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Ask HN: Idea Sunday
8 points by f0under 4409 days ago
Didn't see one created and found the thread quite valuable, so moving the series along!

From the previous one: "A small HN experiment. Every Sunday, a thread will be started to share product ideas. Why? Because many people have ideas they will simply not have the time to implement, and many need product ideas to work on." -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7616910

1 comments

Ahh...sorry about that..it was quite an interesting read and hope it makes a comeback.
Ironically, killed because it was popular, and popular threads are apparently a sign that the community is jumping the shark.
Popular is not the same as good. (a lesson that the internet learns repeatedly)
It's not the same as bad, either. It means users are engaged with the site and want to share their ideas, projects and experiences on a regular basis. It should be encouraged. Not killed because it might make the site superficially too much like Reddit.
When `dang made his post, my thought was that the activity was harmless and made trying to game Show HN less likely. Thinking about if two weeks later I realize how lame that is as an argument for keeping it.

For better or worse HN is run to meet YC's objectives. YC does not appear to value engagement for the sake of engagement very highly. People can disagree with that, But it remains a fact.

I would argue that it wasn't so much 'engagement for the sake of engagement', as the content was at least relevant, and more engaging (at least to me) than a repost of whatever Techcrunch published that day. Or another political argument which inevitably devolves into whether capitalism is the problem or anarchy is the solution. Or bikeshedding over languages, or paranoid conspiracies about the American Racist Surveillance Hegemony. Or sexism in tech. Or why if you're not y, then you're x.

Most of the reasons dang put forth as to why he killed those particular threads could be applied to almost every thread on this site - depending entirely on the opinion of whomever happens to be reading them at the time.

Granted, you're right - it's YC's sandbox and they get to set the rules. But reading dang's post I can't help but wonder whether he's confusing diversion for intellectual quality.

I'm glad. It was getting silly. Idea Sunday, then someone tried Something Thursday and so on.