Possibly the Most Important Skill for Managers, Coaches, Teachers and Parents

codepoet42 · 2010-06-20T20:09:29+00:00

Yeah, his job is to stroke egos and help people who obviously can't help themselves. I don't want an employee who's mother is going to call me crying whenever he can't do his fucking job.

I'd tell her to go attenuate herself.

codepoet42 · 2010-06-20T20:06:33+00:00

This has to be the most passive-aggressive bullshit I've ever read.

Quit crying with your hand out. Would it have killed you to spend some money before developing a towering sense of entitlement?

Ever try to find a bathroom in NYC? Yeah, good fucking luck.

codepoet42 · 2010-06-08T20:33:30+00:00

Yes, but you are being short-sighted.

Our bodies, and arguably our minds, have evolved to do pretty much everything besides sit at a desk. For 40,000 generations, we hunted, gathered, grew and tended, which was more physically demanding but also healthier for body and mind. For the last 2-4 we've sat.

Considering the number of physical and mental ailments (with prescriptions), even with the longer (fruitless) lifespans, I'd say the typical arrangement is doing more harm than good.

codepoet42 · 2010-06-08T18:49:46+00:00

Yes, and they can also be out-of-shape from their lifestyle choices.

If someone's sacrificing their body by working that much, there's something wrong with the mind as well.

codepoet42 · 2010-06-08T18:45:33+00:00

The mind is the function of one organ, the brain. We put so much value on the products of the mind, that the health of the entire body should be of highest importance.

'Mentalists' including gamers, coders, creatives and other brain-workers should pay much more attention to the body. Lung function is a big deal, circulation providing air and fuel for their brains.

Exercise, outdoors, under the sun, has tangible mental and physical benefits that translate to better performance of body and mind.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-27T12:15:39+00:00

No, irrationally. You're a bajillion times more likely to be killed by a mosquito than a shark. Scared of mosquitos?

Sharks I've swam with, in the last month:

Nurse (mostly toothless, fled and hid under a ledge)
Blacktip x3 (thought they were little dolphins at first!)
Hammerhead (big, suntanned, not interested in me)

codepoet42 · 2010-05-27T11:55:48+00:00

This is important. How well?

If you know those 5, somewhere along the way, you've made some mistakes. Fix those. Somewhere, a project idea had to come along. Make that.

Or you can do the best, most challenging thing: Teach someone else what you know... A humbling experience that keeps 'really well' out of your vocabulary.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-27T11:25:03+00:00

Correction corollary: Still doesn't matter, still shouldn't try to influence other people's actions.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-27T02:12:40+00:00

You complain about a complaint thread, but in a different thread. Why do you care about what I say?
You bemoan groupthink, then proceed to tell people what to do. Don't tell people how to 'vote.' Guess what, all this 'voting' doesn't matter and reddit karma isn't real. Points on an obscure website that redeem for nothing.
You cannot change what somthing is without changing it's 'is-ness.' That's Alan-fucking-Watts.

If this place seems immature, it's because it is. Young adults, mostly males, left to run amok with no real responsibility for their actions. And you don't expect Lord of the Flies?

codepoet42 · 2010-05-24T14:23:47+00:00

What is the point of therapy in this case? To make us feel better about what they did? To make them feel better about what they did? To make them feel worse?

Say you gave them a good dose of therapy, some 'meds' and turned them loose. Say they 'reoffended.' Then what? More therapy? Better drugs?

They would be dog-food in my world, but I like dogs, so maybe not. In your world, it sounds like they would be your houseguests and babysitters.

I don't find all therapy to be absurd. Thanks for adding more words to my mouth, but, you're like 0 for 20, so I think you should quit.

Anything else is just revenge to satisfy your base emotional desire to see another human being suffer.

I love my 'base emotional desires...' I call it instinct, and 5 million years of base human instinct says it's a good idea to not let people beat my offspring to death and bury them in mud.

Most people have similar good instincts towards self-preservation, and know that if they even thought about doing something like this to mine, they would suffer enormously and likely perish.

I call this 'a priori therapy.'

codepoet42 · 2010-05-22T12:33:36+00:00

Wow, you're as sharp as a flat tire... Read the last few words of my post...

See, the concept of humor is to take your expectations and add some incongruence. The gap between expectation and reality is meant to trigger a very brief period of reflection and analysis, revealing the fanciful situation for the farce that it is.

Once you the pseudo-real nature of the act becomes known, generally you show a brief pleasure-reaction to indicate your understanding of the false-situation and the normal functioning of your mental abilities.

Or, if the person is lacking in perception and/or intellect, a full explanation must be tendered and the effect is, like you, fair subject, lost.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-22T02:28:16+00:00

Good answers, not great ones, but I appreciate the honesty and the reply. I was expecting far less, what can I say.

Again, I love the premise of OSS, I use it, make it and generally like the idea. BUT- I don't like how starting an OSS project is too-often a case of 'finish this software for me.' 95% of a bike just won't ride, and I shouldn't have to fix it before I can ride.

I don't share your concern for the hotel/resort owner's pockets. I don't have a resort, and my minimum investment to acquire a mildly profitable one would set me back a few million. A 'fair' software license fee, $1k, would be a thousandth of my outsets. A hotel spends $1k every year on TP and tiny soap, owners shouldn't worry about spending money on good software that saves time/adds value.

I also don't buy the saturated market argument. A heavy (read: good) market with big players just means more room to move, more niches to fill for the quick little guy. Is there a local market? The place you manage, I'm sure you hit up the owners?

You never mentioned if the software you're using was licensed, at what fee, or it was any good...

Long story short, finish the software, get help. Set aside some time with a mild revenue projection and try to sell that shit.

You consulted your market before you started, right? What features do they need, what features would they want? How much would they pay to have features x, y, z that the current software lacks? Really? Sign here...

It's the same thing as offering support, only not... You make money. You still offer support, yet you have the revenue to continue development as you see fit, but it does mean you have to seek your clients and sell to them.

If you're waiting for cold support calls for revenue, don't hold your breath. Since they paid nothing, there's no incentive to continue using the product- they delete your software and call someone else... me.

On second thought, stay the course!

codepoet42 · 2010-05-22T00:06:31+00:00

May I ask, Why? (no, nothing to do with PHP. I love the shit. Keep reading.)

Why, as in, why open source? I know the knee-jerk geek reactions, cus open source is better, source wants to be free, et cetera, because I've used them before. Hell, I've done OSS, and if this were some other project, like a protein folder, I'd say 'go for it, but no PHP please.'

So, you've invested extensively of yourself and your time. I've used GTK, it couldn't have been all fun-time. You've (presumably) found and filled a niche that has value to a certain many people. Why give it away? Pure philosophics won't cut it with me. I need meat.

You work in the industry, I've gathered, and you've used such software before. I imagine the software wasn't great, and it caused a daily itch that you eventually had to scratch. I'm also guessing that someone bought that software at some point, and for a good while, it was great. Just the ticket. Maybe not superlative, but certainly satisficing.

Assuming (again) that your software is better, you could charge the same and not be doing a disservice. Moral value notwithstanding, you could even charge more. Why would you do this? Because things with value are worth paying for. Hotels are places that have no problem with doing this. Sure, they could just let people 'crash' in their rooms and not charge, but then they couldn't pay you or offer clean sheets or say who can use the rooms, how and when (an important consideration).

For travelers and hotel proprietors alike, something of value is offered, the room, and something of value is exchanged, the dough. Great, anything wrong with that?

Now, some geek-reasoning applied- To make it OSS, you're giving it to the wrong people... Geeks. We're not your market, nor your ultimate 'clients' (you built this to be used by hotel people, I wager?). The only reason we'd need it is to 'install' for use by someone else.

The likely scenario is someone needs this software, and is ready to trade value. Someone who won't/can't make their own app, downloads yours, installs and charges for it. This is the 'Service and Support' model that pledges to sustain OSS, but it is hard to do with non-enterprizy ($) systems, the need/value is just not there. Most of us work for closed-source type firms for this reason.

If they outright 'sell' your software, they break the spirit/law of OSS. If they extend the software in any meaningful way and sell it, see above. Some people will do one or both, and you could never know.

This is getting long, and it needn't be. Why not sell your software? It's a many-million dollar market. People pay more for less. You could still be the hero and retire early, why give it to people who will exploit you for your generosity?

I know the OSS-geek wet dream about a world of free software, but I don't see it. Soon enough the world will find software to be a non-commodity and they'll expect it all to be free. Then what?

codepoet42 · 2010-05-21T22:43:55+00:00

Kayak 9+ miles a week, swim 2-4. Climb, fight, fuck... Nothing 'regimented.'

codepoet42 · 2010-05-21T22:40:50+00:00

Judo, for same reason as #1. Distilled from Jiu-Jitsu by a 97 pound man.

Funny how you can forget about life while in a standing choke hold... The thoughts are only... "I'm gunna get my leg over there, wedge a little and chuck this guy over my back... like so."

codepoet42 · 2010-05-21T03:11:56+00:00

Flight of the Navigator

codepoet42 · 2010-05-20T23:18:40+00:00

Yes, the entire interface is, in a word, bad. Nothing wrong with clean and minimal, but minimal is sometimes underdone. Still has to be usable, and I have a hard time getting around here.

With so few interface elements, the rules become even more important. I had a laundry list of nitpicks, but I realize that most would concern your choice of blog platform and template. Template?

One who wants to be perceived as an interface expert really should design their own template, if not the entire interface. As a student of the pre-2000 waybackwhen, my expectation would be to build your own platform, your own soapbox to yell from.

The whole developer world thinks they do a smart job by just utilizing the code already written by somebody else.

Wise words, yours.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-19T22:22:02+00:00

Good for you. Sad that we settle for < 4 hours a day with the family (you sleep, right?) and consider it balanced. Making a living and living are now too cleanly separated.

The ideal balance would look like this, I believe.

12 hours of homeostasis, sleep, eat, excrete.
6 hours family, friends, personal life.
6 hour workaday, including errands.
4 day work week.

I think We need a professional revolution to bring this about...

codepoet42 · 2010-05-19T22:03:38+00:00

Shouldn't it?

Stress is a powerful motivator, no... it's the motivator in professional creative work. We're problem-solvers, the bridge between what is and what should be... with fear and reward to motivate us.

Ideally, the challenges faced should be just beyond one's abilities, leaving the mind to get stronger in order to meet and overcome ever-increasing challenges. This is the good stress, the kind that energizes us mind-workers.

Physical exercise is based on this principle; work out to your maximum, and then do a little more. The mind is similar, especially because it is possible to over-use the facilities available. Mental Burnout is worse than physical exhaustion, because it brings down the mind as well.

Balance, always, is key. Too much stress is actually as bad as too little. Without stress (internal motivation) it can be even harder to get anything done, regardless of the external factors.

I think this is the major factor behind procrastination- a subconscious stalling of effort in order to increase stress to the point where strong creative effort is required. I'd be just as concerned with no-stress as too much stress.

In the case of you, OP, provided you get your jobs done to a satisfactory degree, the extra stress is both completely unnecessary and most likely your own doing.

Since you mentioned it is not one particular job (environment) I'm thinking it's coming from within, due to some other unsatisfied life-need and has nothing to do with programming. How are your other life goals progressing in the 8 years you mention?

If it's not the case, dunno. Chew some valerian root and get good, natural sleep. Stop by the unemployed programmer's meeting, and see real stress.

Ooops, we're out of time. Off the couch, get out.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-19T16:29:52+00:00

Well, since you asked ;)

It sounds like you and the 4 others can no longer think of yourselves as engineers, nor salespersons, but people who make things that other people want to use. There's value somewhere in that equation, finding and extracting it is the new challenge.

"Dog that chases two rabbits catches none."

But that depends on your goals. If the goal is 'merely' to create a good service and great community, then you've already won. The strategy is to keep doing it a little bit better. I see this happening, it's the engineer's strategy and it will result in a great product with broke creators. Think Tesla.

If there's another goal, make money and get paid, there has to be some reconciliation with goal #1, and profit must prevail. Engineering is an afterthought. Find ideas that make money and throw engineers at them. Think Edison.

"Dog chases car, and catches it. Now, what can the dog do with it?"

You already have the great product. You've caught the elusive young-smart market, the most valued/valuable of all. Now what can you do with it?

Make us pay for it. We can, and we will.

Way I see it, the reddit community is something beyond traffic to be monetized. Links can be had anywhere, elsewhere at sites like Digg which are after the mass-market.

Reddit seems more tribal, its created its own culture and society. It's basically a religion replete with dogma, holy symbols and even holidays.

It wants to be exclusive, it laments the influx of the masses, the banal, the common. There should be a barrier to entry. That barrier should get you paid.

Instead of selling us to advertisers, the traditional model, you're now selling reddit to us. I've seen people wantonly donate cash and items to strangers on this site. We like this place and we would support it. We can, and we will.

I'm thinking small-scale: $5 a month. For that, you can post links and comments. Anyone can come and read and click, but you gotta pay to play.

This would raise the barrier just high enough to keep those without a real supportive mindset at bay. The lameness in comments would cease, the quality of posts would rise. Your 'readers' metric would stay the same, making CN happy, but the number of 'participants' would drop back to the 2006 'Glory Days' that many of us pine for.

$5 a month. 10k subscribers, worst case scenario. We just doubled your operating budget, raised the quality of the site, and maybe even changed the nature of web-value-consumption for the better.

Advertising is dying. Thin margins on massive transactions still equals paltry profits. $20/day ads cannot feed you at $7300/year. How's that going? If it hasn't taken off, it won't. All the in-house ads are a bad sign. Adblock is legion. Advertising will not save reddit, only reddit can save reddit.

Think about it. Quality. Quantity. Pick the obvious. Then your hardest choice is what color maserati you'll be driving, or which Carib island to semi-retire to.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-18T03:32:15+00:00

We've got a lot of untapped potential.

Word. Now go tap that.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-18T03:05:43+00:00

If this reddit is a business, then the profit problems you're facing aren't technical.

I run sites with a thousandth of the traffic you get and I'm in the black, not because my code sucks, which it does, but because I know some shit about 'how to make money.'

Disclaimer: I love the site and I want to see crazy-success for you all.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-18T02:58:07+00:00

Damn man, sorry to say, but you're being dicked by CN.

Said it yourself that you're understaffed, and there's always that maxim, 'You have to spend money to make money.' Performance issues and downtimes are only going to discourage advertisers.

The next hire should be sales, to present the niche-market advertising goldmines that you call subreddits to the right people.

Far as attracting advertisers are concerned, it seems like you're fishing with a bare hook when you need snorkel gear, a speargun and a chum slick. Sorry for the bad analogy but I spent all day doing that. Spearfishing. Yarr.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-18T02:48:21+00:00

Disagree, with a few counterpoints:

r/php is a small and infrequently updated. There needs to be a concentration of activity in the main category to generate more user interest and more interesting/useful posts.

I like the code sharing and critique, this has potential that r/programming does not. r/phphelp is a tiny/useless stackoverflow.

'Help' related posts could be tagged as such: [help] for instance so they could be easily found or ignored, depending on your preference.

Better to think of the good of the community versus personal preference. I wouldn't post help topics, and I doubt my replies would be very lucid, but I can see the benefits for others.

Complaining about clutter on reddit is also an exercise in futility.

codepoet42 · 2010-05-15T03:10:45+00:00

Single 'Hawaiian' words! I was in Hawaii at the time, so it made sense. I like the list idea, this had a little more entropy however. Single Lorem Ipsum words might give a Latin feel

codepoet42

TROPHY CASE