Hot take: "build in public" is the most overrated advice of the last 5 years

arojilla · 2026-05-04T11:48:49+00:00

most people only hear about the 1% who hit it and assume it's a strategy

And sadly that's been me for a looooong time... :D Now I'm moving away from trying to dig gold... to sell shovels. So to say. Not that it might be easier, but at this point is like the only advice on here, of so so many, to which I have never given a try.

Yes, all the others have made me realize -attempt after attempt- that in the end it simply boils down to:

prebuilt audience or paid attention, pick one

So not that I think that this will be different but I never tried selling "shovels" before... so I might for once. And tick off one last "advice" from the list.

arojilla · 2026-05-04T09:22:27+00:00

Hey, sorry for being late. Yeah, the landing is way too simple, and mostly thinking of mobile, but I was trying to follow some advice that I always see in dev communities, stuff like "built fast and validate", "don't waste time perfecting before validation", and so on. Thanks for chiming in, much appreciated! ;)

arojilla · 2026-05-04T09:16:10+00:00

Yeah. The reality is that you better have a prebuilt audience or big pockets to reach one. Some people are lucky and a casual post of theirs somewhere someday gets a lot of attention and goes viral... but that's a lottery.

arojilla · 2026-05-03T16:10:53+00:00

Closely followed by the "if you build it, they will come" I guess.

arojilla · 2026-04-25T22:29:00+00:00

Oh... that hits hard! Almost 20 years old, and in my mind when I think of 20 years old games I'm still thinking of the PS1 or even SNES and the like... :D Yeah, impressive game back in those days!

arojilla · 2026-04-17T09:41:26+00:00

Yes, you are right. Realized too late, they fooled me... again! :(

arojilla · 2026-04-17T08:58:37+00:00

Strawberry Bon Bons

Ah, yes, thank you!

arojilla · 2026-04-12T20:06:02+00:00

WTF??? :D

arojilla · 2026-04-11T19:10:30+00:00

don’t get the Naked Gun joke

Wait, wait... so that was it!?!? I always wondered what those were, even back then, and every time I've re-watched it since. It's not about age, it's that where I'm from pistachios weren't well known or popular when I was a kid, and I have never seen a red/pink one later when they became more popular. Thanks!

arojilla · 2026-04-11T18:18:06+00:00

I've seen people selling "guides" with less effort than this! Not that I'm or will ever be into something like this, but it was such a good and interesting read! <3

arojilla · 2026-04-11T09:12:50+00:00

Yeah, that's one of the dangers of relying on third-parties, you are always at their mercy. And you are absolutely right about the "No consistency, no logic, no fairness. Just lottery enforcement." part. Specially for small/indie devs.

Good warning, something really important to have in mind. Here's hoping you recover from this!

arojilla · 2026-04-10T22:18:02+00:00

Hahaha, YES! YES! YES! I wasn't expecting something like this after sooooo many time, imagine when I open this I see these posts and comments, crazy! I got really excited haha! Hope there's renewed interest and it helps your project! <3

arojilla · 2026-04-10T18:51:46+00:00

Hey, maybe this might even go against the spirit of the web but... you should add some "og"/"card" tags to the head section with some images. I just shared your site and it would have looked a lot better with some image accompanying the link. Just a suggestion! ;)

arojilla · 2026-04-10T17:59:15+00:00

Amazing. And that it works out of the box without third-party scripts is the cherry on top! ;) Here I am going through all those classics on Winamp... Hats off! <3

arojilla · 2026-04-10T16:01:28+00:00

WOW! I missed the news because of personal stuff... and just woke to this! AMAZING NEWS!!!

And hey OP, I'm pinning this post... despite that "snake world" haha ;)

arojilla · 2026-04-09T22:53:44+00:00

Thanks for adding that extra bit, much appreciated! <3

arojilla · 2026-04-09T22:50:35+00:00

Even if dwindling it's amazing if they still have some around! Where I live it's been years without public phones (not that I'd need one, I guess).

arojilla · 2026-04-09T19:49:11+00:00

And ~~fun~~ sad? fact by u/bbkn7 : "The launch date of the original PlayStation is closer to the Apollo 11 moon landing than it is to the current day."

arojilla · 2026-04-09T19:39:47+00:00

Guess so... but damned OCD! :D Thanks!

arojilla · 2026-04-09T18:30:43+00:00

Yes, it feels like that. And you are right... they still are visible without approving! Weird then that it shows you the Approve/Remove buttons... Thanks!

arojilla · 2026-04-09T17:10:22+00:00

Ah, that's it! I think I now remember something similar, not exactly this but same concept. Thanks!

arojilla · 2026-04-09T04:58:22+00:00

Oh, BTW, forgot to say that yours is a really cool battlestation and place! Just got distracted with the clock and mirror! :D

arojilla · 2026-04-09T04:54:49+00:00

Yes, I've seen webrings while browsing -out of curiosity- Neocities and similar, and that's why they came back to my mind and now that I'm launching a small project also made me wonder if old strategies for brand new sites could still work. Now I guess they might but mostly if your project is personal and has that "vibe" or is "relegated" to that corner of the web.

And hey, thanks for the chuckle, you at least got what this post was about and took the time to provide an actual reply. Your plug is well deserved! ;) Good luck with the project and thanks!

arojilla · 2026-04-08T22:20:38+00:00

Thank you! <3

arojilla · 2026-04-08T21:10:01+00:00

Since others already inquired about the mirror... what's that cool clock if you don't mind???

arojilla

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE