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Comment by citizenkeys | Hacker News Reader

My final comment about the value proposition before I go to Thursday NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences ( http://www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife/ ):

The value proposition of WikiTorrents.org is that you can easily find a continually evolving list of videos about whatever topic you're researching, no matter how specific or obscure the topic and no matter what sites actually have the videos.

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To put it simply, your value proposition doesn't exist. Maybe after years of seeding the site with content, but right now I cannot "find a continually evolving list about whatever topic." In order to gain traction among users, you must provide me value _now_.

I know you might feel like you're getting beat up in this thread, but every comment I've read has been constructive criticism. Take it in stride and don't discount anything offhand. I can almost see your vision for WikiTorrents; it has merit. You're certainly passionate so I believe you can do it.

The paradox, as is frequently explained, is that many of the most successful sites are those that people spend almost no time on.

Lets say you go to google, find a search result, and click to leave google. If you do all that within a coule seconds, then google was successful even though you spent almost no time on google. This is similar to that.

Remember, too, to paraphrase paul graham for at least the fourth time in this thread, that the yahoo directory started out as jerry yang's personal collection of bookmarks.

jerry yang's multibillion dollar company bought out paul graham's viaweb and made paul graham into a millionaire.

so consider all that, let it all sink in, and then decide whether you want to tell me that my idea is bad.

One thing to take into account is that Jerry Yang and David Filo did their Yahoo directory in 1994 when there was a great need for search engines and people just didn't know what was out there. Their directory gave people a way of seeing what was there.

They also have great timing. They did it in Jan. 1994, only a few months after the first few search engines. So lots of people not knowing about their other options and a great need for a 'directory' of the relatively unsearchable web made their company very popular.

I've avoided posting because there's really nothing more to say, but c'mon! Are you really comparing yourself to Jerry Yang? That was in the 90's and he was one of the first. That bus has come and gone. Just like if I put up a list of my favorite links. No way in hell is that going to turn into allenslist.com and make me a million bucks for doing nothing.

There is way more competition now. Listen to what people are telling you.

citizenkeys, how can I can contact you? I feel like you're missing some key points--I want to help you.

You remind me of myself a couple years back. If you're willing to give it a shot, I could probably save you a lot of time and hassle...abrandt@bradley.edu

"before I go to Thursday NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences"

Nice. And you wonder why you are not getting funding?

If you can do this, I'd use the website. Maybe it's a pivot point.

Here's what I'd like to see:

1. A list of every video related to Gary V, Seth Godin, Alexis, etc, on the web. Start with big names and then tag these videos.

2. Now that they are tagged you can start to search for SaaS and I can watch everything ever said about SaaS on the internet.

I like this idea, but the website is less than ideal. You need to focus on a niche and get acceptance there.

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