](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ncCPTgWX6a8)

</comment><comment><USER51> I wonder how this works for somebody like Elon Musk. Does he have idea debt?

<comment><USER15> Probably has tons of idea debt but he is also very single minded in what he wants to achieve so it's probably easier for him to discard ideas and only do the ones no-one else can do that will go some way towards saving humanity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER52> I don't see the difference between this and procrastination - there doesn't seem to be a great deal of new insight here.

<comment><USER53> procrastination is delay in doing things you don't particularly want to do but still understand are obligations. Delaying doing homework/office work/yard work.

idea debt is: the struggle with creative sunk costs. Thinking in circles about something you are interested in while accomplishing no really progress in making your idea a tangible thing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Damn, those Forest Lords sound suspiciously like Malazan Book of the Fallen ;D

</comment><comment><USER55> site is down

</comment><comment><USER56> This has happened to many so many times. The other situation I've had is that even when I start working on my next idea, I start getting distracted by a ton of new ones.

<comment><USER18> Yup same here. It's hard to make decision on what to stick with and finish.

</comment></comment><comment><USER57> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHCQWjTrJ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHCQWjTrJ8)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tatami_Galaxy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tatami_Galaxy)

[http://www.lambdassociates.org/blog/bipolar.htm](http://www.lambdassociates.org/blog/bipolar.htm)

For those of you who suffer from this, don't worry! It works out in the end, and it's just part of growing up. Reading random blog posts isn't going to solve your problem with motivation. Smoke a joint and cut yourself some slack.

</comment><comment><USER58> It's much easier to think about things than to make them, so this is really the normal state of affairs. Not sure you can avoid it completely</comment>


Insomniacs Are Helped by Online Therapy, Study Finds - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/health/insomnia-online-therapy.html <comment><AUTHOR> I've been getting better sleep ever since I upgraded my phone to iOS 10 with its bedtime feature built into the Clock app.</comment>


Dropbox Introduces 2-Factor Authentication  - <AUTHOR> https://www.dropbox.com/account/security <comment><USER2> Try this: <https://www.dropbox.com/try_twofactor>

Although tray login still logs you in without the need to enter password or the code.

<comment><USER3> Not working for Martinique (FWI), country code 596. Still waiting for a SMS to come. Asked twice 5 and 10 minutes ago.

Maybe the country list should be edited to only list countries where SMS can be sent? (I have no problem with other 2-ways services I use)

<comment><USER4> Lack of SMS shouldn't be a problem. You can use two factor authentication with the app version.It's on that same page.

<comment><USER3> Yes but SMS are handy. BTW Just got both of them with a 7 hours delay.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> More details: <https://www.dropbox.com/help/363/en>

It looks like they support any app that uses the TOTP protocol, so google authenticator, among others, works with this seamlessly.

<comment><USER6> That's nice. A little context: TOTP is part of OATH - Initiative for Open Authentication - and is an open standard published as RFC 6238.

For those who don't have iOS/Android/BB and/or don't want to use Google Authenticator, Wikipedia lists a few compatible applications: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Authenticator>

These work for Gmail too.

<comment><USER7> Is OATH related to OAuth?

<comment><USER8> nope! confusingly unrelated.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'm glad they didn't invent their own mechanism but used standard OTP tokens, so you can just add them to apps like Google Authenticator.

<comment><USER10> This is very convenient, Google Accounts, Amazon AWS[1], SSH[2], and Dropbox, all from one simple app.

If Google Authenticator allowed to change the order of accounts without removing and readding them, I would have absolutely nothing to complain about.

[1] <https://aws.amazon.com/mfa/faqs/>

[2] [http://askubuntu.com/questions/159727/how-can-i-use-a- passco...](http://askubuntu.com/questions/159727/how-can-i-use-a-passcode- generator-for-authentication-for-remote-logins/159728#159728)

<comment><USER11> In the iOS app, you can change the order by tapping 'edit' and then by drag and drop. The 'edit' button usually works if you tap and cancel the '+' button first.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I don't see any mention of 2-factor auth on the linked page. Maybe they're rolling it out in stages?

<comment><USER13> Seems like it to me as well, I don't see any options to do 2-factor auth on my settings page either. Maybe it's a pro feature right now?

<comment><USER14> It's available to all users. But since it's experimental, you have to go here to enable it:

<http://www.dropbox.com/try_twofactor>

Then it will appear under Security.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I upgraded my account, and now the desktop client is not letting me login, saying I need the latest client. I downloaded that and it still gives me the same error..

<comment><USER16> You'll need their "experimental build": <https://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=66910>

<comment><USER15> That is pretty horrible UX. Why would they enable it in the web UI, but make you look at a forum post to get the build you need. Also, without linking to it when you get an error on the build?

<comment><USER13> The feature seems to have been released to forum users, then submitted here by a third party. I agree, though, there should have at least been a notification when the feature was enabled to read the forum post.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Does anyone know where I can download the latest Linux binary that support 2 factor authentication? I tried downloading the linux version, but it keeps on saying "this account uses two-step verification. To link to it, please download the latest version of Dropbox from www.dropbox.com/download". Maybe there is no new linux client, not sure.

<comment><USER8> Sorry for the confusion, this was a forum release. Linux build is here:

<https://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=66910>

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Well done. I wish more sites would move to using standard OTP protocols. I hate having to carry around and use a separate dongle for each company that provides two factor authentication.

</comment><comment><USER19> Great, now only if they actually encrypted my files.

<comment><USER20> Put a truecrypt volume in your DropBox. Why rely on someone else to do the encryption?

<comment><USER21> If Dropbox were designed to handle sequentially-numbered blobs of encrypted data, changing one file would require your other devices to download _only that file_ (an encrypted blob of roughly the same size).

With a TrueCrypt volume or other encrypted file solution on top of Dropbox, you have to resync the entire multi-GB volume any time a single file in there changes, since to Dropbox it's just one big file. (Another option is to use something like an OS X sparsebundle -- encrypted data banded across many files -- but God help you if you have two computers reading/writing from that sparsebundle at once.)

I've started using SpiderOak and it is quite efficient even though the data is encrypted such that the server admins couldn't see your data even if they wanted too. <https://spideroak.com/engineering_matters> SpiderOak also offers two-factor auth. (The SpiderOak UI, however, is fairly atrocious.)

<comment><USER22> Only part of a truecrypt volume changes when you make a change to the data within. Since Dropbox intelligently syncs files in parts, only part of a truecrypt volume has to be re-uploaded when something changes -- not the entire multi-GB file. I know because I do exactly this with a 1GB file. It takes about 2 minutes to sync when I unmount the file. Dropbox is not re- uploading all 1GB.

However, like the other commenter, I still recommend encfs for most uses.

<comment><USER21> Very interesting, I did not know that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> If you want to get the most out of this, use a hardware token generator instead of a phone or computer. Example: [http://hackaday.com/2012/07/11/time- based-one-time-passwords...](http://hackaday.com/2012/07/11/time-based-one- time-passwords-with-an-arduino/) [http://lab.infoserver.com.br/wiki/index.php/Projects:arduino...](http://lab.infoserver.com.br/wiki/index.php/Projects:arduino- oath-token#Arduino_OATH_Token)

<comment><USER24> That looks like a software generator running on Arduino.

<comment><USER23> I stand corrected. The device is more of a physical/hardware token generator than a phone or computer in that it's stand-alone. Phones with radios permanently switched off or computers without network access are probably as secure.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Carrying a set of backup codes when travelling, generating a code for each app that is linked to your account...these things make two way authentication seem very inconvenient. I went with converting my gmail account to use two way authentication but after being informed to remember to carry a set of 10 backup codes when I am going to be without my phone, was a turn off and I reverted to my old settings.

</comment><comment><USER26> Hmm, but I can still simply open someone's Dropbox folder locally if they forgot to logoff/switch on their computer...

<comment><USER27> That requires physical access, which is arguably more secure than internet access should your credentials be compromised. This is a major step in the right direction for Dropbox. I don't think it's Dropbox's job to encrypt and secure my local files. This would break many use cases, and there are other purpose-built solutions for this.

Dropbox made their business on an extreme convenience (your files everywhere through a dead-simple, familiar interface). Inconveniently, convenience is often the enemy of security. It's a "good thing" that Dropbox is now offering some granularity over the convenience/security spectrum.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> My security codes aren't working (invalid). Using Google Authenticator.

Anyone else have this issue?

<comment><USER29> Yup, have the same issue, went with sms-version because of this ;(. Google Authenticator on HTC Desire HD with custom ROM

<comment><USER30> When I first used Authenticator I had this problem, because the clock on my phone was a couple of minutes out of sync.

There is room for some error but it is worth making sure the time on your phone is correct.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Yeay, now I can have a really secure login to my insecure files?

</comment><comment><USER32> Two-Factor authentication sucks. It's too hard for users. Most people will never us it. Dropbox should consider using Rublon (yes, that's my startup): <https://rublon.com>

7 reasons why you should add Rublon to your website: <http://blog.rublon.com/2012/why-add-rublon/>

<comment><USER33> how is the phone not a second factor?

<comment><USER32> Rublon replaces passwords with cryptographic keys that are partially stored on your phone. This is a completely new approach to user authentication.

<comment><USER34> It's not a completely new anything, it's a password on your phone.</comment></comment></comment></comment>