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Stevenup7002

432 karma · joined August 4, 2010

I'm a geek with a passion for hacking and classical music. I created a little site called Phrot.
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Stevenup7002··on Groupon Kidz Club
"TIPS TO GET INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY:

START a lemonade stand but immediately go "Out of Business" to draw attention to wealth-destroying minimum wage laws!"

Stevenup7002··on Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.
If you can get the artists on your side, you can kill hollywood.
Stevenup7002··on Poll: Where do you stand with regards to SOPA/PIPA?
I think this poll might be more useful if you split the "against SOPA/PIPA" option into something like "against SOPA/PIPA, but for alternative piracy legislation" and "against SOPA/PIPA and against any new piracy legislation". I'm in the latter camp.
Stevenup7002··on Wikipedia blackout page
I somehow feel bad about being able to access it now :).
Stevenup7002··on Poll: Did you transfer your domains from GoDaddy today?
I transferred everything to NameCheap today, but I should say, I've been wanting to transfer away from them for a while now for a variety of reasons, and this is what finally convinced me to do it.
Stevenup7002··on U.K. men get 4-year sentences for Facebook riot posts
What about the actual posts?
Stevenup7002··on Anonymous gets banned from Google+, creates his own social network
A social network lead by hacktivists? I'm sure the general public will come flocking...
Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Realtime Social Video Watching
Great idea. I've been looking for something like this for a while. I wish there was a way to create private rooms though, I might want to watch something with just a friend.
Stevenup7002··on Ask HN: How do you guys deal with burnout?
I listen to my favorite music (Mozart for me) and play some sandboxy games like Minecraft and GTA. I just try to forget about my startup for the evening and then get a full night's sleep. That always makes me feel refreshed.
Stevenup7002··on Poll: How often do you scan QR Codes?
The way they're used now, I think QR codes are really just a gimmick. They're probably useful in some rare situations, but for me, I could easily live without them.
Stevenup7002··on Google to Launch Major New Social Network Called Circles, Possibly Today
Not happening - http://twitter.com/googlesxsw/status/46986827206361088
Stevenup7002··on Google to Launch Major New Social Network Called Circles, Possibly Today
Well I could be horribly wrong, of course. I prolifically said back in 2007 that Android would never take off ;). I just think the odds are against Google at the moment unfortunately.
Stevenup7002··on Google to Launch Major New Social Network Called Circles, Possibly Today
Interesting, but we already have Facebook groups, Diaspora, Frid.ge, I even developed my own site to solve this problem last year, Buddify. What exactly is new here other than social group separation? Speaking from experience in this field, I'm certain this won't take off, it's very difficult to gain traction with a new social network in an age where facebook is still growing at a steady pace. Unless I'm missing something here?
Stevenup7002··on If you're applying this cycle: How to Apply to Y Combinator
If someone were accepted into YC, and circumstances arose which meant that the founders couldn't remain in the bay area for the entire three months, how would that be handled?
Stevenup7002··on But what if they steal my idea?
Execution is what matters. You can turn the greatest idea into the stupidest product in the world if you're not careful.
Stevenup7002··on Join Diaspora with these 25 simple steps (github)
So, Facebook groups?
Stevenup7002··on [dead]
You say you were featured on TechCrunch, yet I can find no link to your article. Do you have any proof that he "stole" your idea?
Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
Thanks for your feedback, sure, if you want ads on your content then by all means use something like wordpress for that, we may offer some revenue sharing model in the future though. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by a readability button, could you elaborate?

A tagging system is a pretty good idea, we will definitely consider implementing something like that.

Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
That's an... interesting way to put it, but yeah, I guess we can use that as an excuse if anyone brings it up ;).
Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
Sorry to hear that, we didn't think adding music would cause any problems, thanks for the suggestion.
Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
Thanks for your feedback.
Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
Hmm that's odd, gmail hasn't given us problems before, as anyone else had this issue?

We don't have plans to add friending/following options at the moment, but it's certainly a possibility in the future. The site is written in PHP with a MySQL backend.

Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
Thanks, I appreciate that. Surprised I didn't find the double meaning before I launched though. That's the last time I impulsively buy a 5 letter domain just because it's available and "sounds good".
Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
If it does take off, I'd be happy to begin subdividing the site into categories in order to help it scale better. By subdividing, there would always be a manageable stream of content within those categories for discovery.

Regarding your point about this not completely eliminating the promotional aspect of gaining a followship, that's not what Phrot is ultimately about. I agree if you really want a followship, you do have to work hard to build it up, and if you're publishing content on a daily basis, that's not what Phrot is for, you can use a wordpress blog or something similar for that. I should also make it clear that we're all about promoting and rewarding good content that wouldn't otherwise be discovered, not giving a chance in the spotlight to everything that gets submitted regardless of how good or bad it is.

Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
This is a blogging platform, not a "hacker-news-like" site.
Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
Oh dear, thanks for pointing that out. I've never heard that term used in conversation though, is it common?
Stevenup7002··on Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging.
When you set up a blog on a traditional platform like Wordpress with the intent of looking for feedback on an idea, to share a story or just to start a conversation, or even just to share an idea with a large amount of people, there's not really any immediate way to do it, unless you market your blog and actively advertise it to get readers, and if you want to keep the interest of those readers, you generally have to commit yourself to your blog.

A lot of people just want to write something without having to spend time marketing it. It doesn't make sense, why would you want to do that, when all you want to do is write one or two blog posts in a year? Phrot is a very community centric site to blog with. It's designed for the person that wants to write about something, and wants it to be read, but doesn't want to have to go through all the hassle of promoting it.

This isn't designed to replace other blogging platforms like wordpress, just to provide a more suitable alternative for people who want to do things a bit differently. I hope this answers your question :).

Stevenup7002··on The Trouble with Bubbles (talent, angel & incubators… oh my)
"With Twitter, Zynga, Facebook and Google in the ultimate game of one-upmanship, small startups are simply not going to be able to compete for talent in the Valley." I disagree, there will always be a sizable handful of engineers that would rather work in a startup environment than in a big company like Google or Facebook.
Stevenup7002··on Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins
>> Dvorak could legitimately be described as a professional troll. Dvorak is notorious for having an overly negative outlook on things. "Why would I want to use a mouse?" "I don't like the idea of having the power button on the front instead of the back" "The iPad will never sell 5,000,000 units in less than a year.. that's insane"
Stevenup7002··on AirBnB raises funding, launches iPhone app
Congratulations guys!
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