[mattbgates]

Very cool, nice to meet you, and great work. Glad to confirm my suspicions! Not that there was anything wrong with posting a new or old product. It is just a tool I've come across before. Hacker News can definitely get you exposed. While I wouldn't consider it viral, I was happy to get a few thousand visitors to my project from Hacker News. I am offering it for free as well, and while my server can handle everything thrown at it, I actually added an API and charge for that, so that was my way of monetizing, while the free version allows for a single file upload at a time. I don't think I've got anyone paying ofr it yet, but I actually created the converter for my day job which saves me the process of either searching for or using different tools. Also, thanks for sharing the technology behind it. I think I'm just using a few Javascript libraries to do the job.

That is quite a few users you've got. And I've learned for monetization: it's nice that people get to jump on your back and you carry them for the ride, but after a while, its gets old and you lose motivation to keep working. Sounds like socialism. In theory it works great, but if you're the only one paying for it... while everyone but you gets to benefit. Eventually, you get to a point where you ask, "What's the point?" Some might love a sacrifice for the greater good... but hey, you got to eat and pay your rent and enjoy life a few weeks out of the year too! I think it's okay to tell people that you need to get paid for your work. Good luck!