The drug debate in Japan (2018) - <AUTHOR> https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/japan-place-with-strangest-drug-debate-in-world/ <comment><USER2> Japan's culture is a double edged sword. The very same phenomenon that allows you to have politeness-by-default and lots of dedication to professionalism is the same mechanism by which you get glacial paces of change when the culture settled into the wrong ideology. There are lots of more downsides (lots of flipped-coin situations), but this is just one of them.

Japan is much less likely to change rapidly on this front than any other society, in my opinion changing attitudes _everywhere else_ is what will convince Japan. One thing I _could_ see is them legalizing marijuana but taxing is incredibly (as a way to offset some long-term economics issues), but I don't know of a single politician willing to be that progressive (and not lose backing)... That's not what "progressive" looks like here really.

<comment><USER3> That's really interesting. What other flipped-coin situations do you notice?

<comment><USER2> Take this with a grain of salt -- I think I understand Japan after living here for a while, but my "while" is <10 years and in the end it's hard to understand Japan as well as a native Japanese person might. Anyway here are a few:

\- Excessive Politeness <-> Passive Aggression (once you over-step or under- step)

\- Dedication to Professionalism <-> Overworking & <x>-theatre (the _appearance_ of working hard becomes paramount)

\- Pressure to behave "properly" <-> [Ex|Im]plosion of "improper" behavior

\- Prioritizing the group <-> Normalization of oppression (ex. someone putting up with something that isn't right to avoid perturbing the group dynamic)

\- Propensity to save money <-> Less economic liquidity (whether this is good or bad for an economy is very much up for debate)

\- Emphasis on success/reputation <-> Very risk averse behavior

Weirdly enough, in my opinion all of these things are what _make_ japan what it is, and partially what makes it interesting. I haven't checked but surely Japan is the most homogeneous large successful nation out there, with a very distinct culture. I feel like I understand it because once you see the other side of some of these behaviors, it just _clicks_ \-- some of it is just historical and requires much more research (could japan have been a matriarchal society? maybe?), but a lot of it just kind of obvious based on the values held by a populace that is so largely homogeneous in culture.

Again, I'm not an expert in Japanese culture, that takes decades of work and research -- but I've found a lot of these fairly obvious to see over the years.

<comment><USER4> > Excessive Politeness <-> Passive Aggression (once you over-step or under- > step)

One thing I learned (the bad way) is that people at work will be nice to you and avoid confrontation and argument to an extraordinary extent. But if you push them too far and get into an argument.... that's it. You've ruined that relationship pretty much for ever.

Unfortunately it took me a couple of tries to understand the nuance of that :-(

<comment><USER2> Yeah that's the thing -- another thing is the propensity for people to hold to pretty meaningless relationships just for appearance sake. I think it's contributing to the loneliness issues here -- people are nice to each other but don't seem to ever actually connect. People will say they've "known" someone for 5 years, when they at most speak once or twice every year (and often never touch on anything substantial, either). I can't imagine how petty high society is here, or how much backbiting there is at the local HOA/neighborhood meetings -- I suspect it's worse than the US (because at the very least people will confront and settle an issue there, instead of leaving a minefield), but I will likely never find out.

I'm really trying to keep it light, but there is a lot to the underbelly of japanese culture that isn't so great, but all that said, it's a fantastic place to live, the cost of living is low (RIP japanese work force wages), public transportation is amazing, people are wonderful, there's a wide variety of influences and culture to sample.

Here's a light-hearted positive anecdote -- last year I left my wallet on a bus I was riding, and when realizing ~30 minutes later, I stopped a bus going the same direction to ask if the same buses came back (as in, would the same bus I left my wallet on come back the other way), and the driver not only confirmed, but also took out some stationery and wrote the number for the bus depot, and the called and coordinated _extremely_ professionally. It was so professional that I was even a bit ashamed for sounding flustered on the phone.

To balance out that light-hearted positive anecdote -- don't ever go to a Japanese governmental agency without the right paperwork/seals/etc, it very likely will not end well for you.

<comment><USER5> >another thing is the propensity for people to hold to pretty meaningless relationships just for appearance sake. I think it's contributing to the loneliness issues here -- people are nice to each other but don't seem to ever actually connect. People will say they've "known" someone for 5 years, when they at most speak once or twice every year (and often never touch on anything substantial, either).

My last gf was Japanese, and this reminds me of her a lot. She supposedly had tons of "friends", but I almost never met any of them, and most of them just seemed to be people she texted once in a while. She tried telling me once that she could maintain a really "close" relationship without ever meeting in person or talking on the phone...

And our relationship wasn't very close either; she only texted me, never called, and really didn't seem to make much effort for us to get to know each other on a really deep level. It's what finally destroyed our relationship.

Is this normal with Japanese people or was she just weird? She did seem to possibly have other issues.

<comment><USER6> I don't have much interest in Japan or Japanese culture, so I don't really have much in the way of bias or preconceived notions on the subject.

In the last few years my Japanophile flatmate has brought multiple Japanese people into our home for short term (couple of months) cohabitation. I've also noticed what to me felt like a lack of interest in interpersonal depth or closeness, with myself and others. Conversations stayed rote, surface level, and formal - though flatly cheerful. I often felt like I was "stressing an introvert," was suddenly oddly conscious of the other's sense of privacy, and only got polite awkwardness in response to attempts to be open and build rapport. I just chalked it up to cultural differences.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Going to go with the unpopular opinion here, but I don't understand the comments saying "Japan/Korea is so backwards/archaic, cannabis tobacco and alcohol are all drugs, if you allow one, you should allow them all".

In the US/Europe, I totally agree with you. The benefits of making it legal far exceed the cost and the associated risks, so if I was asked to vote, I would vote for legalizing cannabis. But this is not a vote to cannabis, it's a vote against the criminal networks that are profiting from cannabis.

Now, what you are saying, is that a country that does not have a cannabis problem should still legalize it. Call me old fashioned, but I do not think that a society that smokes weed is better than a society that does not. Saying "yes, but alcohol/tobacco is worst" does not make is good.

Your point basically is: "these countries should allow weed because in the West, we do have an issue with the criminality associated with it". I believe on the contrary that Japan, Korea (and a few others, such as Singapore) should be very proud of not having a drug problem, keep one working towards not creating one, while at the same time focusing on solving their tobacco / alcohol one.

<comment><USER8> 1) Drug problems still exist in those countries. Albeit it's different than say, the US, pretending that it doesn't exist doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

2) I'm not saying the attitude toward weed in japan should be the same as in the US, but having this amount of social stigma is ridiculous. It's absurd when you consider just how much Koreans and Japanese people drink. It's way more than Americans, and at least in Korea it's mandatory after work for a lot of people.

3) Legalizing marijuana (even just for medical use) will not create or worsen any existing drug issues.

<comment><USER7> 1) That's true. Let's that it's barely a problem.

2) According to the WHO, Korea only drinks marginally more that the US, and Japan less: [https://www.who.int/gho/alcohol/en/](https://www.who.int/gho/alcohol/en/). TBH, this is a bit of a stereotype.

I'm confused by how to interpret 3. Are you saying:

\- "If it's only for medical use, then it will not worsen the situation". I would overall agree with you on this.

\- "Even if it's freely available it will not worsen the situation". I don't believe this. I don't see how going from a situation where smoking is 1: illegal, 2: actually complex (unlike in Europe/North America), 3: extremely risky on the legal side, 4: socially taboo, to a situation where you can have shops on the street would not worsen drug issues. I can't find any studies has been conducted in any comparable societies, so we are both speculating, but I just find your point absolutely unbelievable.

<comment><USER8> > TBH, this is a bit of a stereotype.

I live in Korea. The amount of people who binge drink often and are hard drinkers in general, is higher than what I ever saw in the United States. It may be a bit overstated as a stereotype, but it is absolutely true.

Also, in the US, you do not _have_ to go drinking with your colleagues/boss after work, out of social pressure. This is still common in Korea, especially for older workers. It's only now changing for the younger generation.

> socially taboo, to a situation where you can have shops on the street would > not worsen drug issues.

These already exist, they're called "bars". One can pay money and enter a stupified state of consciousness, either quickly or slowly.

Unlike other drugs [including alcohol, a drug], marijuana is not physically addictive. I'm not advocating for hard drug stores to be present like bars are; I'm saying I don't have a problem with say, Colorado's style, so far. Making marijuana easier to smoke in Japan or Korea wouldn't be as dire as you're making it out to be.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Living in Korea, it's just baffling to see these ridiculous, archaic attitudes toward marijuana in Korea and Japan.

It's like stepping into a time machine. The internet and its resources are available, yet no amount of reasoning or information gets through to a lot of people. Marijuana is just "evil" or only "people who commit/will commit crimes" use it.

I don't necessarily think the attitude here should be just like in the US, but at least let people use it medically, and get rid of the disproportionate stigma.

As @laureig mentioned, one can't even admit trying marijuana in polite/semi- polite company (of other Koreans). With foreigners it's a little different. Generally it only gets discussed if you're closer with them.

\---

At the same time, alcohol [and alcoholism] is not only totally fine, it's encouraged! Sometimes it's even _mandatory_ to go drinking with your coworkers after work, due to social pressure from peers and bosses. I have spoken with a few people like this.

But going to clubs in 홍대 Hongdae/강남 Gangnam and drinking until 9am or drinking at a dozen bars in Golden Gai until 6am is totally fine. Drinking until you puke on the street is totally fine. (Admittedly I did do this once in 세종시 Sejong-City, Korea)

<comment><USER9> So just because alcohol is bad we should encourage other substances that also have an effect on people's ability to think clearly and have additive properties? Instead of discouraging the culture of drinking? Regardless of what westerners think of as "ridiculous" drug laws, Japan, Korea and other Asian countries with "ridiculous" drug laws do have way lower rate of drug addiction and abuse. That is no coincident.

<comment><USER10> Shame there isn't a metric for the amount of fun a society has from those same drugs.

<comment><USER9> Sure, China in the 1800s everybody had good amounts of fun from opium, widely accepted by society, pretty much everybody did it. Wonder how that worked out for them.

<comment><USER11> Britain got involved and fucked everything up?

<comment><USER12> It could have been any other country when your whole population is under the ongoing control of opoids.

<comment><USER13> So, large swaths of the United States in the year 2019.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> In my experience more people than you might expect have experience with cannabis in Japan. I was at a small party and the topic of cannabis came up. I asked the group if anyone had smoked it before. Everyone gave a resounding "No, of course not".

When the party was winding down, two separate people said "Actually, I've tried it. I just didn't want to say anything in front of other people."

I find it strange how in the next few weeks up and down the country Japanese people will go out and many will get very drunk from morning to night while sitting under the blooming sakura trees but any other drug is so taboo you can barely mention it in polite company.

<comment><USER15> Not sure what exactly you're referring to; most people don't refer to illegal drug abuse openly in polite company here in America either. Of course, it's also impolite to ask.

<comment><USER16> Maybe it's a generational thing, but in my circles (40 and under), no one conflates cannabis use with illegal drug abuse -- the latter implies something like heroin addiction.

Maybe it's also a generational thing, but at parties I attend, it's not uncommon for someone to mention having spent their last birthday having used blow, or mention back to some time they dropped acid, or whatever.

Drug talk seems much less taboo than sex talk; the people who talk openly about sex are either sex workers or poly (and those people proselytize more than vegans ;-) ).

Maybe a generational thing, though.

<comment><USER15> I think it may be more regional. I'm definitely under 40, but have never heard a prostitute mention her job, let alone proselytize. Same with drugs, though you're right that marijuana is not taken as seriously.

<comment><USER16> Oh, I meant the poly folks proselytize :-) Just that the sex workers I know don't avoid talking about their work; they just treat it as work, as any of us do.

What region are you in? I'm talking about my experiences in both the Pacific NW, the Midwest (college towns), and a few of the larger cities on the east coast.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> No matter how much or what kind of drugs are being used, it's not logical to ever wage a drug war. This is probably the sickest, most disgusting American cultural export in a sea of sick, disgusting cultural exports. It's one thing to succumb to this type of sick, vile thinking when a country is under occupation but a whole other thing to keep at it once you are no longer occupied. In no way am I singling out Japan here. Most countries succumbed to US pressure on this issue and even made it their own issue, persecuting and killing their own people. The people who perpetrated these acts, acts akin to war crimes themselves should be ashamed and hunted down but that won't happen because justice doesn't exist. It is not too late to reverse such policies and to shirk off this horrific cultural export as even the US is starting to do. Unfortunately, many of these people ardently believe the lies they learned and want to continue killing, jailing, torturing, and persecuting others who are sick and would be better off served with compassion and medical care. Hopefully, the world will wise up and get rid of this drug war, this American mind poison, and reclaim their cultures and dignity for their countries.

</comment><comment><USER18> According to the CDC-

 _Drug overdose deaths continue to increase in the United States_

 _From 1999 to 2017, more than 700,000 people have died from a drug overdose_

 _Around 68% of the more than 70,200 drug overdose deaths in 2017 involved an opioid_

 _In 2017, the number of overdose deaths involving opioids (including prescription opioids and illegal opioids like heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl) was 6 times higher than in 1999_

 _On average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose_

[https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html](https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html)

Government spends billions waging war on marijuana while Purdue Pharma, Pill Mills, and The FDA kill the rest of us with Oxycontin

<comment><USER19> The LD50 for cannabinoids is approximately your own weight. At least in the monkeys and rats studied, because there has never been a documented human overdose and proper studies are both unethical and (in the US) illegal.

<comment><USER13> Basically, a marijuana dry flower overdose would come after A) your lungs were ruined by the enormous quantities of smoke inhaled after a short period or B) you were crushed or smothered under the plant material.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> It's amazing to me how Japan can be so Puritan about some things, and so... not Puritan about other things. Though I guess an outsider could say the same thing about the U.S.

<comment><USER21> I would be more surprised to find any longstanding human culture that didn't have any glaring inconsistencies in the things it encourages vs the things it discourages.

We are all hypocrites.

<comment><USER20> True, but some cultures take it to a greater extreme than others. Usually it's the ones most focused on self-purification that have the most hidden vices. America and (apparently) Japan seem to be towards the top as far as first- world countries go.

<comment><USER22> I would argue that the American people are far less hypocritical than the government.

Most Americans who do marijuana, cocaine, MDMA, etc. will fairly readily admit to it if you are in their circle of friends. Heroin, crack, and crystal meth have a bit of stigma associated with them and so will get relatively less admissions unless you are a bit higher on the friend scale.

Most marijuana users I know will tend to offer you some fairly unprompted.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Japan has other surprise drug policies. For example, the prescription drug Adderall is banned because it contains amphetamine. [https://jp.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen- services/doctors/import...](https://jp.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen- services/doctors/importing-medication/)

This article is enlightening in Japan's attitude towards these stimulants. But I could go any convenience store and pick up bottles of "genki" (energy) drinks. There doesn't seem to be much regulations and only the occasional news story of people overdosing.

<comment><USER24> Japan had a big problem with amphetamine use post-WW2. It was freely available and heavily abused. That crack down is still evident today.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Why exactly did the US go so crazy against drugs? Seems like after WWII this war on drugs mentality took root and probably peaked in the 1980s or so with the peak of the WWII generation's power.

<comment><USER20> My guess is that, at least when it comes to Marijuana, conservatives are so deeply offended by drugs because they're anti-productivity. Pot slows you down, relaxes you, lowers drive (even just temporarily). For those on the right wing, this translates to, "it makes you lazy, a burden on society, it undermines the American spirit of hard work and self-started progress". They rationalize it any number of ways, but I think that aspect is what makes it personal.

<comment><USER26> I mean, alcohol impairs you quite a bit as well. And doing amphetamines can arguably _improve_ your productivity.

<comment><USER20> True, but we tried prohibiting alcohol and that didn't work out. And when the War On Drugs rolled around, Marijuana being grown by hippies was its poster- child, not the cocaine being peddled by gangsters. That was illegal too, but that's not where the emotional heart of the crusade was. Cocaine was used by businessmen on the weekends; marijuana would corrupt little Jimmy and ruin his future as a productive member of society.

<comment><USER27> We tried banning everything else and that still isn't working out lol The black market of current day mirror that of alcohol prohibition. No controls on products and rampant violence

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I have an interesting personal anecdote on this. I'm a 27-year-old Caucasian American (relevant) who doesn't speak any Japanese and who recently spent 3 months in Japan with my girlfriend.

Her aunt by adoption is an ethnically Japanese native of Tokyo who of course speaks fluent Japanese, and we spent a month living with her there.

At one point, we went over her aunt's friend's family's house for dinner. The friend's family does not speak any English.

All night we managed to have a really interesting and fun time by using Google translate to translate what I wanted to say (my gf mostly just spectated), and Google translate would horribly mistranslate it to humorous and confusing effect, and then Yuka (the aunt) would explain to the family what I _actually_ meant with a proper translation.

Now in the middle of dinner, after a good hour of this and now at a stage where we had mostly set google translate aside, it came up that I don't drink alcohol, and the father commented how much money I must save this way. And I, fool that I am, joked "oh no I blow all the savings on cocaine." And I looked at Yuka, who chuckled and said "no, no, I'm not going to translate that." _But she didn 't add any cultural warning,_ so I thought she was just being a little formal. So I said, "fine I'll translate it with google translate!"

Now sure, you might say it was a bad joke, but in the US depending who you're eating with it would still elicit chuckles or smiles, even if it was just polite.

 _Not in Japan._ When I held up the phone with the translation for them to see, the reaction was _shocked silence._ It was as though I had held up an image of hardcore pornography at the table. Even the two high school age boys were horrified, not so much as a smile.

After a moment the father muttered in halting English "bad joke."

And that is how I learned just how taboo drugs are in Japan.

In retrospect Yuka found it hilarious. "I told you not to say it!" "No you didn't, you just said you wouldn't translate it, that's not the same thing!" "Ha ha well..."

</comment><comment><USER29> It's worth noting that this article is by Johann Hari, who has a long history of telling compelling but untrue stories. Most recently about depression:

[https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain- flapping/2018/jan/...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain- flapping/2018/jan/08/is-everything-johann-hari-knows-about-depression-wrong- lost-connections)

EDIT and the backstory:

[http://www.jeremy- duns.com/blog/2014/9/7/kdgwxcbsned1rknh0h3...](http://www.jeremy- duns.com/blog/2014/9/7/kdgwxcbsned1rknh0h3zdvqrebxa3x)

He mentions Rat Park, which isn't as clear-cut as he makes out:

[https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/25/against-rat- park/](https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/10/25/against-rat-park/)

I think it's wise to treat this story as a useful pointer towards an interesting topic, but not as a reliable treatment of that topic.

</comment><comment><USER30> Recent interviews with Japanese activists on this topic: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmrDAXjcUXY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmrDAXjcUXY)

</comment><comment><USER31> Question: what is the stance about nootropics in Japan?

<comment><USER27> I've heard there are "smart drug" vendors on the street in some places in asia

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> > I was told by Jake Adelstein, one of the leading experts on drugs and crime > in Japan, and the author of the book Tokyo Vice.

He must be _really_ good to rank above all the experts who are from Japan.

OTOH, while Japan may have failed to produce leading experts on drugs and crime in Japan, they seem to be doing pretty decently in terms of actual drug and crime issues. If you were Japanese, would you want to follow American advice on drug and crime policy? There are many good things about America, but would you say its drug and crime situations are the highlights worth imitating?

<comment><USER33> It amuses me how Western media outlets continue to quote Adelstein, his entire shtick consists of spouting made up stuff about Japan to Western reporters with no means of fact-checking.

I guess it goes both ways though, the self-proclaimed "America-tsuu (US experts)" here aren't any better.

<comment><USER34> Is there some legit criticism on him and provable dishonesty? I don't know much but I seem to recall him publishing stories uncovering and/or reporting on what could be viewed as problematic or even embarrassing things about japanese culture.

<comment><USER33> This thread may be of interest:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/3lnpt6/is_jake_adels...](https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/3lnpt6/is_jake_adelstein_a_good_source_for_investigative/)

It's not like he acts with any apparent agenda or malice, the guy just has no regard for facts. Everything he writes consists of a small sliver of facts mixed with tons of faux-noir, spiced-up BS that paints some exotic portrait of Japan tailored for Western audiences.

I guess we all want foreign countries to be more exotic than they really are — I remember when I first moved here from LA, my classmates seemed disappointed to learn that I'd never been involved in a gunfight :/

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Does the US really have harsh drug laws compared to other countries? Doesn't seem like it to me.

I also don't believe that other countries are harsh on drugs just because the US or UN is. Doesn't seem to be a primary driver.

I think it's much simpler. Most societies are very anti drug.

<comment><USER2> Could you name a few countries you're thinking of?

Also, there is a huge amount of nuance lost in the term "drug". Alcohol is a drug, Tobacco is a drug, Marijuana is a drug, Oxycodone is a drug. I think what most people mean when they mention drug laws being harsh in the US is the combination of very high penalties for drugs that have been proven to have minimal negative repercussions, and the CIA's sordid history in the US and abroad. You don't have to take my word for it, since wikipedia exists[0] (there's lots more but it's a good starter).

Most societies may _say_ they are anti drug, but how harsh is the sentencing, and how much of it is actually prosecuted?

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

<comment><USER36> Outside of obvious examples in Asia, Brazil's drug laws have created a disaster there for one very large example:

"In 2005, 9 percent of those in prison were detained on drug charges -- now it's 28 percent, and among women, 64 percent. The law, 11344/2006, has contributed to the last decade's explosive rise of Brazil's prison population. More than 620,000 inmates swelter in facilities built, in aggregate, for about 370,000."

"Under the 2006 law many users have simply been prosecuted as traffickers, made easier by the fact that the law does not set a minimum quantity of drugs to differentiate between users and traffickers."

[https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/28/ten-years-drug-policy- fa...](https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/28/ten-years-drug-policy-failure- brazil)

<comment><USER2> Brazil also has a pretty big reputation for police corruption, and much more concentrated/blatant issues with organized crime which can skew those numbers, which is less of a problem in the US. Abuse of a bad law is one thing, but in the cases where some drug use was confirmed (even if arguably without intent to redistribute), I think the US has the heavier hand.

Even if I'm 100% wrong about Brazil, compare their 28% to the US's 45%[0].

[0]: [https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offen...](https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> "advanced democracy". Oh the lies we tell one another.</comment>


Ask HN: Why does every entry job require at least 1 year of experience? - <AUTHOR> I've been trying to find that elusive first job since graduating university in May 2015. Companies usually have two buckets: a regular software engineer position and another one for senior level. The regular one usually states something like 1 - 2 years of professional experience required. Why can't it be 0 - 2 years? How can I get that first year? I have tried applying to the 1 year positions, but then they tell me I lack experience. <comment><USER2> > I have tried applying to the 1 year positions, but then they tell me I lack > experience.

The experience piece is often mindless boiler-plate language typical of flunky HR types. Senior execs at these same companies scream that they can't find good people, which is absurd.

Two suggestions: Punch-up highlights of interships, part-time jobs, and school work projects on your CV. Also, stop applying to job boards, instead start networking directly with the actual hiring managers who you can help. Local meet-ups are a good place to connect with folks.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's usually 'or equivalent'. I got around this by working on a couple of open source projects and explaining it to my future employer.</comment>


YC alumni hacks angel investor Jason Calacanis' voicemail to pitch - <AUTHOR> http://instagram.com/p/uoHV1jMayb/

<comment><AUTHOR> The details: [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:QkTa- zW...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:QkTa- zWgIh8J:https://medium.com/%40avizolty/my-investment-hack-jason-calacanis- voicemail-e4b414659ad7)

Jason's since forgave the co-founder [https://twitter.com/Jason/status/526531089355927552](https://twitter.com/Jason/status/526531089355927552)

</comment><comment><USER2> [http://www.skurt.co/](http://www.skurt.co/)

Actually looks like a pretty cool idea. Calacanis is the kind of guy that would take this lightly as well. Maybe he would invest, bet he will mention it on the next TWIST.</comment>


Improved Tagging – Stack Exchange - <AUTHOR> http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/08/improved-tagging/ <comment><USER2> ...that thing is monstrous. It seems to me that it presents an almost frightening display of information. The synonym handling is great, but why not keep the original tag display and show the wiki description as a tooltip when hovering over one of the options?

I personally think the ui is kind of intimidating, and will drive people off tagging because of the suggestion that you should actually do all of the "work" of reading those descriptions.

<comment><USER3> The problem with tooltips is discoverability. The idea of this change is to make the wiki descriptions plainly obvious to even brand new users who wouldn't know such a thing exists.

My suggestion would be to only show one of these descriptions at a time as a sub-element of the first suggestion displayed in the old-style list (with other suggestions displayed as well, but without the description). This would make the description plainly obvious to a new user, but without the information overload presented in the current tag suggestions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> While its ugly, I can give a little insight in to why I think it (or something like it) is a good idea. This attempts to solve one problem that I see daily as a steward of the "canvas" tag, which is used for HTML5 Canvas questions.

A lot of people will tag something with "android" and "canvas" when they are looking for help with the Java Android Canvas. I have to retag these to "android" and "android-canvas" because the Java Android Canvas has its own tag and the questions related to it are very different than the questions related to Android using HTML5 Canvas.

To help people a little while ago, I wrote excerpt for the "canvas" tag as _Canvas is a commonly named object used for drawing or as a layout container. This tag is for HTML5 Canvas. Use "android-canvas" for Android and "wpf- controls" for WPF._

Of course nobody ever saw that until after they posted their question, if they saw it at all! But now they are much more likely to see it.

So I welcome this, though I think there is probably a slightly nicer way to do it out there.

</comment><comment> misuse-permit This still doesn't solve the problem of helping users discover what tags are out there. I didn't even know about tags like 'discussion' or 'support' until I read this post, and I wouldn't have thought about typing them in to see if other people are using them because they seem somewhat obscure.

<comment><USER3> The 'discussion' and 'support' tags only apply to the meta sites, not the main Q&A sites. When you post a question on a meta, you're required to tag it with one of four tags which help the mods/admins filter the purpose of the post - bug reports, feature requests, open discussion, and support requests.

If you've ever made a post on meta, this would have been made obvious since the tag input box comes prepopulated with a list of these, and the submission fails if you don't use one. If you don't post on meta, however, these tags are meaningless to you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> What I like on SO is how their search works with multiple tags. It's very effective.

</comment><comment><USER6> It seems like the Stack Exchange sites have a surplus of workers willing to do busy work like retagging questions. So I'm not even sure this is a problem they really need to solve.

</comment><comment><USER7> saw that changing yesterday. one post had regular tags, the following one had that monstrosity.

scared the hell out of me.

for now I'm thinking it's not necessary at all. just matching synonyms would suffice. don't have to show them on screen like that.

<comment><USER8> This is the timeless geek UI solution: Just throw more information at the user.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Is there a limit to how fast a URL redirect can be? - <AUTHOR> Is there a physical limit on how fast a redirect from one server to another can be?
e.g direct from site1.com to site2.com
I presume that the physical distance between the servers affects the speed, but what would be the maximum redirect speed you could get from say a server in SF to a server in Sydney, Australia? <comment><USER2> Speed of light?</comment>


A Secretly Detained American Has Asked for a Lawyer – But Gov Won't Give Him One - <AUTHOR> https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/detention/trump-administration-just-admitted-secretly-detained-american-has <comment><USER2> [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/7631...](https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/7631-a-republic- if-you-can-keep-it)

The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."

<comment><USER3> we couldn't keep it because we thought we could just leave it in a corner and do nothing with it

turns out democracy is hard work

<comment><USER4> Democracy != Republic

They aren't even close to the same

Republic : Rule of Law

Democracy : Rule ( tyranny) of majority

<comment><USER5> If we're going to argue definitions, might as well see what more conventional definitions from the dictionary look like (from Google's Dictionary)

      re·pub·lic
      /rəˈpəblik/

      a state in which supreme power is held by the people
      and their elected representatives, and which has an
      elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.

      de·moc·ra·cy
      /dəˈmäkrəsē/
      a system of government by the whole population or all
      the eligible members of a state, typically through
      elected representatives.

Now, the next thing we should probably figure out is in what sense did Franklin mean it? Did he believe that the word 'Republic' conveyed merely that the country would be governed by Rule of Law? That seems extremely unlikely.

<comment><USER4> You would do well to do more research than a simple google dictionary lookup.

But you likely wont put the work or the effort into understanding the difference nor would you understand the inherent dangers of democracy

I believe this grand experiment of a constitutionally bound republic has ran its course and what follows will be more misery for the poor.

Property rights, free markets, individual rights.... these are the eroded cornerstones folks are crapping on ... while reaping the benefits of them

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is a crime that violates the 5th and 6th amendments, and we should be arresting and prosecuting those who gave the order to violate this man's constitutional rights.

Are our rights worth less than the paper they are written on?

<comment><USER7> Most ppl didn't care/do anything when the previous Nobel Prize winning guy droned an American and his son (and other crimes). Why should ppl care now about this if the guys doing it are quite honest in their contempt for the rule of law? Say what you will about DJT, but he's quite honest (mostly 'cause he can't control the diarrhea from his mouth).

If one is unwilling to raise one's voice for political expediency reasons when the "good guys" are doing "bad" things then all this hoopla about this admin pulling back const. protections is a bit of a laugh, aint it?

<comment><USER8> Except of course that people that the ACLU and others absolutely did raise their voices about the targeting of Anwar al-Awlaki. Indeed there was quite a lot of legal back and forth about its legality.

Personally, I see pragmatic difference. It is easily within the within the U.S' capabilities to give this person a lawyer. It's not clear how the U.S would have bought Anwar al-Awlaki to justice for the crimes that he was proud of committing.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al- Awlaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki)

<comment><USER9> Yes, a "lot of legal back and forth" by Government lawyers writing secretive memos that are nothing but a sham. Throw them in the same cell.

They also of course killed his U.S. citizen son ( _" I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father"_) and 8 year old daughter (not a U.S. citizen, so clearly worthless).

<comment><USER8> It must be comforting to live in a world that is so black and white. That legal back and forth isn't worthless. It's what systems based on the rule of law do when faced with knotty problems. You've decided that they are a sham and that the lawyers should be thrown in jail without due process.

Find me anyone other than the people in your head who believe the daughter was worthless.

<comment><USER9> There is no legal back and forth! There was no legal process! You seem to have a hard time understanding this.

Writing secretive memos on how to extra-judicially kill U.S. citizens is little different from Freisler giving his expert opinion to the Wannsee conference.

<comment><USER10> I've always thought Anwar al-Awlaki was a somewhat odd example.

Suppose an American man is found guilty of war crimes in, say, France, and is ordered captured dead or alive. While conducting military exercises in France, the US, an ally of France, gets the opportunity to capture him, dead. They do so. Are you outraged?

Replace France with Yemen and you pretty much have the situation with this individual.

I should say, I agree with you on the point that drone strikes in general are not good policy. I'm more concerned about civilian casualties than the actual targets, though. I've yet to come across a case to change my mind.

<comment><USER11> > found guilty

I think the point is, "found guilty" _by whom_?

<comment><USER10> The Yemeni court system?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Why does it even matter te person is American, _anybody_ in detention should have the right to some kind of legal assistance.

<comment><USER13> Because the purpose of a government is to keep its citizens safe, not act as world police.

<comment><USER14> Do you _really_ believe that giving lawyers to people you have already detained is acting as "world police"?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Great on the ACLU for making progress :)

</comment><comment><USER16> Incredible, the average HNer here is naive enough to thinks he has 'rights'. Rights are something that governments 'grant' when it is _convenient_ so that citizens do not rebel and can be exploited appropriately. You generally have no protection form the state if they decide to make your life miserable.

<comment><USER17> Rights aren't granted to you by any government, they're universal, even if you happen to be living under a regime which violates them.

<comment><USER18> Hate to break it to you, but this very thing happening is proof of the grandparent.

Unless you have lots of guns and are willing to go to war with $government , you're going to have a very bad time. And even if you armed to the teeth, you still going to have a very bad time, but instead you're shot at.

<comment><USER11> That's why people use the phrase 'defending their rights'.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Want to join the ranks of political prisoners? It's really easy, just get worked up and be outspoken about it publicly. You have everything to lose, and nothing to gain. If you must meet about it, do so in secret, not here _in front of everyone_.

</comment><comment><USER20> Enemy combatant "held without charges" sounds a lot like any vanilla prisoner of war.

So they took in some POWs, one says "no, wait, I'm really one of you, just kidding about the shooting and stuff" and the military needs some time to figure out whether normal rules of war apply in this case. Hard to get too worked up over this, if you ask me.

<comment><USER21> Unless the US has declared war on itself, the capture of an American POW _by the US_ seems contradictory in principle, and should make any American at least a bit uncomfortable.

If it's difficult to consider whether or not the rules of war apply in this case, then maybe that's because the war being waged is unjust in its scope or fraudulent in its definition.

<comment><USER22> The reason there are detainees and enemy combatants in addition to POWs is that a POW is someone who was fighting under the banner of another state. If the person isn't wearing a uniform or if they fight for a group that isn't recognized as a state, they are not generally a POW. "Rules of war" apply to POWs in this system.

<comment><USER23> Boy that sure would be messy if we ever ended up waging war on a series of nebulous non state actors.

<comment><USER22> Exactly the point!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> American citizen Enemy combatant and Trump didn't just drone him?

Wow his guy respects more rights than Obama

Let's see if he lasts long enough to get a lawyer! Anyone got a prediction market we can bet with?

</comment><comment><USER25> I don't trust the ACLU. Black lives matter is about the dragon-king of poverty and crime, not police. They don't get that, and so no solution they offer is capable of engaging the root cause. They don't understand because they are unwilling to ask.</comment>


Rails JS frameworks: Ember.js vs. AngularJS - <AUTHOR> http://www.airpair.com/ruby-on-rails/posts/ember-vs-angular-with-rails <comment><USER2> The article talks about SPAs, but doesn't go so far as suggesting that an Ember or Angular app could be a separate project altogether from the rails app, requiring no integration with rails, using the back end only as a REST api and serving the static SPA from wherever (say a CDN). There are tradeoffs with this approach, but some would consider this even easier or simpler than having the html/js app 'integrated' with the back end.

<comment><USER3> Noob question for people:

How do I do CSRF token for separate Ember/Angular app?

Since Rails can't write the CSRF directly on the front end page, how does CSRF work in that case?

<comment><USER4> It's generally pretty easy in most frameworks to plug in to all XHR requests (see e.g. jquery's ajaxPrefilter). Then you can simply add a CSRF token to the header of every request (or possibly your authentication details directly).

<comment><AUTHOR> The Rails unobtrusive adapter for jQuery jquery-ujs has a pretty neat implementation, you can take a look at it here [https://github.com/rails/jquery- ujs/blob/master/src/rails.js...](https://github.com/rails/jquery- ujs/blob/master/src/rails.js#L58-L61)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> If you start a new Ember project today, or want to try Ember and compare it with other frameworks, please use Ember-CLI: [http://ember- cli.com/](http://ember-cli.com/)

The style of development CLI introduces makes you incredibly productive. A comparison of Ember without discussing CLI is missing an essential ingredient.

<comment><USER6> Not only is it productive, it is officially endorsed by the Ember core team as the "right way" to use Ember.

<comment><USER7> Not only it is endorsed, it is Ember. The project will get lifted to Ember in github by the time Ember 2 comes around

<comment><USER8> Where can I find more info on Ember 2 roadmap? Thank you.

<comment><USER9> The Road to Ember 2.0 RFC [https://github.com/emberjs/rfcs/pull/15](https://github.com/emberjs/rfcs/pull/15)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Why duplicate logic in the front end? We recently open sourced a lightweight framework for writing coffeescript in rails. It's fully compatible with turbolinks and let's you run only the JS you need. It's called RailsScript ( [https://github.com/gemgento/rails_script](https://github.com/gemgento/rails_script) )

<comment><USER11> I'd love this if it had a testing framework to go with it. The primary reason we went with Angular was because it was so much easier to test than the spaghetti of jQuery modules and the mess that are events.

<comment><AUTHOR> I usually test my Rails/Angular projects with jasmine-rails jasmine-jquery and Sinon.JS. These three together let you test virtually any frontend js code.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Is there any differentiation between the two on API stability?

I got burned last fall trying to build an app with Ember as they kept making breaking changes, even between release candidates (!). Technically Ember was stable, but Ember Data (which is separate I guess?) was doing major refactoring on their API, and it cost us quite a bit of time just trying to keep up. Even today, their GitHub has a disclaimer that it's beta quality and under active development[1]. Ember CLI also says it's very much WIP[2], even though it seems to be the officially endorsed way to build Ember apps.

Does Angular make stronger promises about their stability? Is this sort of thing just the cost of doing business with cutting-edge frameworks? Or am I missing something?

[1]: [https://github.com/emberjs/data#api- stability](https://github.com/emberjs/data#api-stability) [2]: [http://www.ember-cli.com/#community](http://www.ember-cli.com/#community)

<comment><USER13> > Is there any differentiation between the two on API stability?

Compare [http://angularjs.blogspot.co.il/2014/10/ng-europe- angular-13...](http://angularjs.blogspot.co.il/2014/10/ng-europe- angular-13-and-beyond.html)

> Our goal with Angular 2 is to make the best possible set of tools for > building web apps not constrained by maintaining backwards compatibility > with existing APIs

vs [https://github.com/emberjs/rfcs/pull/15](https://github.com/emberjs/rfcs/pull/15)

> This is not a big-bang rewrite; we will continue development on the master > branch, and roll out changes incrementally on the 1.x release train. The > 2.0.0 release will simply remove features that have been deprecated between > now and then. Our goal is that you can move your Ember app to 2.0 > incrementally, one sprint at a time.

<comment><USER14> The AngularJS guys have since modified their plans a bit: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dZdq2L8EkzimgvU93ypLF9GJ...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dZdq2L8EkzimgvU93ypLF9GJpdzD2jjm08Zal6sfxMQ/edit?hl=en&forcehl=1)

TL;DR: they're dedicating team members to continue working on 1.X while they build 2.0. They're also planning out a migration strategy for anyone on 1.X when 2.0 launches

<comment><USER13> Ah! Good to know, thank you!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> About the Angular portion of CSRF integration - one can do this in other ways without disabling the check. One can create a factory that acts as the http interceptor that has the csrf injected. One can also manually crawl the DOM by using document.querySelector and inject the value into the http interceptor for appending to requests. One can also use an http request to fetch the token and have the token served via the xhr and manually bootstrap the app.

Angular is relatively unopinionated here.

<comment><AUTHOR> In fact, the article mentions in 6.2.2 one client-side solution to handle CSRF token by including it into the $httpProvider's headers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> this is more fun: [http://vimeo.com/68215606](http://vimeo.com/68215606)

<comment><USER17> I keep forgetting I did this, lol. I gotta admit, I was surprised Tom came out on top so easily with this - not a man to underestimate! ;-)

<comment><USER18> If you're gonna step to me, better make sure your framework game is tight.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Readability issue: On my iPhone 6 in landscape I can't read the first couple words of every line because of the stupid little popup menu bar anchored to the left. Put some padding on the text.

<comment><USER20> Sorry for that. We are using an iPhone 5 for testing, and it seems that the larger iPhone 6 viewport is leading to some unexpected edge cases. We'll roll out a fix now and I will use this as an excuse to get a new phone :)</comment></comment>


Cool use of zero-fill right shift in prototypejs - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/sstephenson/prototype/commit/460be4691af9e4e92908c9ac707597bad69be57c#L0R517

<comment><USER2> I didn't know that javascript even had a shift operator. Neat.</comment>


The Music Bay: Pirate Bay Crew Instill More Fear Into The Music Industry - <AUTHOR> http://torrentfreak.com/the-music-bay-pirate-bay-110122/ <comment><USER2> Does anyone have any idea what the piratebay guys are up to with the latest announcement of "themusicbay.org"? Details ? What they're doing ? What's this new thing they're launching ? when ? where ? is it just a hoax ? who's bankrolling this ?

I need some insider information. I've seen all the stuff you can easily find on google.</comment>


US judge says Uber drivers are not company's employees - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/13/us-judge-says-uber-drivers-are-not-companys-employees.html <comment><USER2> Duplicate news: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16827468](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16827468)

</comment><comment><USER3> Oh, well then they can do all the things contractors can right?

No?

<comment><USER4> I have no knowledge in this area. What can contractors do (that employees can't)? I'm trying to come up with things, but my list starts and ends with "work for competitors".

<comment><USER3> Set prices would be a big one.

<comment><USER5> They do set prices, collectively. If they don't think the prevailing market price is worth their time, they choose not to work at that price and the market adjusts by raising prices if there aren't enough drivers to satisfy demand.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


ASK: How Much Do Paralegals Make? - <AUTHOR> http://www.paralegaljobsinfo.com/how-much-do-paralegals-make/

<comment><USER2> When I see the word "Paralegals", I thought of Rachel Zane</comment>


In Praise of Idleness - Bertrand Russell - <AUTHOR> http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html

<comment><USER2> Something I just wrote that i think relates:

i wonder why they don't care to wonder

of what wonders i wonder

but i know

it's been ruthlessly sapped of them

never asked of them

so that we don't expect much of each other

and all the while i'm left to my doubts

left with useless drawings and plans

idea's drawn by my undereducated hands

billions of sharpie masterpieces, all with potential

across the many like me

squandered because we've no societal funnel labeled "fringe gold"

i'm not bitter, but hell yes i've been pissed about how rejection boomerangs

how the lack of instructions condemns my choice to be a mercilessly difficult one

i don't think i much differ from those treading well worn paths to solid careers

i think they battle with much the same feelings, fear much the same outcomes

maybe the difference

is that one of my greatest fears

is that i'll modify my dreams to fit everyone else's reality

i don't want to get comfortable compromising and call it maturity

<comment><USER3> I'm sorry, you must have mistaken hacker news for alt.emo

<comment><USER2> lol, nice tumblog, is that ur photography?

<comment><USER3> thanks - no i just like to find relevant pictures - breaks up the text and helps me think visually

<comment><USER2> alt.emo, lol</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Google: The end is nigh - <AUTHOR> http://phantomsoapbox.blogspot.com/2019/01/google-end-is-nigh.html <comment><USER2> Google's big enough to live as a zombie for years. The end is not nigh.

But in another sense, the end may be nigh. If this kind of insanity spills over into skewing the search results, well, _that 's_ the end of Google as we knew it, even if the company survives.

I think that way too many people have become addicted to outrage (on more than one side). And yes, I really meant "addicted" \- there's an emotional high that people might become at least psychologically dependent on. If you allow that to keep going on in your company, it will cause real damage, both to individuals and to the company.

<comment><USER3> That article is just a complaint that people in google want to be really inclusive, ie pointing out that not everyone has a family if they are an orphan - that's not the most evil thing. It uses words that are meant to incite people with a particular political persuasion (snowflake).

<comment><USER2> Sure, but... was the offense worthy of the outrage? Is every microtransgression worthy of outrage? And, is a company the right stage for fighting this? For _publicly_ fighting this? I would say "no" to every one of these questions, except the third.

"Snowflake" is a loaded term, sure, but the super-easily-offended behavior does rather fit the common understanding of the term...</comment></comment></comment>


TechCofounder.com: Meet Technical Cofounders for your Startup - <AUTHOR> http://techcofounder.com/ <comment><USER2> This basically seems to be a job board.

If I was building a system like this I would allow people to post an ad about the company they are starting, their location, the people currently involved, something about the vision of the company (without giving away too much), the expectations of how much work is involved, are the other people full time, equity on offer, the skills, experience and qualifications of the other co- counders, does location matter, do you need to be in the same city etc etc etc.

Instead this odd site assumes that searching for cofounders is about placing job ads. A bit strange.

<comment><USER3> I wonder if that's just emergent behavior.

It's possible that the first several postings along the lines of "Smart programmer wanted as co-founder for new social networking concept (that also shortens urls)", but it has since been noticed by recruiters as a "free job board" and thus is filled with "Programmer/Analyst III with J2EE" positions.

Perhaps they need to work on the tech a bit to discourage the job postings and encourage the actual entrepreneurial stuff.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Great execution. I know it's supposed to be anonymous, but I wouldn't require that. Have optional fields for a website, blog, GitHub (or Google Code or whatever the hell) public code repository, and projects they've worked on. I noticed a number of people have links to one or more of these in the Short Answers section; that to me shows that the site's focus on anonymous communication may not be the right choice for everyone.

</comment><comment><USER5> Well done. IMO, there are three things that matter when scanning through a list of potential co-founders. Skills (which you have well covered), markets/areas that you love/hate (some people won't touch the enterprise, others would never do a Twitter app), and availability (some people can't afford to go without a salary and some can).

The anonymity angle is interesting, but I don't think it's critical. In fact, it probably hurts. If I can't read their blog, check out their tweets, or scan their LinkedIn profile, there's generally a lot less for someone to get excited about. There will be a lot of "toad kissing" to find a prince.

</comment><comment><USER6> Am I the only one who dislikes the term "coder"? I'm a programmer, dammit.

<comment> cool-RR I like how it's shorter to say and write.

<comment><USER7> Yep, "programmer" is too long, which is why i used the term "coder". I'm a programmer too and never thought it had any negative connotations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> You're basically dismissing everyone outside the US since it's not possible to pick country in the sign-up. That's a lot of market potential you're wasting.

<comment><USER7> @mismax, I hear ya and getting similar feedback from many others as well. I will def build in int'l support asap!

<comment><USER8> No worries - and good luck. We Europeans look forward to joining the party :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> This site seems to assume that only coders are valid cofounders. I would have thought that the site would allow people of any area of expertise (business, designers, finance, marketing, tech) to seek people to cofound companies with. Why are coders the only valid cofounders?

<comment><USER9> Now now, I'm sure there are coders who have those areas of expertise as well!

Seriously, coders are not the only valid cofounders for this kind of company, but they're the only necessary ones.

For example, I don't see a lot of coders begging for "a guy with the vision" who can provide them with a "can't-miss idea" they can put "sweat equity" into. It's always the other way around.

<comment><USER10> Umm...there's a hell of a lot more than "guy with the vision" necessary for a startup in my opinion. But I guess that's from the perspective of someone who spent days trying to learn contract law for his own startup until realizing it would be better to bring in a qualified lawyer as small equity partner to do it.

<comment><USER7> The purpose of the site isn't to discount non-technical cofounders. Being a product guy myself, I recognize the important of product vision, strategy, as well as other non-technical expertise like contract law, etc etc. That said, from my personal experience I've had a lot more people ping me about intros to good coders than to non-technical folks who want to start a company. After evaluating the other tools/services out there to meet interested parties I decided to build techcofounder.com b/c I felt it served the greatest void in this area.

-Ben

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Have you considered letting the non-tech users post profiles of some sort as well? I can certainly see some difficulties, but it could be useful if you found a way to make it work.

Particularly, I'm thinking of people with specialized expertise or connections in a specific domain--people who know a niche, and could build a business, but need technology to make it happen and don't have the resources to just go hire a team to make it happen. Advertising to such an ill-defined demographic would be awkward at best, though.

As someone who is, for most purposes, a pure technologist, my ideal in a hypothetical cofounder (given basic things like "being able to work toegether") would be someone older, deeply familiar with some business domain populated by companies that are a bit behind the technological curve. Tech startups drive innovation in markets that tech people care about--but there's a lot of markets that get ignored, when a tech startup-style approach could seriously shake things up.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm troubled by this idea, since I imagine that any decent programmer with an entrepreneurial drive would already have his own startup. That programmer would possibly need a site like this to meet _business-side_ co-founders, but then any good businessman with an entrepreneurial drive would already have his own startup.

Since all the good minds on either side of the equation would already be locked into their own thing, I can't see how any of them would show up on a site like this (or its natural counterpart, BizCofounder.com).

As a result, all that's left is a pool of developers who either don't have any good ideas, or have been to afraid to make the leap on their own. Neither of those qualities are ones you'd look for in a potential co-founder.

</comment><comment><USER12> Good work! I suggest you have sections for NorCal and SoCal (not just states -- CA is a big state!)

</comment><comment> tomh- I like the idea, but the execution can definitely be improved. It lacks too many features to be interesting for me. Such as being able to login and edit my profile, international support (why not do this from the start??), ability to provide some links and stuff.

but its a good start! Iterate your way to the top ;)

Oh: looks like I can edit my profile!

</comment><comment><USER13> I like the idea. Important point though (I think): the yellow/orange you used is both hard to my eyes and difficult to read.

HTH.

<comment><USER14> Agreed. If it was paired it with a darker color (foreground or background) it would be easier to read.

<comment><USER7> good feedback! I'll go for a darker orange and see how that is.

I like the black and gold b/c it's kinda unique. looks different than most other sites.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This is really great. It gives me a lot of the information I like to see in a clear and concise manner. A link to twitter+blog would be nice. Also questions that are similar to what you see on the YC app would be cool ie- "tell us about the time you successfully hacked a non-computer system".

</comment><comment><USER16> Hmm I kind of think having the reverse relationship for profiles would make a lot of sense. "I'm looking for a tech cofounder, let me pitch you in my profile"

In the non-tech to tech cofounder match, the tech guy actually has more leverage in the relationship on some level

</comment><comment><USER7> @sachinag, thanks for feedback. good point on not requiring anonymity.

@tom_ilsinszki, I will add int'l support shortly. In the meantime, please go ahead and create a profile and choose arbitrary location. I can update it for you later.

</comment><comment><USER17> Nice work. How about having all skills that registrants list accessible in the 'Browse by Skill' box? I would expect the 'View All' link to show me all skills people had tagged themselves with, e.g. 'C++', 'Python', etc.

</comment><comment><USER18> Is there anything like this for meeting designers? Programmer => Designer

<comment><USER19> <http://programmermeetdesigner.com/> ... not sure how good it is, but it's there :).

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Wish there were something like this for finding good business development/marketing cofounders. I want someone else to do the nuts and bolts of biz dev so I can focus on the product dev side.

</comment><comment><USER21> Looks like a nice resource.

\- I'd also prefer optional anonymity.

\- I'd rather that the page views (such as the list of all coders) showed 50 or 100 items at a time.

</comment><comment><USER22> I'd like to second the links idea. Let me link to my blog, twitter, github, etc.

Looks pretty interesting; I signed up to see what happens.

</comment><comment><USER23> Congrats Ben! I think there's definitely a need for this type of thing. Good domain name too.

</comment><comment><USER24> Have to live in the US to register (properly). Asks for state name. Oh, well...

</comment><comment><USER25> Great idea. This definitely solves a real problem.

</comment><comment><USER7> International support deployed. Have at it!</comment>


Review others websites and they review yours - <AUTHOR> http://feedbackroulette.com/ <comment><USER2> I feel that there is the danger here of a blind leading the blind effect. I tried it out for giggles. Not to pick on my reviewer, but here:

 _There are alot of words on the landing page [of BCC]. Look at some of the ycombinator pages and you will notice the average site has about 45 words and 4-9 links. Don't give them so many options and so much to read. Otherewise, looks good!_

The quality of your users' interactions with FeedbackRoulette is directly related to the quality of the advice they receive. To recruit and retain the best users who give the best advice, you have to be giving out advice which is worth their time. The above quoted advice is well-intentioned but does not convince me that I am likely to realize business value by continuing to be engaged with the service.

To see another take at resolving this problem, take a look at StackOverflow: by breaking the 1:1 nature of the communication, you can use people's desire to peacock to get hypercontributing members of the community to be responsible for most of the good advice on the site, and let the 90% who do no writing merely vote the good stuff to the top. Hopefully they pick the right good stuff. If, on the other hand, StackOverflow picked two random programmers with a question and connected them, the average experience of using it would be getting your query on Rails ActiveRecord validation answered by a junior Java programmer from India. That would be a much less effective StackOverflow. It would likely not maintain the interest of somebody like John Skeet (who, if you are not familiar with the SO community, is something of a local legend).

(Sidenote: if this reviewer was right and there are in fact YC companies with 45 words on the front page... how do I put this gently... there must be someone in your alumni network who you trust on SEO, right? Talk to him about whether that is a good idea. It will be a very brief conversation.)

<comment><USER3> > the average experience of using it would be getting your query on Rails > ActiveRecord validation answered by a junior Java programmer from India

Please avoid such racist stereotyping. There are terrible and awesome programmers in every community, and it's an insult to put them in the same bin and call them the same name. I found it quite offensive myself.

<comment><USER4> I did not find anything offensive in that line. He did not write

'...answered by a __terrible/awful __Java Programmer from India'.

If he wrote following,

'...answered by a Perl hacker from Germany.' his point will still be valid. I think you are reading too much into it.

P.S.:I am an Indian.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I like the idea. I think there should be a skip button as there are a couple sites that I wasn't able to review properly (one specifically asked for people to review it in another language and the other required me to sign in).

I also think it'd be cool if the homepage showcased some of the highest rated sites, like the way Logopond (<http://logopond.com/>) works for logos.

<comment><USER6> Agree with this. I cancelled a review because I simply can't give very good feedback on the type of site I was given. I waited a while, clicked 'Review Next' again and got the same site.

If the creator of FeedbackRoulette is reading, skip button pronto!

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I reviewed 4 sites just for kicks and submitted my site to it. So far, only 1 person rated my review so I got 1 feedback point and 1 review for my website. Seems like getting an ROI on my time is dependent on a) whether people see the rating buttons b) click on them. Seems like something that needs to be fixed.

</comment><comment><USER8> How about a twist on the original idea:

Reviewers submit a short review with the basic findings and points of improvement, and hint at a more in-depth review.

For a nominal fee, you could access a more in-depth review and consulting (maybe with coding help, etc..). The site could be a nexus between people needing reviewing help, and consultants, for a small fee.

Top reviewers could make a living out of this, other people can submit good reviews in the hope of being picked for consulting work.

Just my 2 cents of brainstorming (probably millions of buts to this one).

<comment><USER9> I really like that. I do general consulting from time to time and would love a great tool for lead generation for small web based businesses.

Could really work well for connecting consultants with new clients they would otherwise never find.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Sounds familiar...

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1227543>

<comment><USER11> That's what happens when you tell someone an idea that is fairly simple to implement and don't act on it in over 200 days, IMHO.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> This really works as a concept. I've signed up and reviewed a couple of sites already. I'm looking at one now that looks suspiciously like spam though. There doesn't appear to be a spam button for when you're looking at a site. If a site isn't spam then being labelled as spam is still useful feedback for them, even if it does mean going back to the drawing board.

</comment><comment><USER13> Please allow the website owner to rate the review he receives and allow his sites to be reviewed based on the rating of the review that he has given.

So for example: If i rate site A.com and the siteowner of A.com rates my review as 5/5 then my sites should be eligible for 5 reviews. The ratios could be different - essentially reward owners for better reviews.

I see a very clear monetization opportunity here. I pay money and get X number of reviews. I am sure you would have thought about this. Cool stuff.

</comment><comment><USER7> It would also be nice to be able to talk back with reviewers if they allow for it. I've gotten some interesting comments and I'd like to either ask a few clarifying questions or just get to know them a bit better. A 2-way communication message would be nice.

<comment><USER9> Definitely!

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I can see this being a big success. Feedback roulette does everything right: I immediately understood the website and could participate.

Reviewing the websites even has an addictive quality to it.

Interested to know the business model.

Nice work.

</comment><comment><USER15> We submitted our site this morning and have received really good feedback, which we are going to implement on our site. I also reached out to the team with feedback and received a quick thoughtful response. I understand there is a danger to a free product, but people, it's free and you get rapid feedback, you don't have to use the feedback. I definitely think some sort of scoring to get top feed backers up to a higher level (which people could pay for) could create a value proposition.

</comment><comment><USER16> I wish I could see and possibly review sites without handing over my email address. I'd like to be able to explore the kinds of sites that are posted and possibly the kinds of feedback they are getting before creating an account.

(Also, what if I don't have a website I want reviewed? I guess that violates the 1:1 relationship feedbackroulette is trying to develop, but I'd be interested in what non-"webmaster" folks have to say if there are any willing to submit a review. )

</comment><comment><USER17> Do not send passwords in the clear via email! That is all.

<comment><USER18> This usually hints at plain text storage of passwords, so: Please do not store passwords, store (salted) hashes instead.

<comment><USER19> Unless you want to be able to send your users passwords by email, in which case don't.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I've posted a couple of decent quality reviews and most have been accepted with 5 star ratings. However, very few reviews are coming back the other way, leaving me feeling like I've somewhat wasted my time.

Perhaps this will change later, but in the meantime, perhaps sites could be circulated around instead of just being assigned to one person (which is what I presume is happening.)

</comment><comment><USER20> I liked the idea, but I think there should be some sort of options or categorization of websites that you are submitting and you would like to review. I just tried it out and I got a website to review - but it did not have any details on what aspect needs to be reviewed.

</comment><comment><USER21> You might want to check out the model <http://www.critters.org/> uses where members get to pick what they want to critique. I think it might work better than the random-matching approach.

</comment><comment><USER10> Currently there is an incentive to rate reviews as follows: if you want to increase the probability for that person to review another of your sites, you would give them a rating similar to your rating (which could be quite low).

</comment><comment><USER22> Maybe it is just me but I don't understand the current mood, building a new website for things that can already be done in a comfortable manner.

Feedbackroulette could be reduced to reddit.com/r/feedbackroulette (imho)

</comment><comment><USER23> Interesting concept. What's the business model here? Advertising? Maybe a premium service where you can choose which sites to review and be able to target certain reviewers for your own site.

</comment><comment><USER24> Feedback Army will get you many responses without giving up anything more than a few dollars. <http://www.feedbackarmy.com>

<comment><USER25> Raphael, have you added filtering by reviewer's location? Most of responses come from Asia and from people eager to earn your 60c per response. They are positively biased at best, and half-assed and incompetent at worst.

<comment><USER24> Dear [person whose name I don't know], You have a right to reject (and automatically request a new response) for any half-assed or incompetent responses.

That said: I receive a lot of positive feedback on the service and in the instances when someone contacts me with a bad experience, I take care of them. I'm a little surprised to see such a pointed comment about FBA on Hacker News. If you used the service and had a poor experience, I wish you would have given me a chance to do something to make it right with you.

<comment><USER25> We spoke over the email back in July. I emailed you to say that the quality of the feedback had gone substantially down for the reasons I posted above. You replied suggesting to reject as many responses as I felt needed and alternatively to refund the purchase. This is just, and you do in fact take care of the poor experiences.

I rejected good half of responses, but it also made me realize this:

 _Having thought a bit more about this whole situation here's what I think is the root of the frustration - I would rather not get to the point of needing to reject comments._

 _There are some obviously half-assed comments, and these are easy to reject. However there are other comments, still useless, that clearly had some time and effort put into them. Rejecting these seems unfair, especially considering the price point. And there is lots of these comments._

 _That's why an ability to focus the survey more precisely is IMO essential._

Hence - my question. Have you got a chance to add country filters to FA or not?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> There's another site that does this, I think its called Hacker News :)

<comment><USER7> HN isn't always the right demographic for feedback. I could this particular service improving to limit/filter feedback in a way that would make them more useful.

Also, there are a number of other improvements that would really make this site a lot more valuable for getting feedback than HN, such as rating feedback givers, incorporating Silverback, etc.

<comment><USER27> This site isn't the right demographic for feedback either, unless you're building a website solely for other people who also have websites.

<comment><USER7> Touché</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Zappos has quietly backed away from holacracy - <AUTHOR> https://qz.com/work/1776841/zappos-has-quietly-backed-away-from-holacracy/ <comment><USER2> More interesting to me is the second half of their article, and them having every team track profit and losses and be held accountable for being profitable to an external customer or another internal team.

And the talked tackled the "R&D problem" by having R&D teams find a "sponsor" who would benefit from their eventual work. Really curious how it'll work out.

Do you end up with more efficiency by making every team compete in an internal marketplace and have to address customer needs to stay profitable? Or do teams find ways to carve out mini-monolopies and moats just like in the outside world and live off the fat of inefficiency.

<comment><USER3> I've worked in a company before where all R&D teams need to be sponsored by other product teams. I don't have any opinions for or against this approach. Just my observations

Pros:

* R&D teams don't veer off into random tangents and are focused on delivering something useful

* More accountability and a closer connection to their end customer (internal or external)

Cons:

* you end up with more management layers and a lot more meetings to convince teams to fund you

* getting budget to maintain stuff is difficult to sponsor

* Empire building and a lot of infighting between competing teams

* product teams won't fund longer-term projects and moonshot experiments so you have to create a separate product team just for that

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Ah... I have memories of "disruptive" managers lauding this approach to management whole kit and kaboodle.

I derided it as reminiscent of soviet-style of management by collectives and committees.

The manager saw that in a bad light. Guess I lacked team spirit as it were.

<comment><USER5> In Adam Curtis documentary "All watched over by machines of loving grace" there's a part about the communes in the 1960's and how they all descended into lord of the flies style bullying with alpha personalities.

Teal management ideas are absolutely at risk of the same problem.

I remember people pushing Teal in agile meetups a few years ago and all of those people would have been the alphas inside those communes.

Management helps protects the quiet types.

<comment><USER6> I see this show up in the broader Teal movement, definitely, but not really in Holacracy. The reliance on process rather than "Teal principles" holds space for people who don't demand it, and holds those alphas to the process as well.</comment></comment></comment>