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Comment by behnamoh | Hacker News Reader

Does it bother you if people don't discover your work and don't use it? I've always wanted to do something of value that lasts, and many times I was discouraged by lack of interest from other people.

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Not op - answering personally.

The moment you have an audience for something it significantly changes the experience. Doesn't matter if it's music, development, cooking... if other humans are involved on the receiving end it makes it different.

For a lot of us, we're very protective of our creative endeavors. And, lots of the time the journey we're taking is one of vulnerability (learning, creatively extending ourselves, taking risks).

Then there's the criticism and critique. People can objectively be pretty awful. It doesn't matter if it's making my own software tooling, or a song, or fleshing out a new idea... I just don't want to hear anyone's opinion - I want to focus on being productive in what I'm doing. I've often found that isolating is way more productive than trying to ship to an audience. If I need other people I don't pull them in as an audience, I pull them in as an advisor and/or teacher: contracting out a code review, or going to guitar lessons.

If/when this stuff I created dies with me that's OK. I'm a fart in the wind anyway, and I don't care about silly things like "legacy" - I just need to create stuff to optimize and improve the world around me. And, sometimes I create stuff just because it feels good. It's a selfish endeavor sure, but I'd have it no other way.

> If/when this stuff I created dies with me that's OK. I'm a fart in the wind anyway, and I don't care about silly things like "legacy" - I just need to create stuff to optimize and improve the world around me. And, sometimes I create stuff just because it feels good. It's a selfish endeavor sure, but I'd have it no other way.

I was going to reply but you summed it up nicely. I have been polishing away on a dozen or so personal software projects, but I never release them publicly, don't use GitHub, don't even blog about them. I'm at a point in my life where I don't need/crave feedback or validation or attention or whatever drives people to constantly need moar audience for their blog and moar downloads for their software. I write software because I enjoy the act and it solves problems that I encounter.

Not releasing means I don't have pressure to keep them compiling with the latest SDK, I don't have pressure to port them to Windows, I don't have to respond to requests from users or other developers, and I can feel free to use the codebase(s) to learn and explore the boundaries of my knowledge and skills, without public scrutiny and bikeshedding.

Same from a photography perspective. I take pictures because I enjoy the craft and results, not because I need other people to like them. Back in the day I had half a million views on Flickr; now the next only people who see my shots are people who commission me to take them

Other people usually means averaging out your vision with theirs which can lead to compromises that in the end make it not worth it. I'd rather make something that I think is perfect that no one else uses than something that started out being super satisfying and cool but ended but being mediocre and useful. The latter is called work and my hobby is not to "work, but more". It is to have fun.

So like I am sad however you never know how far you are to something taking off so you have to persist odds are that people won't hear about that cool thing your building for a long time like multiple years. Before than it's really hard to gage how popular your tool or thing will be.

There is also something to getting you software to a level where you show it to others (the sooner the better). If you don't showcase your stuff odds are people won't find it.

I had this feeling for years touring as a musician in an (underrated, in my opinion) indie band. Ultimately I don't think it matters if you love the act of creation and value your own work. A sprinkle of public acclaim is plenty for most egos. It really doesn't need to be the reason you get up and do it.

Yes. And then I think that I need to take the project further, make it bigger and more attention -getting, and document it more, and push it in social media more.

But I'm not going to do that. So there is some associated pain. But it's diminishing with time.

And the attention my project got is definitely greater than zero. And the internet is forever. So there is a kind of peace.

social media is such a trap. It makes you feel like you're getting praise or criticism, but you're not getting either because it's just a way for your critics and followers to showcase their own egos. It eviscerates the actual work.

But we must talk about our projects. What's the best option?

If I'm not directly helping someone, stuff I do in my spare time I do primarily for my self. Not interested if anyone use it or not (same with music). If I want something that lasts I plant a tree.

They do discover it though! Just a relatively small number of people. That's okay with me.

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