Amazon Kind of Sucks and We've All Just Come to Accept It - <AUTHOR> http://mattmaroon.com/2015/11/10/amazon-kind-of-sucks-and-weve-all-just-come-to-accept-it/ <comment><USER2> Yes. I actually do accept this, and it's OK with me. Prime has saved me _so much time_ \-- and, arguably more valuable, attention -- obtaining objects I need. I literally do not care about the price difference between a $1 and a $5 roll of tape: as long as I don't need it sooner than 2 days from now, it's comin' on amazon, because the alternative is either searching online and actually thinking about it, or leaving my home -- and my time and attention are worth much more than that.

<comment><USER3> Exactly. My time has a value and it is most definitely worth more than $4. If I need something but I don't need it _right now_ , Amazon is the answer.

Need a pack of sharpies? Yeah, they might be a few bucks cheaper at Walmart, but then I'd have to go to Walmart. That's an hour of my time wasted driving to the store, walking all over the place to get the sharpies, waiting in line for 15 minutes or struggling with the annoying self checkouts that never work right, then driving home. And I would probably end up getting a few other things that I didn't really need because I don't want to waste the trip.

With Amazon Prime? 30 seconds max and they arrive 2 or days later. And I'm on to my next task. I have too much going on to quibble over the difference of a few dollars when the time savings is so dramatic.

Now, for a major purchase of a few hundred or more, I'm going to spend some time deal hunting. But for everyday items Amazon is plenty sufficient and the prices are usually good enough.

<comment><USER4> ... and that is if they have the Sharpies. There is no way to check the inventory at Walmart before you go, so you are left to hope it is there. Each time we go to Walmart there are a couple of items not on the shelf.

They are still struggling with it.

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/retailwire/2015/08/23/is- walmart...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/retailwire/2015/08/23/is-walmart- really-fixing-its-out-of-stock-problems/)

<comment><USER5> How the hell is Walmart's inventory surfacing to consumers so bad, yet their supply chain so efficient?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> His complaint about returns is curious, not sure if it's country specific. I returned something to Amazon a couple of weeks ago in the UK due to some missing parts. I printed out the label, put it in the box and the next day a delivery guy showed up, slapped his own label on the outside and took it away. I had the refund applied 2 days later.

I've never returned anything to Amazon before so was surprised at how well it worked.

<comment><USER7> The bulk of his complaint about returning is the process that you went through as well (print label, put in box).

Amazon has legitimate deficiencies ie. killing off local stores with pricing pressure, horrible ui, etc, but the article goes into the deep end, like the person wants everything to be done his way without having to do any work.

<comment><USER8> I really can't imagine a simpler return process. Each time I've had to return something, I went online, stated there was a problem with the product, they immediately shipped out a new item, and I had 30 days to return the old item. I also didn't have to print off a return label, as that was included with the replacement.

Being upset that you need to put a label on a box is one of the most first- world-problems I've ever heard.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> > The UI on everything Amazon does looks like it was designed by Helen Keller.

Ugh. That is just nasty.

If you are ever tempted to write something like that, don't.

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

<comment><USER10> I think I would probably prefer a web designed in part by a blind or deafblind person.

Less visual clutter or cute CSS or JS positioning tricks, for one. If you think hijacking the scroll bar is bad, or hate sites that present a blank page if scripts are off, imagine how you might feel about incomprehensible gibberish spewing from your screen reader.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> This really just seems like the author is searching for things to gripe about. Has he tried buying most things in a major store?

His points about Amazon's UI are also missing me. The UI seems perfectly adequate and friendly - which is not to say it's the best UI/UX experience ever, but that is never the only business requirement.

<comment><USER12> Have you tried shopping at B&H, for example? I have a much easier time finding things there. Newegg is also pretty decent. I get frustrated by Amazon's UI fairly often, by comparison.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Yeah, except Amazon is no longer the "everything" store. Since their spat with Google and Apple over video streaming, many official Apple and Google products have been pulled from Amazon (I don't know if this was Apple/Google's doing or Amazon's).

Amazon is trying to be a merchant and a product developer at the same time. That's not usually a marriage that ends well for either side: the product developers will overestimate what the merchant side can do (leading to inventory problems that just get pushed off to the merchant side), and the merchants are pressured into stepping on supplier relationships. I can understand with commodity items like AmazonBasics where they basically just find the best item in a category on Alibaba, order a lot and slap an Amazon logo on it, but their actual products like the Fire and Fire TV tread dangerously close to a lot of the other merchandise they sell.

</comment><comment><USER14> This is the biggest load of entitled BS that I've read in a long time. Wow, OP has to take out tape and actually tape up the return box? Would he prefer that Amazon send someone out to his house to pick up the item and pack/ship it on their behalf, obviously for free otherwise he would be whining that he had to pay for the service.

He sounds like he would complain about having to WAIT IN LINE if he had to return the item at a physical store. What a load of crock.

Yes, Amazon's prices aren't the lowest for many things. They never say they are. Prices at Home Depot are often much, much lower for many home items, and you definitely have to do comparison shopping. Which means continuing to sit down, and move your mouse and clicking and typing. Not exactly coal mining and not exactly driving around from store to store like how we did 20 years ago.

But for me, the combination of free, fast, reliable shipping and a decent price is enough to get me buying stuff almost 3 times a week from Amazon.

</comment><comment><USER15> Amazon.com is just ruined by third party sellers. Hard to find anything throughout the mess, and the sellers do things like inflate their sales to push them up the popularity rankings (now called "featured" rankings, so Amazon can inject paid adverts). I often just search for things, pick the department, then select "Only sold by Amazon.com" to escape the nonsense.

I'd happily use another site, but who? Target.com and Walmart.com are both worse sites with odd offline customer service (and meh shipping policies). NewEgg used to have better search/sort but also got third party seller ruined (plus return issues). I hear a few peeps about this Jet.com site, but they've extremely new and have had some issues so far.

I want a site with Amazon's amazing customer services, Amazon's shipping polices, but with a better site design. If they're going to do filtering in the search results then having them actually work correctly would be appreciated (they often don't on Amazon).

<comment><AUTHOR> My experience with Jet.com has so far been great. I started using it maybe a month ago (right after they ditched membership fees).

Their sorting actually works. Their prices are comparable to big box stores. Their shipping is fast and free (with a minimum order, of course). It's what Amazon used to be before it started kinda sucking.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> > The UI on everything Amazon does looks like it was designed by Helen Keller.

Amazon's UI, in my opinion, is a case study in heavily politicized UI design. There are too many parties involved. They all want more screen real estate. They all think their widget is already the key to Amazon's sales, and if not, they think that if they just had a bit more screen real estate that they would increase sales 10X. Because of the magnitude of the involvement and the stakes at hand, proposing a major overhaul would literally create hundreds if not thousands of internal enemies, ready to do anything and everything to take you out.

As a result, we get Times Square with a cohesive font and color scheme.

</comment><comment><USER17> From the "I can't quit you, therefore we can't quit you" department.

I find these love-hate posts interesting.

This is the halfhearted rant of an Amazon junkie. Here is someone who uses Amazon so much that he keeps spare Amazon boxes in his attic. Someone who _returns_ items to Amazon so often, that the inconvenience of plugging his laptop into his printer drove him to buy a new printer (from Amazon, one may assume). Someone who loves Amazon so deeply, that he cannot refrain from praising it---and indeed exonerating it---even as he publicly whines about it.

I find these posts interesting because, although the author is a rather extreme example, it seems to me that this love-hate bondage is quite mainstream, not being limited to Amazon or technophiles. Never mind the first- world indignation at Amazon's failure to meet the author's admittedly unwarranted expectations. The emotion driving this is an ethical conflict: my heart is saying go, but my head is saying stay, or _vice versa_. Many people (in my estimation) have similarly mixed feelings about Facebook, Apple, and Google, at variously increasing rates.

This conflict is born of dependency. Your negative feelings about something you depend on (pain, shame, frustration, disappointment), strong as they may grow, are never strong enough to overcome your sense of need, along with whatever dopamine hit you get from using it. Despite being old enough to remember a world without Amazon, the OP takes for granted that _someone_ has to do Amazon's job: if not Amazon, then some hard-to-imagine competitor. But the OP will never leave Amazon---not for another Amazon, anyway. He has love enough for both.

So yeah, this is about the author's personal struggle with the mere idea of freedom from Amazon. But it's just as well that the title says "we've all just come to accept it."

</comment><comment><USER18> I would love to hear someone explain why their sorting fuction is so terrible. Amazon is the only eCommerce site I've ever used that is unable to properly sort items by price. Why is that?

</comment><comment><USER19> Amazon needs to quit filling their product database with absolute garbage and show that they actually care about the customer experience. In trying to sell absolutely everything they've made it harder to find what you're looking for.

Yesterday I was shopping for an electrical box cover. The first result I clicked on was categorized as a musical instrument (specifically, a timbale). The second one I clicked on was categorized as a pair of pliers (specifically, snap-ring pliers).

Sure, customers could misplace a few things in a physical store – but Amazon has complete control here, and they're showing us they just don't give a shit.

I love the checkout and shipping experience on Amazon. The amount of reviews is great (although many reviewers are clearly morons or just fake – that sucks too). But everything leading up to making the purchase is terrible.

</comment><comment><USER20> I totally agree with the search problems. Even a very specific search with a 'sort by price' will include thousands of completely unrelated, miscategorised items. Their product database is junk.

</comment><comment><USER21> Conspiracy theory: Amazon's sorting is intentionally bad so that you have to look through other items you might purchase, much like grocery stores organize so that you have to work your way through them.

I don't actually believe that, but I do find myself thinking of other things I've needed/wanted when browsing Amazon.

<comment><USER22> In your "conspiracy theory", who is Amazon conspiring with? Themselves?

Do you know what "conspiracy" means? Do you think a "conspiracy" can be achieved by fewer than two different parties?

<comment><USER23> HN wouldn't let me reply to your most recent response, so I'm replying here:

All it takes is 2 people to conspire, whether they are co-workers or not. It fits very well with your first definition: 1. make secret plans jointly to commit an unlawful or harmful act

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Folks in this thread may be interested in CamelCamelCamel

[http://camelcamelcamel.com/](http://camelcamelcamel.com/)

They let you set Amazon price watches. The browser/email interface works really well, with almost no mental overhead, and can save you significant money on items with volatile prices that you don't need immediately. I use it for collecting reference textbook, which I get at about 20% of the price if I bought them at a fixed time. (I'm not affiliated with them or anything, I just like it.)

</comment><comment><USER25> He completely nailed the problem I've had with his description of looking for an iPad. If I know exactly what I want already (e.g., a book by title, or an electronic device by model number), it's usually easy. (In that case, though, I usually found what I wanted from some other source, and I purchase it there.) If I want to actually shop -- that is, survey several models of the same broad kind of item, there are quite often far too many to sift through, with few useful tools for narrowing it down. Even when I know exactly what I want, there's usually no way to filter for it.

Brick-and-mortar stores don't exactly solve this problem -- they just have far fewer choices, and you're relying on something like curation (based on expected sales). It's not always great, but it's generally preferable.

</comment><comment><USER26> I have contacted Amazon several times to inform them about their Javascript that loads images from related/sponsored products. It causes Firefox to lock up and freeze with every image request because they are doing something that is out of the ordinary. I always tell them I would be glad to work with one of their teams to figure out the issue, but it just goes into some bin on their end to be forgotten about.

Basically just accept it and deal with it taking twenty seconds per page load before the web browser is usable again.

<comment><USER27> Does it cause Chrome to lock up?

<comment><USER26> It does not.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> My wife and I moved all of our non-grocery shopping to Amazon 2 years ago. With the Barclay's "Sallie Mae Rewards" card you earn 5% cashback on Amazon purchases. This, stacked with their subscribe and save, has saved us money (that we can see in Mint) but also immeasurable time. We have our virtual quartermaster keeping us stocked and I couldn't be happier that my wife never asks me to stop at Target anymore.

<comment><USER29> I wish I could get that card, seems the offer is no longer available :(

Next best thing I found for my shopping habits was the Citibank one with 2% flat on everything

<comment><USER28> Woah, you're right. That must have happened recently.

Amazon does offer a store card with 5% cashback. I've received targeted offers for it. Possibly you can research it and get yourself into the target group.

Chase Freedom is a 5% cashback rotating-categories card and it includes Amazon in the current quarter. That combined with a Sapphire Preferred is a lucrative way to earn chase reward points that are best used on travel purchases.

Discover also has an online shopping category. Both the Discover and the Freedom have no AF so I would consider getting both of them. Discover used to be better before they changed ShopDiscover. It was like a private FatWallet that often had the highest payouts.

Finally, the Amex Blue Cash offers 3% cashback on a variety of department stores. This is a great card to have for the 6% grocery discount and the department store rebate is a bonus.

Goodluck, and sorry I advertised a card offer that's no longer available.

<comment><USER29> Oh no problem, I actually tried to get that card a month ago, which is when I found out it wasn't available anymore. It's definitely the best general-usage cashback card out there, I think.

I don't like the idea of rotating rewards because it seems like I'll be driven to spend more than I usually would on each category while it's in-season.

Didn't know about the Amex Blue Cash, 6% grocery discount is pretty big. I might pick one up, although I need to look at how my credit could be affected, since I JUST got the Citi Double Cash last month.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Non-used books are still cheaper on Amazon than in any bookstore though. Sometimes only by a dollar or two, but often by ten dollars or more.

</comment><comment><USER31> Amazon is ok. Kindle books on the other hand are becoming a ripoff. Just dusted off the library card last week for the first time in years.

<comment><USER32> Agreed. I think it's mostly the publishers fault but it's still annoying.

BTW, most libraries have a digital lending thing now where you can get a kindle book for free for a month or so. (And presumably renew it after that.)

And my local library's digital catalog can also find books that they don't actually have and let me click a "recommend purchase" button. Last time I clicked it, I got an email a few days later that the book was now available.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Amazon may have been cheap but now it's convenient.

Of course I would prefer that Amazon is as competitive as possible. However, as mentioned by others, the time savings of going to a store vs. shopping online justifies a little extra cost to me. Amazon solves a few other problems too:

* Security: The more online stores I use, the higher my risk of identify theft. Amazon isn't perfect, but they both have more resources and more incentive (higher stakes) to protect my information than small online retailers. One tradeoff that must be balanced is that Amazon knows more about me.

Note that if Bitcoin were more widely accepted, and retailers collected less personal information, the security offered by Amazon would be less important.

* Selection: Amazon doesn't have every product available, but it does have more selection than most retail stores. I tend to look for high value (high quality to cost ratio) products because I want things that work well and last long. It's often difficult or impossible to find the same selection at local stores.

</comment><comment><USER34> "I think it has something to do with the fact that one item can be sold by multiple vendors at multiple prices."

It might be confusing but this will help you get lower prices often. Amazon also often lists used among the multiple vendors and you can save even more.

Search is half the battle, and admittedly searching for stuff like iPad can turn up a lot of crap iPad accessories, but after that you can shop around just on Amazon to get a really good price.

I will share one gripe though. Ever since book publishers forced Amazon to start charging more for books, it's become a lot more expensive to buy even eBooks, with a markup "violating the Geneva Convention." I very rarely buy books now. The good thing is a lot of the books I would like let you try a sample and if a book is truly outstanding I will buy it. If it's included in Kindle Unlimited I will read it too. If neither of these options are available, forget it.

</comment><comment><USER35> I think this is a perspective that makes sense for somebody who lives in suburbia. I don't know that it would make sense to do your everyday shopping online if you have to drive to the store for other items or to return things that you bought online.

However if you live in an urban area, it's an entirely different comparison. First of all, let's face it- taping a label to a box isn't as hard as this guy describes. Second, to return it, you only have to find the closest UPS or FedEx store, which, again, in an urban environment is probably closer to you than the closest Starbucks.

That said, larger box items are almost always cheaper on Amazon than from other retailers in my experience.

So, a more appropriate title might be _Amazon kind of sucks if you live in the suburbs and are trying to buy groceries or items that would retail for under three bucks._

</comment><comment><USER36> This article is for people who haven't yet figured out that different stores sell the same things for different prices. This is the way it's always been. Come for the thing that's cheap/on sale, spend your money on something more expensive while you're there. Basic retail.

Also, you don't need packing tape or the original box to do a return. You go to a UPS or FedEx store, and they handle it for you for free. Or you order shipping supplies from FedEx, and they bring them to you for free and then come and pick up your package from you.

This isn't any harder than returning something to a physical store, and in fact it's still easier in many cases because you don't have to wait in line or answer annoying questions.

</comment><comment><USER37> I don't see it. Can't agree with the premise. I use their site because of how convenient it has made my life. Give me something better and I'll switch, otherwise I really couldn't care less about any of these complaints.

</comment><comment><USER38> Wow, author's return experience is nothing like mine:

1\. Process return request on Amazon.com.

2\. UPS guy knocks on my door with his own label. My guy carries tape and tapes up the box for me, too.

3\. Done.

The trick is not throwing out the box until you know you're keeping the item! Same as retail.

<comment><USER39> You forgot to mention that they charge you shipping fees if the reason to return is a simple "you changed your mind". Of course that is comparable to the time you spend driving to the local store. But still, if you are a prime member returns are not free shipping.

UPS stores near my house (and fedex too) all charge to tape up boxes and print out labels.

<comment><USER38> > _You forgot to mention that they charge you shipping fees if the reason to > return is a simple "you changed your mind"_

That is true, and it can really bite you if the item is heavy (speaker stands are my personal example - $17 to return $40 stands... I just kept them).

On the other side of the continuum though sometimes Amazon will tell you to just destroy the item and won't make you ship it back. That's always a nice surprise.

I don't know if it's a regional difference (suburban SV here), but my UPS guy always shows up to my door with his own label and tape. It's REALLY convenient.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Add-on items ([https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_468520_buyaddon?nodeId=200876660\)make) it possible to solve the first part.

Delivery drones ([http://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011](http://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011)) could make amazon better than actually going out to buy even 1 roll of tape, and returning stuff too.

</comment><comment><USER41> I have been a Prime member since 2012. Since having a kid, my free time has decreased, so I value being able to order something late at night and having it show up one or two days later. Time is money. I also like their return system. Its one system that works for everything I buy on Amazon. I don't have to learn a whole new return system for 10 different sites or call someone up on the phone and spend 20 minutes trying to figure out how to return something.

</comment><comment><USER42> I've found this to be true of a lot of time, but the shipping I somewhat disagree on. I don't know any third party store that offers free two day shipping with a prime equivalent. Maybe if I stopped buying Prime and used the savings to upgrade delivery on sites it would be equivalent. But on things like microwaves and refrigerators, I don't see anyone beating two day delivery. The Amazon markup is worth it at that point, for me at least.

</comment><comment><USER43> As somebody with big feet, who used to have to stomp from store to store Amazon was and still is a life-saver. Filter by size and click and all available shoes are displayed before you; no questions asked upon return if it's not quite right. E-Bay was always that little bit more precarious. For anybody whose ever on the long tail of anything Amazon has saved the day.

</comment><comment><USER32> It's pretty easy to find competitors that are cheaper than amazon, but it's not as common to find ones who will ship as quickly and still be cheaper. (Even if you exclude prime.)

Also, why does Amazon seem to be the only site on the internet that will give you a guaranteed delivery date and refund you the shipping cost if they miss it?

</comment><comment><USER44> I've been a customer of Amazon since 1999 and I've never had a problem with them. They treat me better than Walmart, they cost less than the corner store, and it's quick and easy. I'm tired of people saying I should pay more and put up with more bullshit just to support a smaller company.

</comment><comment><USER45> I still remember the day I typed in cdnow.com and it took me to amazon.com, sometime around 2002 I believe. That was when I started to take amazon seriously. I wonder if they are making so much from their cloud computing services that the retailing will become less of a concern for them.

</comment><comment><USER46> Unfortunately, there's nothing better than Amazon in the industry.

</comment><comment><USER47> Speaking as a very careful shopper, my experiences at AMZN are quite different from the blogger's.

\- _Pricing_

Amazon has excellent prices, even after they started charging sales tax in my state, and even after factoring in the annual Prime fee. Often the affiliate vendors don't charge sales tax[1], and sometimes they are a couple of bucks cheaper than the Prime price. I keep trying to find better deals elsewhere -- Ebay sometimes beats them -- but other vendors really can't compete.

\- _Selection_

Selection at Amazon is fabulous. You can find literally anything there. Between Amazon and Ebay, they've got you covered for probably any kind of product you could imagine.

\- _User Experience_

Well I haven't found it _that_ difficult to do things like sort by price. You have to fast forward past the irrelevant items but many other online retailers have the same problem with false positives and deceptive categorization. After a while, people just get used to it and learn how to deal with it.

\- _Books_

Amazon began as a book seller, and it remains one of their core competencies. The Kindle Paperwhite reader is an excellent product (the Fire tablets less so). Amazon has created a first rate ecology for e-books, self-publishers, and of course traditional printed material.

\- _Deals_

I'm a shopping junkie and I'm always looking for bargains. I do online polls and other tasks to acquire Amazon gift cards, so I may not be the typical shopper. But there are opportunities to knock $5 off here, $10 off there, and really get some deals. Fill out this poll after the AnDevCon and receive a $20 gift card. Really? I'm all in! I live for this stuff.

\- _Returns_

If you want the luxury of free returns for non-defective merchandise, then shop locally. That's what retail pricing is for -- to pay for the overhead of 10-20% return rates. If you can do your research and shop online very carefully, you can avoid the need to return. If a product is defective, on the other hand, Amazon has first rate service. Usually just print the label, stick it on the box, and leave it on the porch. OK, yeah, you probably need to have a roll of packing tape handy, and tape the box closed -- a rather trivial effort in the grand scheme of things.

Amazon's not perfect, not by a long stretch. Once in a while, there are better deals elsewhere. But if you shop realistically, efficiently, and try to accumulate gift cards, you make out like a bandit.

[1] Retail sales tax is gradually being extended to online sales. I respect the law, but I feel that I do not "owe" my state any more money than they already get from me (which is a lot). Just because a business has a "presence" in my state should not require them to charge sales tax on an item I ordered over the internet that was shipped from Seattle or Texas or China.

</comment><comment><USER48> Can't believe this clickbait is at the top of HN. Look at the quality of analysis this guy gives.

>Amazon "Kind of sucks" >Amazon "has a world-class distribution system"

Which is it?

> I started looking around, comparing prices, and found that this is not > unusual. Pretty much anything Amazon sells that is also sold at your local > big box store costs much more.

Care to provide even just one example?

> I'm too lazy to figure out which page the first one pops up on, because I > gave up on page 12. Even if you sort by Apple as the manufacturer, you get a > bewildering array of crap that isn't what you're looking for. Walk into an > Apple store or Best Buy and you can figure it out in seconds.

Too lazy? To sort through some results?

This article reads like a Facebook post.

<comment><USER49> > Care to provide even just one example?

the tape

> Too lazy? To sort through some results?

yeah. too lazy to sort through 12 pages of results to find the lowest price, when a computer should do it for you in 1 second

<comment><USER50> 1s? You mean 50ms?</comment></comment></comment>


The Forgotten Giant Arrows that Guide you Across America - <AUTHOR> http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/15/the-forgotten-giant-arrows-that-guide-you-across-america/

<comment><USER2> Discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6453401](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6453401)

There are more submissions, some may have discussions, but I've not bothered to look them up. Many disagree with me, but I think (a) HN is broken in this regard, and (b) I'm not going to bother any more, except when my Faux-CD[0] kicks in and makes me. I'm trying to control that, but don't always succeed.

[0] I don't really have OCD[1], but I get twinges of what it must be like. Just vague hints at the edge of my experience. So it's not fully fledged OCD, hence the term "Faux-CD"[2]

[1] A friend of mine says he doesn't have OCD, he has CDO, because it has to be in alphabetical order.[3]

[2] Coined by another friend Matt Parker.[3]

[3] Perhaps the most surprising thing about these sentences is that I have more than one friend. Or even a friend at all ...</comment>


How Do We See Art: An Eye-Tracker Study (2011) - <AUTHOR> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3170918/ <comment><USER2> Excellent study, giving a measure to the hard to define area of composition. This eye-movement study confirms a few principles of composition, such as gaze following the direction of various figures (Rembrandt), movement along high- contrast lines (chiaroscuro), movement between chromatic patches (Mondrian studies), focus resting on areas of greater detail (Molina). In the non-square format works you can also see that gaze follows generally along the longest axis, the portrait aspect of the last piece helps drive the gaze up the central axis. These principles are taught, but rarely understood. It becomes a trained instinct to analyze the composition of a work and exploit it in a practice.

Another thing I see in this data is a sense of inertia with sight-line. Eyes in motion, prefer to keep moving and seem to gloss over small details to the bigger compositional director. When slowed, these details are observed and the larger compositional elements ignored. Neat!

>Eye-tracking recordings were done in 10 subjects (six male, four female; age 23–34) sitting comfortably in front of a 24 inches computer screen, at a distance of about 70 cm, in which different images were shown for 1 min each. Images were digital reproductions (size 1024 × 768 pixels) of original and modified art pieces. My only issue with this approach is that it does not take into account the scale of the work, impasto techniques, light effects or the change in medium (paintings are scanned differently than a typical monitor would, the screen frame may introduce bias).

Overall interesting data.

</comment><comment><USER3> Years ago I stuck my head in an eye tracker at the National portrait gallery in London, and advised ahead of time I tried hard just to stare at the first things I saw.

I saw a nice constable-esque painting of two children. And then I sat back and ... There was a damn cat in the foreground, huge, how did I miss it!

The screen afterwards showed dots where my eyes focused, and I had bullet holes all over the faces of the two kids - but had completely avoided the rest of the painting (as advised). And yeah - my brain had just not bothered noticing the damn cat.

It has stayed with me for years - if you get a chance do it just to remind yourself how much of the world we see is stitched together.

<comment><USER4> I came to ask if anyone had put eye trackers in public galleries so thanks for posting this. I hope it is still there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Don't miss the results from the modified Mondrian paintings in Figures 2 and 3. They recolor one of his block paintings and discover the eye saccade pattern changes a lot.

</comment><comment><USER6> If my experience is anything to go by it is 90% reading the little explanation written next to the art, then 10% looking at the painting before hurrying onto the next thing.</comment>


Instagram didn't get the tone wrong - <AUTHOR> http://asburyandasbury.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/instagram-didnt-get-the-tone-wrong.html <comment><USER2> I have read a few other discussions on the recent change, but not being an Instagram user I only read their "apology" and not the actual offending language in the TOS update.

Thank you for quoting the actual language. Frankly, their "apology" comes across as nothing short of completely disingenuous given what they said in the TOS update.

Very insightful article.</comment>


GitHub Sponsors is now out of beta in 30 countries - <AUTHOR> https://github.blog/2019-11-04-github-sponsors-is-now-out-of-beta-in-30-countries/ <comment><USER3> Awesome. I was approved 5 days ago: [https://github.com/sponsors/mholt](https://github.com/sponsors/mholt)

It's been a smooth experience so far. It "just worked" and the direct connection to my open source work is convenient and just feels right.

Ever since we removed all proprietary licensing around the Caddy web server a few weeks ago [1], I'll be relying more and more on sponsorships to continue its development full-time.

So, this feature came at a great time.

[1]: [https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/issues/2786](https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/issues/2786)

</comment><comment><USER4> One thing I worry about is that this funding model only works for somewhat popular developers. You need to be well known to get people to donate to you monthly.

If you're a person that prefers to just do some work and not talk about it much, this kind of sponsorship model wont work.

To me, something like bountysource seems like an awesome model: people could all chip in to support a feature request or an issue, and anyone who is familiar enough with the subject matter can do the work.

(Unfortunately the reward mostly seemed way too little for the effort required -- it would be a nice bonus if you would do the work anyway, but I don't think you could make a living by implementing issues from bountysource)

<comment><USER5> > If you're a person that prefers to just do some work and not talk about it > much, this kind of sponsorship model wont work.

Marketing is a fact of life, I think. Of course, there's good marketing (making people who might enjoy your product aware of it) and bad marketing (annoying people), but if you hope to reap the benefits of having your work in front of a lot of people, you do have to reach them.

<comment><USER6> _> but if you hope to reap the benefits of having your work in front of a lot of people_

What OP says, and you miss, is that some people are not interested in reaping benefits. They are interested in doing work.

They are constrained by time and money, so yes, sponsorship can help their projects, but they are not in it for the reaping. If anything they will be happy to see a lot of people reap benefits from their work, not the other way around.

How many are like that? I don't know. Maybe not a lot, but some for sure.

<comment><USER5> Well OP seemed to be unhappy about not getting the benefits of having people sponsor them with a model like this.

There are tons of people who like to just go do stuff, and that's great! But if you don't promote it at all, certain avenues are not open to you.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I got early access a couple of weeks ago.

That's my profile: [https://github.com/sponsors/ronilan](https://github.com/sponsors/ronilan)

I'm conflicted about the concept.

I understand that when a software project has no formal institutional "home" (it's new, or it's small, or it's beneficiaries are themselves "homeless") - <USER2> community funded model can help maintain/develop things that benefit the community at large.

At the same time I don't feel comfortable that funding is for a person not a project and I'm at unease with the tiers (and resulting reward) structure.

<comment><USER7> Got early access to it as well (not validated yet, Stripe's interface is really not user-friendly and asks for papers I don't usually have handy).

And yeah, I totally agree with you. I felt really weird writing the tiers. GitHub's wording seems like there shouldn't be any reward, so I didn't put any reward (and I don't really feel like pushing rewards anyway). But why do tiers then? Perhaps it will help herding people into making it to higher tiers? I don't know, from my point of view, I'd prefer let people free.

As for person vs project, I don't really have the problem, though I agree with you. I feel like small projects won't setup this, because it feels much more complicated than doing a paypal (perhaps paypal got so cumbersome as well? it wasn't when i made an account there.), and big projects will need teams.

I have to mention that I also have an account at liberapay for donations, and they do handle teams! (they basically do a round-robin, so you need enough donaters)

Edit: Yup, Stripe is really annoying. They somehow denied my ID, without saying why, and I can't seem to link this account into liberapay.

<comment><USER8> I also got early access, and ended up signing up for a librepay account as well because I was curious to try it out. (Stripe setup went OK for me. Here's my project FWIW: [https://github.com/luvsound/pippi](https://github.com/luvsound/pippi))

I set up tiers, because they seem to encourage it, but they're all basically just early access to stuff that I'll make free anyway.

I work for a listener-sponsored radio station and I really think this model is pretty exciting -- keep access free for all and allow those with the means to support it financially. (And rewards I'm sure are good motivators for some.) It also means you aren't beholden to "the man", shareholders looking for profit, etc...

<comment><USER9> Cool project! This is something I've always been looking for. I'd love to contribute.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I did get early access to GitHub Sponsors: [https://github.com/sponsors/minimaxir](https://github.com/sponsors/minimaxir)

It seems less...fun than Patreon? Although Patreon is less code-content- focused, so maybe GitHub Sponsors can hit that niche a bit better. (although I'm not sure the current Sponsor button on a GitHub repo is an effective CTA, and I haven't yet found a good balance between self-promotion of a Patreon/GitHub Sponsorship and the content itself).

Compare/contrast my own Patreon page: [https://www.patreon.com/minimaxir](https://www.patreon.com/minimaxir)

<comment><USER11> Do you deliberately have it set up so that $200/month is the only option for sponsoring? People sponsoring you _must_ choose a tier, and currently that's the only one you have available, so nobody can sponsor for any amount except that.

<comment><USER10> Wait, what?

I was under the impression that it was like Patreon, e.g. people can donate whatever they want, and if they get to a goal, then that goal applies.

Looking at the backend for the Sponsorship, the copy for it is ambiguous (especially given how Patreon operates); the copy on the page itself is more clear.

I'll definitely fix that. Thanks for flagging!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'll add my account to the pile of people posting theirs:

[https://github.com/sponsors/ddevault](https://github.com/sponsors/ddevault)

Thanks to GitHub adding an API a few days ago for accessing your sponsors programmatically, I've updated my donation hub with the relevant info from GitHub:

[https://drewdevault.com/donate](https://drewdevault.com/donate)

I'd encourage anyone else who is relying on donations for their open source work to consider doing a similar process of income diversification. We don't want to have all of our eggs in one GitHub-sized basket. If anyone needs help setting up a fosspay instance like mine, please reach out.

<comment><USER13> I have been waiting for API access for a while, can you link me to the docs?

<comment><USER12> [https://github.com/github/github-sponsors- beta/issues/23](https://github.com/github/github-sponsors-beta/issues/23)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I got early access to GitHub Sponsors: [https://github.com/sponsors/feross](https://github.com/sponsors/feross)

I'm the author and maintainer of WebTorrent, StandardJS, and other packages. I joined GitHub Sponsors so I could spend more time maintaining the 100s of projects that I've written over the years and continue developing new projects.

I'm optimistic that the direct call-to-action on GitHub itself will yield much better results than fundraising methods that take place off of GitHub, such as Patreon.

I feel that open source funding should primarily come from companies and not individuals, though of course I'm very grateful to the individuals who support me. The biggest limitation of the current Sponsors implementation is that only individuals can become sponsors. Once there's support for organization sponsors, I expect to see lots more money flowing through the system.

<comment><USER6> _> The biggest limitation of the current Sponsors implementation is that only individuals can become sponsors._

Interesting.

Wonder what was github thinking around this. Seems backwards. Stripe should be your sponsor not Patrick.

<comment><USER15> It's a good question, GitHub posted an FAQ a few months ago and talked about this a little bit: [https://github.blog/2019-06-12-faq-with-the-github- sponsors-...](https://github.blog/2019-06-12-faq-with-the-github-sponsors- team/#do-you-plan-to-support-corporate-sponsors-and-sponsored-teams-why-did- you-start-with-individual-sponsors-and-sponsored-developers)

> Today's GitHub Sponsors is just the first step, and we plan to extend the > types of sponsorships it supports.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> GitHub seems to have done a pretty good job under Microsoft expanding to a larger portion of the open source development pipeline, between the package repository feature and the sponsorship platform here. So far I'm impressed.

I have Patreon set up already for a handful of people I support, but being able to just mash a button on a GitHub thing I care about is pretty awesome.

My biggest question: Can you sponsor projects, or just people? Because while often they may be one in the same, what if I want to support an org-managed project?

</comment><comment><USER17> I know we need to sponsor more open source development but I worry removing the friction is going to turn open source dev into Youtube. Make the money easy to collect and the vultures will appear from simple "take any project, rename, repost, profit!" (the licenses allow this) to just people trying to find any and every possible way to get the money pointed at them.

Even before this particular feature I've seen projects that are effectively 20 lines of code of glued together libraries asking for donations like they actually did something worthy of donation. (maybe there is some 20 line project out there actually worthy of donation but the examples I've seen are arguably not special 20 lines).

I'll cross my fingers we get mostly positives and few negatives.

</comment><comment><USER13> I tried Patreon for 3 years and got nowhere with it, the visibility and ubiquity of GitHub really helped.

Here are my tiers - I like that GitHub approach this as sponsoring a developer and not a specific project. All my OSS current and future work is covered by my Insider email Updates sent via the platform on: inlets, k3sup, K8s on RPi, OpenFaaS and OpenFaaS Cloud.

YouTube video on my thoughts - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouCsrvHIXwk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouCsrvHIXwk)

[https://github.com/sponsors/alexellis/](https://github.com/sponsors/alexellis/)

</comment><comment><USER18> Now that it's live, despite being on it for a few weeks, i'm interested to see if folks use it. I've had support through some other places [1] [2], I guess this [3] is more integrated to github on the whole. While I'm optimistic, people are not in the habit of supporting projects, and if they are it's usually the largest projects. I included what people have contributed in the past for a pretty popular project (2k+ stars on github, about 500k-700k downloads on npm a month)

[1] [https://opencollective.com/react-ace](https://opencollective.com/react- ace) \- about $100 USD total [2] [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/j](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/j) \- $25 usd total [3] [https://github.com/sponsors/securingsincity](https://github.com/sponsors/securingsincity) \- $0 usd so far

</comment><comment><USER19> I got approved as well: [https://github.com/sponsors/stared/](https://github.com/sponsors/stared/)

It looks like a minimalistic Patreon (intro + tiers + posts for the sponsors). While I like the clean design, it misses the motivating parts:

\- Listing the number of sponsors (oh, other people support them too!)

\- Goals.

Personally, I don't count to get any suitable income. At the same time, I hoped to get motivation - people caring about my projects enough to pay $2.

I ended up getting hundreds of likes on FB + LinkedIn, I got first nothing (it was disheartening) and then 2 sponsors (well, I am grateful to them).

Meanwhile, a few times I got invited for an open-source project thanks to my other open source project (now I am at CQT, Singapore invited to develop an open-source Quantum Game 2.0)!

So my question is: even within open-source, is crowdsponsoring a viable model?

<comment><USER20> It does list the number of sponsors - [https://imgur.com/a/46u0ZIz](https://imgur.com/a/46u0ZIz)

<comment><USER19> Yes, but not per tier.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I was approved a couple of weeks ago and encouraged people donating to Tildes to move over to using GitHub Sponsors ([https://tild.es/it2](https://tild.es/it2)), which has gone pretty well so far, with about half of my recurring donators using it now: [https://github.com/sponsors/Deimos](https://github.com/sponsors/Deimos)

As explained in the linked post, for anyone that can use GitHub Sponsors, it will be the best available method for receiving donations/support right now, since they're not charging any fees at all, which means the recipient gets about 10% more than they would through Patreon. The $5000 USD matching for the first year is also amazing for smaller projects like mine where that can represent a significant chunk of donations.

My only real complaint so far is that the contribution-matching excludes some supporters in unclear ways. It seems like GitHub doesn't want to match contributions from (some?) new GitHub accounts due to potential abuse, but that's a little annoying for projects like mine where the target audience isn't exclusively developers and some people will be signing up for GitHub solely to donate. There also isn't any indication on my end for which contributions are being matched or not, so it's not possible to figure out exactly what my current monthly income from GitHub is.

It's not a big deal overall since it's still the best donation method even without matching, but it would be nice if they could try to make the fraud checks based on conditions outside of the GitHub account, like making sure that the accounts aren't using the same credit card as other contributors. It's been a little disappointing for some of my users to see that their contributions won't be matched.

I have some other minor complaints about a few aspects (e.g. forced tiers), but the main other issue is that everything is tied to individuals vs. organizations. There's no way to sponsor an organization/project, or sponsor _as_ an organization. It sounds like they're working on that though, so hopefully that will be available before too long.

</comment><comment><USER21> Looked at it a while ago and decided not to. People occasionally ask if I take donations, but never have. While I could change my mind in the future, today my code is a contribution to the community.

</comment><comment><USER22> I don't understand. They offer: Stripe Connect, ACH transfer, or wire transfer.

Only Stripe Connect (whatever that is) seems to have a list of countries.

Wire transfer should work all over the place.

<comment><USER23> GitHub Sponsors is out of beta for developers with a bank account in any of the 30 countries supported by Stripe.

For folks with bank accounts outside of that list, GitHub Sponsors is still in beta, we're accepting applications, and we'll continue to roll out general availability to those countries in the coming months.

<comment><USER22> Thanks. The blog post could be edited a bit then. It says:

> GitHub Sponsors is now out of beta and generally available to developers > with bank accounts in 30 countries and growing.

and the link points to [https://help.github.com/en/github/supporting-the-open- source...](https://help.github.com/en/github/supporting-the-open-source- community-with-github-sponsors/becoming-a-sponsored-developer#submitting-your- bank-and-tax-information) where only Stripe Connect has a list of countries while wire is also a possibility.

It's not obvious that somehow out of beta means mandatory Stripe Connect and no wire transfer. Although I assume that perhaps you use Stripe for wire transfers too?

<comment><USER24> Thanks for the feedback! We've updated the post to clarify the options for folks who don't have a bank account in one of the 30 countries currently out of beta: [https://github.blog/2019-11-04-github-sponsors-is-now-out- of...](https://github.blog/2019-11-04-github-sponsors-is-now-out-of-beta- in-30-countries/#next-steps)

We do support ACH transfer and wire transfer (as noted in the documentation) for developers with bank accounts in countries that are still in the limited beta. In the coming months, we'll be expanding general availability for more countries on a rolling basis. I'll look into clarifying that in the help docs too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> It's interesting to look at the different sponsor pages posted in this thread.

When I got invited, I basically copied my text over from patreon. But it seems the way to address github sponsors is a bit different in tone.

I also noticed that many start their tiers at $5 instead of just at $1.

Obligatory sponsorship link: [https://github.com/sponsors/splitbrain](https://github.com/sponsors/splitbrain)

</comment><comment><USER20> Is there a list of developers who are approved to accept sponsors on Github?

For certain projects, I already follow the people running them and became a sponsor when I got to know about them being on-boarded to the program (eg: cUrl).

It would help if I could see a list of all users accepting donations and figure out if I use any of their creations in my day to day work.

</comment><comment><USER26> Not a big fish as many others here, but just for completeness:

[https://github.com/sponsors/florianrappl](https://github.com/sponsors/florianrappl)

I'd love if this (GitHub sponsors in general, not my personal account) would be successful - so far doing open-source projects was a great experience!

</comment><comment><USER27> I would like to know what the future "nominal transaction fee" will be.

</comment><comment><USER28> I got approved a few weeks back as well [https://github.com/sponsors/ashishb/](https://github.com/sponsors/ashishb/)

</comment><comment><USER29> The big thread on this was [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19989684](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19989684)

</comment><comment><USER30> Now that this in GA, anybody try cross matching to milk^Wearn the $5K bonus?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19991341](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19991341)

<comment><USER11> That's explicitly against the terms of the program: [https://help.github.com/en/github/supporting-the-open- source...](https://help.github.com/en/github/supporting-the-open-source- community-with-github-sponsors/about-github-sponsors#about-the-github- sponsors-matching-fund)

> "Donation for donation" schemes or other attempts to game the GitHub > Sponsors Matching Fund are a violation of this policy and the GitHub > Sponsors Additional Terms, and any funds matched during this period will be > revoked.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> It is good for GitHub but it is not how it should work. Money should go along with pulls. Its only way to push some money to architects of the IT

</comment><comment><USER32> does microsoft still match user donations?

</comment><comment><USER33> Finally, democratising open source monetisation.</comment>


Ask HN: I have 1000+ dresses in my shed. What should I do with them? - <AUTHOR> About 6 years ago someone I know had a failed business venture; they had ~1500 dresses made in their own designs targeted at 'plus sized' women. They had family things come up and the whole thing died on the vine, but they ended up with most of the dresses sitting in storage.
A few months ago they asked me if I just wanted to take them off their hands, no charge, I just had to go pick them up. I put them in my storage shed and forgot about them until now.
They've been stored safely and are in good condition, but I think they might be of pretty poor quality generally speaking.
I don't really know much about dresses, or selling physical goods. I really took them on a bit of a whim and I'm not sure how much time I can invest, and don't even really know where to start.
So, what would you do in this situation? Try and sell them individually? Flog them off in bulk to an aspiring retailer? Just donate them somewhere? <comment><USER2> Thrift shops like Buffalo Exchange will buy the dresses their sales reps deem "re-sellable" at a stupid price...like 5 to 10 dollars an item....but that's potentially $5000+ ....</comment>


Tech support tips for developers - <AUTHOR> http://lepunk.co.uk/tech-support-tips-for-developers/

<comment><USER2> Yes, a message reading "Error establishing a database connection" will indeed keep users, tech support requests - and customers - away.

</comment><comment><USER3> Title edited, URL dead.

<comment><USER4> I managed to read it, I didn't understand if it is meant to be sarcastic or not.</comment></comment>


Ask: Who can print and ship for me? - <AUTHOR>

I am starting a business where I need a vendor to print and ship a printed laminated piece of paper (like you see in brochure handouts). I can handle the payments and the I have been searching online but I cannot find anything.
Any tips on which vendor might be able to help me out here?
Thanks. Piloo. <comment><AUTHOR> any answers here? I am at a dead end..</comment>


Show HN: Build with AI – Machine Learning APIs Focused on Video Intelligence - <AUTHOR> https://deepai.host/ <comment><USER2> This is a fantastic site - makes using and implementing AI easy.</comment>


Twitter Bot which posts a frame from the Godfather every 3 hours - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/GodfatherFrames/status/1287516625831419907 <comment><AUTHOR> The idea is to highlight how well the film is shot. Also some of the dialogue is quite funny out of context heheh. Inspired by @kothscreens

</comment><comment><USER2> Really incredible how well each shot is framed. Are the frames picked at random? or picked from a pre-selected timestamps.</comment>


Found Your Company with MyCorporation, Free Today Only - <AUTHOR> http://lifehacker.com/5083444/found-your-company-with-mycorporation-free-today-only

<comment><USER2> Yesterday's thread about C Corporation vs S Corporation vs LLC is probably relevant: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=359155>

</comment><comment><USER3> There is a nice demo that lists types of corp that will suit you try out : <http://mycorporation.intuit.com/why-incorporate/index.jsp> & <http://mycorporation.intuit.com/help_me_choose/index.jsp>

</comment><comment><USER4> Anyone have any thoughts on this? We have two setups we need to incorporate, wouldn't mind saving some hassle and a bit of money.

<comment><USER5> I'm pretty skeptical... I would much rather take the time to do things right, with help from a lawyer. Saving $150 on filing fees is not much compared to picking the wrong type of corp and being screwed in the future.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> damn you, state filing fees</comment>


On the Usability of Codecademy - <AUTHOR> http://programmingzen.com/2012/01/16/on-the-usability-of-codecademy/ <comment><USER2> This online tutorial grossly overestimates how much the layperson understands about computer languages. For the complete beginner, far too much is left unexplained.

No one actually codes using a REPL in a browser. Yet the site makes no attempt to explain why or how this REPL exists, or how it works.

It doesn't explain why I can only type in certain places on the screen.

It doesn't explain how to try again, or undo mistakes.

It doesn't explain why a string must be surrounded by quotes, but numbers must not be.

It doesn't explain why suffixing `.length` to a string (but not a number) does anything, versus any of 50,000 other English words I might have put in its place.

It's confusing that there are three sources of errors: those from the language, those from the tutorial, and those from the browser/internet. Where is this program running? Where does the code live? How does this code turn into action? How does the tutorial know what I'm doing?

Codeacademy doesn't explain how any of this magic happens. It just plops you down in front of a REPL and tells you to echo specific things.

Coding is not about learning the syntax that lets you type "Ryan".length. It's about learning the underlying concepts: the "why", not the "what".

Coding is best learned "the hard way".

<comment><USER3> Thanks for the comments. I'm the cofounder of Codecademy - we're working to alleviate all of these issues. We do lots of user testing and have surfaced many of these problems on our own. Additionally, we make an effort to simplify a lot of concepts and ease users into them instead of explaining them immediately. We've noticed lots of users actually struggle when deciding what IDE or text editor to download. The REPL makes it easier for them. We'd love to hear more of your comments - shoot me an email at contact (at) codecademy (dot) com.

<comment><USER4> You should show solutions in video form so the users can see what they should have done.

<comment><USER5> That is a good idea. Maybe an animated gif - just to get the ball rolling, then use video next screen or two on.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I was a complete beginner at coding a few months ago. I really really wanted to learn, so I've tried going to local meetups designed to teach newbies to code and I've tried Codecademy.

The problem I found was this tendency to start with the terminal as the teaching tool. The terminal is a black and intimidating hole to a beginner. Sure, I happily typed in 2+2 and got 4 as a result, and I understood how to store variables and even if statements and while loops, but honestly, I found this to be too abstract. I didn't understand what the terminal was and how typing in 2+2 was supposed to help me build a website, which is why I wanted to learn to code to begin with. I got frustrated and quit learning to code for a while as a result.

But then I decided to try out the free Stanford CS106A course. I was hooked from the very first lecture. Instead of starting at the terminal, Stanford had me download Eclipse (which is less intimidating than the terminal) and they started with a fun "Karel the Robot" language. In the first assignment, my goal was to make Karel the Robot run around the grid and drop / pick up diamond 'beepers'. I LOVED it. The excitement I got from actually getting Karel to do what I wanted was exhilarating and far more rewarding than getting a pretty badge from Codecademy. I completed the course in about a month and am now learning Ruby, which I absolutely love.

My point is, people want to learn to program so they can build something, so starting off with concrete and fun projects (versus typing random stuff into a Terminal) is the way to go.

<comment><USER7> Is there a link to this Karel the Robot exercise or is it a hand out?

We're in the amidst of creating something complimentary (different too) to Codecademy called <http://CodePupil.com>. We're eager to see different styles of teaching; especially examples where gaming is used!

As noted in the OP's article creating a new experience and especially one that teaches all the Elizabeth's how to code is a big challenge. We've been asking our friends like Elizabeths to test and then we reiterate. Also we've found Mechanical Turk to be helpful in re: to user testing feedback. There seems to be a lot of Liz's there.

<comment><USER8> I too tried my hand at it in a side project: iheartpy.com

See if there's anything you find useful in it. Although, I think this comment needs to be someplace else.

<comment><USER7> Checked out iheartpy. Nice and interesting UI!

THough I wonder it asked me to sign in using my Google account. Is there an option to use the site further without signing in?

<comment><USER8> The application would have access to see your email address i.e. <paul's-id>@gmail.com

The app uses it to send a welcome message to users. Unfortunately that's the default minimum permission set granted by App Engine Users API. Further, I promise not to be evil:

          iheartpy.com/privacy.txt

Feel free to write to me for any feedback and/ or help.

           email@example.com

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I made my (non-programming) girlfriend try codecademy and she had the same kind of troubles. I had to go at lengths to explain to her what a console was.

She also told me that codecademy assumes too much stuff is known, like booleans or whatever. All the things that we take for granted and innate are extremely complicated to teach through a human-computer interaction.

In the end she went and googled "javascript tutorial", clicked one of the results and told me "this is much clearer". The tutorial was in classic textual form. I think codecademy looks very appealing for developers because it looks like it's easy to learn on it, but that's because we are developers, not laypeople.

<comment><USER10> Slightly offtopic: I also have a non-programming girlfriend and she recently expressed an interest in learning what programming is all about. This is because she often sees me coding, knows that I like it and that it's a big part of my life, and feels bad when I start talking about how I started some new project and she knows that I cannot tell her in detail what it's about because she wouldn't understand me (I ususally like to make stuff for developers, like libraries, tools and so on, not stuff for general public).

So I've been pondering what would be the best way to teach her a bit about programming, just to give her some general idea on what programming is. Should I just make a simple website with her and show her how to do basic stuff using javascript, or should I start with some theory first (I'm not thinking here about teaching her theoretical CS, just some basic OO principles). Anybody has any advice?

<comment><USER11> "Should I just make a simple website with her and show her how to do basic stuff using javascript"

I think the easiest way to learn is to take a simple page or script that already does something and change it. With that you get a little excitement that motivates you to learn further.

The classical computer learning books normally start with a "hello world" program and then move on from there.

I wouldn't go with any theory to start.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> A large part of learning to program is testing, then debugging. If _2+3_ didn't work, my natural course of action would be to read the instructions again, and then try _2+2_.

CodeAcademy is trying to teach people to code, and I think a big part of that, is learning to navigate small problems, debug, and follow instructions. If they just gave instructions that said "type the following", that would take away these problems - but what would that achieve? That would be like a professor not giving repeat questions on an exam, and a student complaining he wasn't clear enough.

<comment><USER13> Talk about a quick opportunity for improvement! Instead of displaying:

"Oops, try again."

Code Academy could type your statement:

"A large part of learning to program is testing and debugging. Please see if you can figure out what went wrong and try again."

It's all about setting expectations.

<comment><USER14> I very much agree with this. But I still think that if someone types in 2+3 at that second exercise, the program should compute it properly and not error out :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Glad someone pointed this out. Several of us are doing this at the office and I've watched our design team struggle in similar ways. If you're not used to the the kind of errors you'll see in coding or javascript, it can be incredibly confusing. Luckily for me, a reference error can be meaningful but to someone who has no idea about scripting, it's utterly worthless (sure you could argue this person should go to google and learn it but I'd say that this is the learning tool they've settled on and it should provide that instruction).

I've found myself struggling with their less-than-clear directions. I'm even convinced that there is at least one problem set so far with no solution (Functions in Javascript Optional Course » Lesson 2, part 3).

I have high hopes for Codeyear. After toying with it for a bit during the first week though, I'm hoping the usability and directions are cleaned up otherwise this will be more of an exercise in patience than in learning programming or javascript.

All this said, I've at least gotten some totally sweet badges.

<comment><USER16> Is this the problem you're talking about?

<http://i.imgur.com/tSfvV.png>

<comment><USER15> It's not. I was referring to Understanding Parameters - argument types, part 1.

It seems to have been fixed since I mentioned it this morning.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I did the same thing with my sister(who doesn't know any code) and the same issues came up with her as well. This is definitely a design issue. How to make the UI better?

In the initial stages of learning of learning a concept, have a dialogue appear for each error saying something like:

When you're coding in the real world no one is going to tell you this, but we've got your back! You forgot the quotes around your name. This problem occurs because some programming languages are case-sensitive, meaning that you have to type it in exactly the way Javascript wants you to. We'll give you a heads up about using quotes 4 more times and after that you're on your own.

To fix this error type in: "Janet".length instead of Janet.length

<comment><USER18> Just in case any non-programmers are reading this, the quotes around a string (like your name in the Codecademy example in question), have nothing to do with case, or being case-sensitive. Programming languages have basic building blocks called primitive data types, and for many programming languages, strings represent one type of those building blocks. Traditionally, strings are indicated by putting double- or single-quotes around the letters of the strings, but they just as easily could be indicated by two parentheses, or dollar signs. It's a convention for denoting a string, no more, just like quotes in English and certain other natural languages represent certain features of the language, often direct speech.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> _She can't be faulted for thinking that "for instance" meant she could try something else. Yet, she got an "Oops, try again." message._

I did exactly the same thing when I was checking out Code Academy - in fact I think I even typed the same math she did.

</comment><comment><USER20> As it stands, I only see codeacademy being useful for programmers who are new to Javascript. If you're completely new to programming, there are too many problems, like the article mentions, that are difficult to get past without knowing... programming!

<comment><USER21> Even then it is frustrating. I know basic to medium level Java and Python. I wanted to learn Javascript and decided to take codeacademy for a spin. The experience was so frustrating, I gave up after the first few exercises (after shouting at my computer a few times). There was no useful feedback - just an error message like 'Oops. Try again'.

I prefer Zed Shaw's style of teaching. Guess, I will wait until he publishes LearnJavaScriptTheHardWay.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> "You're in a browser, so the delete button tells the browser to go back to the previous page you visited in that particular tab. "

Nothing at all to do with CodeAcademy- but I really hate this behavior.

<comment><USER23> Agreed 110%. given that up and down arrows scroll up and down, having left/right arrow keys ties to history fwd/back would make a heck of a lot more sense.

<comment><USER16> I don't follow. Given that up and down arrows scroll up and down, left and right should scroll left and right, which is what they do.

<comment><USER23> Left/right - yeah, I see your point. I was testing it on a page that didn't need to scroll left/right when I tried it, so that didn't occur to me. I probably always mouse or trackpad for scrolling anyway, so my key-fu is a bit rusty.

Still... 'delete/backspace' going _back_ in a browser never made sense to me.

<comment><USER24> On many keyboards, there's an arrow pointing to the left on the backspace key, which may be where the convention comes from.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> I work for a small start-up in a completely non-technical role. I have no programming ability and previously had no desire, but since I've started working here I've had the desire to learn some.

Until Codecamedy came along it was probably just going to be a project I continuously put off until something else changed to make it happen. But now I'm signed up to get the Code Year emails, it's something I'll probably remember to do from week to week.

Anyway, back to the usability. I agree with the author that it's easy to make mistakes and feel confused with learning to code on Codecademy. But from what I've gathered so far it's easy to make mistakes and feel confused with learning to code, period.

Programming involves a lot of testing, of trial and error, to come to the right answer, or more relevantly; a better answer. Codeademy is giving people the opportunity to ease into that sense of trial and error, but it needs to be there nonetheless, because that is the reality of programming.

If you make a mistake, such as typing with a close bracket quote, and then you get an error message, what you do from there is probably a good signal of whether you should continue learning to code. If that happens to you five times, and you keep thinking "huh, why did that happen?" and then continue working on it until you figure it out, there's a good chance you have the sort of insatiable quest for understanding that you probably need to be a programmer. On the other hand, if you give up after a few tries, then it's likely that you don't have that same need to understand the logic behind it.

Codecademy is obviously trying to bring programming to a wider audience, but it shouldn't simplify it to the point where it's not giving a realistic picture of the very nature of programming. You can choose to take the stairs over diving in; but you still gotta get in the pool.

</comment><comment><USER26> Another point to consider is the following:

People have been taught by their IT dept., their family members, friends, store clerks, etc., to not mess with a computer. This also applies to their automobiles, appliances, etc.

In short, a lot of people out there have been hit with a newspaper on the nose (various times) for trying something new.

So, they decide to learn a new hobby (or craft), and they spend (waste) a lot of time fighting the fear of breaking things.

Yet, we (as in hackers) all know that one can't really do much harm to a computer with a simple approach such as the one used by CodeCademy. But non- hackers do not know that. They fear the machine (or the result of making a mistake with it (their files will be deleted! - plays in their mind)).

So, CodeCademy, I suggest you help people overcome such fear by showing them what they can do before showing them how to do it.

The terminal is fine, actually, I find that it was a genius idea. But, learning how to code is not bound to a terminal. It is bound to thinking, problem solving, abstractions. A learner cannot be afraid to break things, otherwise, they will not learn.

Challenge their fear (and ignorance) from the start. Instead of throwing them crumbs in the form of a simple string.length exercise, show them that they:

\- cannot mess their computer up by playing with your website \- will not get a virus \- should try again if they fail at something \- programming (not coding) takes time to learn

How will you do that?

I can point north, and tell you that Nirvana is that way, but I cannot walk the roads for you.

Sit back, and think about what I'm saying.

Help people learn how to code by helping them get over themselves.

I wish your team the very best; <USER26>
</comment><comment><USER27> I thought my 10y.o. daughter might want to learn programming. So I pointed her to codecademy and said if she got stuck, to call me over.

She was excited to try, but ran into the exact same problems this article surfaced. She was being a real trouper about it, but it was plain that her patience and temper were running short. That said, once we got past the first steps and I taught her how the website was supposed to work, she breezed through the next handful of exercises before calling it a night.

All that said, I was definitely left with the impression that codecademy was not well designed for complete beginners. Yet.

For now I had a brief look at Scratch (<http://scratch.mit.edu/>) and I'm tempted to turn her loose on that. It seems to have a nicer effort/reward slope, and will help her understand enough of the core ideas behind programming that I could then turn her loose on other languages.

<comment><USER21> I highly recommend Scratch. I teach 8 - 12 year olds using scratch. It teaches computational concepts in a fun (certainly not intimidating way). I am now planning to experiment using Scratch for adults as well as a starting point before introducing any of the common programming languages.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I love codecademy, but I always wondered if it would be better to ease a newbie into programming with a 'childrens' UI like Scratch or Alice. It wouldn't build up any coding muscle memory, but it might help them get use to the general look and feel of code before asking them to type it out themselves.

<comment><USER29> I'm really curious to know if anyone has experience with this. On the one hand, kids like building games, so Scratch and Alice seem like a good idea. On the other hand, those aren't "real" languages, so I think...why not just teach kids how to actually write code? I'm suspicious of how we dumb things down for kids. Anyone have experience teaching kids to code, either with Scratch/Alice, or another language?

<comment><USER30> yeah there's like a whole field of research and a profession devoted to the topic: computer science education

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Codecademy have done a great job at reducing something that can be very difficult down to laymans terms but its difficult deciding just how far down the rabbit go they need to go.

While the problems with the REPL and trying to delete text are obviously a problem (and a hard one to solve), I'm not sure the issue with leaving out the quotes is. Obviously if the text was replaced with "I don't know anything called liz" instead of "liz is not defined" would be a minor improvement -- but at the same time anyone should be able to sit back, look at what they were asked to code ("Ryan".length) and notice the difference to what they typed (liz.length). The "Oops, try again" might be enough of a message there.

<comment><USER32> For some of these early lessons at least, could they not have 'curated' error tests?

ie. for this one, since missing the quote is an obvious error, why not match the string entered with a regex (or your parsing tool of choice) and look for the presence of exactly 2 quotes, with at least one character in between. If it's not there, print "That didn't work. Did you miss out a quote?"

In fact, if they log all the things people type in, they could analyse it for all the most common errors and then start attacking each of those.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> As Codecademy is targeting a large demographic with varying ability of coding (i.e. from basic MS Office users because it's part of their day job to people who are more switched on with tech stuff but never bothered to learn coding), they need to work out how to cater them all. I'm personally in the 'I use Office in my day job and have some interest in the latest tech trends but no knowledge of how things work' segment.

Adding more expansive instructions should help as their current one/two-liner approach doesn't really explain anything for the absolute beginners. However, this can put some slightly more knowledgeable learners off by being too pedantic so Codecademy needs to find the right balance. Within their existing UI, they can probably do this via offering more 'Show Hints' per task like certain computer games where Hint 1 is the cryptic-ish hint, Hint 2 gives slightly more context and Hint 3 for really struggling learners. Users can then self-select how much help they need and don't feel like they are being spoonfed. If Codecademy is really targeting the absolute (but willing) beginners, they need to realise these users are unlikely to google for help as they are used to self-contained courses a la CBT courses in their day jobs.

Agree with imjared about the sweet badges - if they want to get the crowd (or maybe just me) going, they should start offering the options for users to buy some embroidered patches or 3D printed versions of the achievements!

</comment><comment><USER34> One thing they might do: offer better feedback on an error by treating the input as a 'spelling correction' problem (like <http://norvig.com/spell- correct.html>). A useful implementation can be pretty naive when inputs are short -- e.g. my old numerical-expressions parser <https://github.com/darius/expr/blob/master/expr/Parser.java>)

</comment><comment><USER35> I apologize in advance if what I'm about to say may sound harsh, mean or elitist, but the truth is programming isn't for everyone.

While the intent of the article is very noble ("improving the usability of Codecademy"), it also raises very important questions about programming tutorials in general. How much "holding by the hand" should a tutor do, really?

The examples the author gives are very relevant to my point. The behaviour of a web browser when pressing "BackSpace" or of an interpreter when leaving an opening quote unmatched ... Those are perfect examples of the kind of things that a future programmer must learn to figure out by themselves. While I don't argue that the pupil has to necessarily find that out from the first time, I strongly believe it is not up to the tutor to point it out.

To a certain extent, the role of "introductory" tutorials aiming at teaching programming, should be a way to filter potential programmers and select the best from the ones who won't make it. Teaching programming is similar to Martial Arts in the sense that the best teachers are the ones who let their students struggle before earning an achievement.

I can safely assume most of us here found out the "backspace in browser" issue (as well as "unmatched quote" one) without having the solution pointed out to us. We played, tinkered and experimented. This is how we got where we are today.

Holding a student by the hand is not doing him a favor. Often, it's simply delaying his giving up. And I think that the worst thing Codecademy could do is presenting their student with a modified interface for the JS (or whatever language) interpreter, just to make things "nicer".

<comment><USER36> It's not hand holding when you're trying to introduce someone to programming. Learning to use a REPL isn't a test to separate good programmers from bad. It's something that has to be learned first.

<comment><USER37> I think babarock phrased it poorly but he's not entirely wrong. I learned to program (like many others of my generation) by futzing around on my C=64's repl. It wasn't a great system by any stretch of the imagination, but actually playing with it (and failing) got me to learn it so well. I think the C=64's repl was _simpler for users_ than Javascript's, which certainly helped. The goal should be to get people to play with it, not to get them to type "Ken".length and press return.

The things we know best are the things we play around with. The things I know the least well are those where I only learned the happy-path through some training procedure. I learned to read and speak and cook breakfast and ride a bike and program and everything else mainly by trying and failing.

(The bicycle is actually an interesting case, because we _try_ to teach the happy-path with training wheels, though this essentially inverts the controls we're trying to learn. It's a confidence-builder, not a skill-builder.)

Last year I took a class to learn a new skill. The teacher was great: he was enthusiastic, and after each teaching point he got us to try it by saying "Now let's go screw it up and learn!" We spent a lot more time screwing it up than being lectured, thankfully.

I don't know much about "Codecademy", but based on this I would say it's not really going to help most people, but not because of these minor usability gripes. The goal shouldn't be to create an 'intuitive tutorial'. You're trying to teach people a new way of thinking. The goal should be to provide an environment where the essence (type something, get result) is completely obvious, and where more information is always available upon request, and where they are encouraged to play around. What I'm seeing is an environment where there's a right and a wrong. It makes programming look like a 1980's MS- DOS adventure game but harder.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> They need to capture the common interpreter errors in the earlier lessons. So that if you try and do liz.length it doesn't come back with a reference error, but with an explanation of why that doesn't work.

Making friendly error messages in the general case is a hard problem, but doing so in a restricted environment where you know the most likely errors that beginners will make (which you can data mine over the long term) is not.

</comment><comment><USER39> I went through the Codeacademy exercises even though I can program reasonably well (i.e. I can do everything I need to, but I would never call myself a software engineer). I did this partially because I do not know js and partially because I wanted to see how the systems work. The "Oops, try again." message can be very frustrating because, as the author points out, often the output they want is opaque. They have a great idea, but it seems that they sometimes prefer brevity in their instructions over specificity.

</comment><comment><USER40> She might have learned more if she didn't have somebody telling here the answers each time. Instead of a teachable moment, her friend tried to fix the experience to match HIS expectations.

I remember fooling with tiny BASIC etc as a young man. It was weird and wonderful. Nothing worked right; everything was a maze and a puzzle. I wouldn't have missed that for the world.

</comment><comment><USER41> Great article with a small typo... "Codecamedy did a very good job, but even them left plenty of room for improvement."

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Fixed. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> Well, I'm a programmer already and I'm doing Codecademy tutorials on Javascript. So far, I'm having a good time with it.

</comment><comment><USER43> I dunno. She didn't really follow the instructions. Maybe the error messages should be more helpful. But part of being a programmer is being very precise and having to deal with initially obscure and unexpected errors like that. Its frustrating yes, but if a person's reaction to that tutorial is to give up rather than be intrigued and push harder, I can't imagine them ever having the patience or drive to debug way more complicated systems.

</comment><comment><USER44> Semi tangentially, the 'backspace = go back' shortcut has accidentally deleted countless posts and emails of mine (and I'm sure many other people's). I really think that shortcut needs to go away.

<comment><USER45> Not sure about the other browsers, but this is mostly a solved issue in Firefox: it has grown clever enough to remember the contents of a text box even after going back, closing the tab (reopen it with ctrl+maj+t), or even quitting Firefox.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> tl;dr -

I think I fixed this problem in my app (iheartpy.com) using AIML. Caution: Still a work in progress.

The whoe thing -

I am a self-taught programmer. And I had been an extensive user of codeacademy myself. I realized this rather serious design flaw early on and tried to do something about it.

Initially, I tried to right my own engine based on JSON but midway I discovered AIML. It suited the task perfectly. So I downloaded pyAIML library [1]. It is surprisingly simple to get started with. I hacked around a bit and got a workable python app.

Finally using pyAIML + regexp, I ended up with a crude engine that takes something like this (in Python):

          def foo(param1, param2)

and spits out:

          FUNCTION foo PARAMS param1 param2

which can be easily manipulated and replied to by the pyAIML parser. It worked flawlessly. And moreover, designing lessons is as simple as creating an XML file.

Then I threw together a minimal UI and got it up and running on App Engine here:

          iheartpy.com

I used CodeMirror [2] for the editor. The focus of the UI was to be extremely minimal ( = blazing fast) and delightfully non-distracting ( = no post-to- facebook rubbish). This being a side-project, I thought I could easily get away with that. :)

Honestly, this is my first project and looks more like the work of a script- junkie at this point of time. The lessons are not done yet. I wasted a lot of time in trying to optimize my app for App Engine. And now I'm an 18 year-old who has a LOT of exams on his head and this unfinished project. It is kinda disheartening.

Anyway here's the github repo [3]. It is not very neat. Psst.. I added some LOLPython magic as well [4]!

Finally, I made something that is essentially an MVP. I'm new to both design and coding. Plus, I don't think I'm proficient enough in Python to teach people.

In short, I need help. Would be happy enough with some feedback, though. ;)

[1] <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/PyAIML>

[2] <http://github.com/marijnh/CodeMirror2>

[3] <https://github.com/creatorrr/IHeartPy>

[4] [http://www.dalkescientific.com/writings/diary/archive/2007/0...](http://www.dalkescientific.com/writings/diary/archive/2007/06/01/lolpython.html)

<comment><USER46> Looks interesting, good design, didn't try it because it requires a login that gives a scary "THIS APPLICATION WANTS TO READ YOUR EMAIL ON GMAIL OH NOOOEESSSSS" login.

<comment><USER8> Huh? I actually use the App Engine Users API and zed I'm truly sorry for the crappy message that put you off.

What it meant was that the application would have access to see your email address i.e. google will disclose the address email@example.com

Unfortunately that's the default minimum permission set granted. I use it to send people a welcome message. Further, I promise not to be evil here: iheartpy.com/privacy.txt

Thanks for the encouragement!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> I hate, hate, hate that the "delete" button (I guess it's "backspace" on other PCs) goes back a page in the browser.

<comment><USER48> It doesn't go back, it actually deletes the page from the internet. Since the page has been trashed, the only logical result is to take you back one history state.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

<comment><USER47> Whatever it does, it causes lots of totally unexpected data loss.

<comment><USER47> Why the downvotes?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> His/her friend is dumb and she uses a bad browser.

(I hope you note it's sarcastic)</comment>


Ask HN: What are your goals for 2019? - <AUTHOR> Happy New Year from Sydney, Australia!<p>It's the time of year again, what are your goals for 2019? Mine are to start a new startup! <comment><USER2> I've set some modest goals for this year.

* Fix my diet. I'm fit, but my diet is awful, and I feel awful for it. Rather than just cutting out "bad" things I'm going to do some actual research into what I should be eating, what's best for after exercise, how much and how late I should be eating, etc.

* Get married. As of Christmas I am now engaged, so most of this year will be wedding planning. We have an ambitious goal to book something this year.

* Become proficient in another language. I\ve spent a decade working with C#, and I've learned enough Ruby to be dangerous. I'd either like to use Python in anger on a non-trivial project, or pick up something a bit different like Kotlin or Rust.

* Compete in BJJ. I want to do at least one competition at blue belt before being promoted, and if I can get a medal to add to my silver medal at white belt I'll be very happy.

* Apply to a big tech company. I've never managed to get an interview, so I'd love to at least get an interview with one of the top six.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's my last year to try and automate my farm. I will likely give up farming if I can't find some way to cut labour costs and be profitable.

<comment><USER4> Would love to hear what kind of things you already automated on your farm :)

<comment><USER3> Nothing I can discuss right now, unfortunately.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Previous related submissions:

* Ask HN: What is your goal for 2019? [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18746858](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18746858) (8 comments)

* Ask HN: What's your plan in 2019? [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18760636](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18760636) (139 comments)

My goals are having enough sleep, making good habits, improving skills, working on a side project, gaining weight, dating a girl etc.

</comment><comment><USER6> I'm starting with a 2018 review, as described here:

[https://medium.com/@schlaf/how-to-conduct-an-annual-life- rev...](https://medium.com/@schlaf/how-to-conduct-an-annual-life-review-that- will-catapult-you-into-the-new-year-d5aaffebac1f)

Then, I'm going to set some realistic goals based on what I find.

</comment><comment><USER7> Lose weight, track reading, vacation in Europe, keep a journal, drink more water, make more money, develop technical skills.

So a few. Been working on breaking them down into manageable chunks.

</comment><comment><USER8> Enjoy a beer on my beach down the street every morning and keep on traveling.

Heading to Malta in 10 days, country number 45.

<comment><USER9> Visit Gozo!! I remember it was beautiful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Become CEO of Google.

<comment><USER11> Don't forget to hire me without interview. I will pray for you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Earn more from my products (e-books / apps), wouldn't say goal but hopefully a stretch goal that the products profit can cover my living expense (~$700 a month, I live in a relatively third world country).

My current monthly average earning from products are around $150 ish

</comment><comment><USER13> Same thing we do every year, Pinky. Try to launch a successful SaaS!

</comment><comment><USER14> Get accepted into YC S19! My co-founder and I weren't accepted to the W19 batch but we learned a lot from SUS and are continuing to build product and talk to users.

</comment><comment><USER11> Make more money. Do more for my parents and siblings. Move on with my life and end shitty relationship once and for all.

</comment><comment><USER15> To be more disciplined. This year for sure!

</comment><comment><USER16> Come up with a better system to exercise and eat better.

</comment><comment><USER17> Implement the _Getting Things Done_ methodology.

</comment><comment><USER18> Goal for 2019 is not to set goals.

OK I failed.

</comment><comment><USER19> Destroy another startup.</comment>