[e1ven]

I have a website, Robohash.org, that's embedded in websites around the world. It gets millions (!) of loads every week.

Should I be falling over myself, trying to find a way to monetize it, or should I enjoy that people are using it, and smile when I see one?

Most of us already have good jobs, our bills are (mostly) paid, and we're not in danger of going hungry.

Startups are great, and I encourage people to start one when there's something with a real revenue model, but don't try to force your fun little quirky project into being something it's not.

Try to force a quirky fun project into being a revenue producing startup, is like charging you friends to watch your Garage band play. I understand the motivation, but it's kinda sad.

[JonnieCache]

Time to come clean before this goes too far: I actually agree with you completely. This was a little experiment with devils advocacy. I am somewhat heartened by the result.

EDIT: btw I like robohash. Good work.

[Gmo]

wow, didn't know robohash, it's cool :)

[lifeisstillgood]

just to clarify - robohash is a image made up from discrete robot parts (ears, nose, etc) and assembled according to say every 8 bytes in a SHA1 hash?

So its essentially SSH-fingerprint-art, but waaaaay cooler.

Do not monetize it - the world will come back around and reward you one day.

[e1ven]

That is exactly how it works. It's fun!

And I think that's exactly the right attitude ;) It's not something I need to make money on, it's just something cool to have added to the world. (It's OSS, too!)