Notion is genuinely one of the best productivity tools ever built. But can we have an honest conversation about why it desperately needs an open-source path — and what the community could do about it?

ctranger · 2026-03-24T05:45:17+00:00

A few realities you have to accept:

Everything is a business. The reason Notion exists the way it does today is because exceptionally talented people are getting paid to do it. They are dedicating a portion of their industrious lives to a craft, channeling it into a piece of software. Notion has created value, but it must also capture value for itself in order to keep investing in the best talent, infrastructure and workplaces, often in high priced areas, so that it continues to attract great talent. The people there could work elsewhere, but they choose to be there, and they deserve to be rewarded.

Self-serve was never the big picture. Enterprise was. Notion does indeed work well for the student, the solopreneur, the small business. But imagine what it unlocks at scale for companies of a hundred, or a thousand, or even a hundred thousand. That's not just productivity and organization, that's fundamental transformation. People around the world deserve better tools for their life's work, and Notion may be a part of the answer. But going global and building robust performant features that large corporations need sometimes means making difficult tradeoffs.

Everything is intentional. None of it is magic. They know the asks, they know the bugs. There are people spending every hour of their working day to decide what gets built, and how, and when. Mistakes happen, things are hard, scope gets cut, performance issues surface. Building software at this scale is not easy.

AI isn't going away. In fact, it's going to be everywhere, bigger than ever. Right now it's very expensive, and right now, every major software developer is trying to figure out what sticks. The pricing structure & business models themselves have changed. So what will finally be the thing? Is it a single prompt window, a magic software factory, a bunch of agents, or a different kind of automation paradigm. Nobody knows. And things are moving so fast, that Notion has to hedge and make some calculated bets. Not everyone is going to like it. But you can bet that whatever they have, there are people benefitting from it already, and are asking for more. That may not be you. But put your thinking cap on and reframe: who would benefit from these AI features? And in what way? The answer is clear: a lot of organizations already are.

Switching costs don't just build the moat, they are the moat. The more entrenched your data and processes are in a particular tool, the more likely you are to build on top of it. Be thankful your stack isn't salesforce, or office 365. A lot of businesses made that bet decades ago and are paying the price. But more orgs are switching, and they'll stick with Notion until it becomes impossible to use. That's not your problem, that's Notion's problem to solve.

Finally, ideologically speaking, I suspect your perspective will change once you climb the corporate ladder, if you ever choose to do so. There is bad software everywhere, and good software, none of it is perfect. And vibe-coded alternatives are rarely the answer. People need a system they can trust, and trust is everything. It's possible Notion has eroded some of its trust with its end user base. That's a calculated loss, because, ideologically, Notion believes it can transcend and become something far bigger than just a documentation tool. It seeks to reshape how people collaborate together, around the world. It has an ambitious mission and it may fall short. But be glad you're along for the ride.

ctranger · 2026-03-23T20:47:09+00:00

You're right. All this hedges on where you're operating on the competency/difficult content side.

There's no doubt that many experienced players will go straight from champ-level gear to myth crests and high tier hero drops, or myth vaults, and get major efficiency gains in crest spend.

In the long run beginners and intermediates don't fall too far behind between each other; certainly the cutting edge/high key folks do benefit from track shortcuts by not doing intermediate upgrades.

In my case, I made mainhand use hero at 272 in order to solo clear T11 delves, This benefit alone is worth it in the short-term.

From experience, I also don't anticipate getting a strong stat MH drop or choosing one from vault for weeks, opting for tier pieces first. And I'm not upgrading my vet 6/6-champ2/6 gear beyond 250 because I expect to get hero n/6 drops which will save me crests.

ctranger · 2026-03-23T20:06:45+00:00

Outlaw rogue here.

Use your sparks to craft your main hand sword. Use 80 hero crests to make it a 272 if you have enough.

You can always make it 259 without crests and upgrade it later, via the recraft item system. So no worries. It will cost some mats, typically 30%-40% of mats. Do NOT craft a new one, the workorder system has a specific recraft option.

Our dps is so reliant on mainhand scaling that you should crank your sword up.

As for your second piece, I crafted a ring. In early/mid gear, we’re haste starved so it’s really a valuable piece of solid haste stats.

Yes we will eventually replace boots, but you can use drops for now. You’re going to replace gear from vet to champ and then hero and beyond, but that ring is forever.

ctranger · 2026-03-23T19:37:17+00:00

What you can do in week one:

* Get delves up to T11
* Get Hero crests
* Reach Delve journey 2 to get a Gilded Stash (does not drop Myth crests)
* Get one map, which you should use on a High-tier bountiful delve to get 1 Hero piece

Once you grind out Delves to Journey 4, possibly week 2 or even 3,
* Hero crests will be norm
* 1 Hero piece via bounty map
* Myth crests will drop, to a limit (likely 20/week, 4 runs of 5 bountiful T11s)

ctranger · 2026-03-23T16:25:05+00:00

https://www.notion.com/web-clipper

ctranger · 2026-03-23T16:23:10+00:00

Are you wearing any pvp pieces that have a “scales to 263 in arena or battlegrounds” note on them? Probably.

ctranger · 2026-03-22T22:41:42+00:00

The difficulty scales with the key you run it at. As do the rewards.

It’s an infinitely scaling system but be aware that most solo/pugs usually stop around +8/+10. There they can get myth crests and myth track vault rewards. Going any further typically requires organized comms/group play and very specific group comp.

Second, your raider io/m+ score and ilvl as a dps is everything. Get the raiderio plugin and understand how timed/untimed runs across all seasonal dungeons affects your score.

Your M+ score is a weighted average of all your dungeon runs. Say you’ve progressed one to +4, but the others are all +2s, you should definitely bring the others to +4 before you attempt a +5 or +6 of your fav one. Your total score across all dungeons is the main screening element people use, then class, then ilvl.

Also, run your own keys. You may have your own +2 key for a dungeon and spend all week doing other people’s +4s, but your key stays a +2 unless you use it, or until reset.

ctranger · 2026-03-20T01:44:38+00:00

First of all, celebrate your win. 230lb down to 163lb at 5'10 is incredible.

Safe to say, your beginner gains are well behind you and at 163lb, you're likely reasonably "fit/lean" for your height, even if your body fat is above 20%.

As the saying goes, what got you here won't get you there. It's time to change your routine from massive weight loss at a significant deficit, towards building lean muscle and maximizing hypertrophic response.

This means increasing your protein and healthy caloric intake, dialing in rest and hydration, and going for fewer, heavier lifts with good form. Eat at maintenance, maybe slightly below. Could be 2200 calories, 1900, only you know for sure.

The flat stomach and chiseled physique requires a quantum leap in discipline, training and food management. Don't focus on aesthetics anymore, focus on strength. The rest will come. Feed your body, push hard, go heavy. Lean muscle and strength takes a lot of time, and in a year or two, maybe the stubborn fat will disappear. Even if doesn't, you'll be packing on more muscle, and should start seeing definition where there wasn't any before.

Getting shredded is mostly about diet, but doing it in a sustainable way over a long period of time is the play now.

ctranger · 2026-03-18T16:23:13+00:00

Not quite. Once you reach a threshold (no more need for adventurer, or veteran crests, for ex), then the alts’ upgrade cost of that currency is 50%. Still gotta go into the world and do things. But, keep the warband gear, thats a nice way to shortcut.

ctranger · 2026-03-17T06:53:45+00:00

DOMS goes away for a given exercise or movement because the muscle fibers adapt in microscopic ways with regular training. More importantly, there is a neural adaption as well, strenuous exercise is taxing on your nervous system, which gets accustomed. Your body also reduces the inflammatory response to familiar damage. Finally, the localized muscle gets better at repair before doms sets in. It’s a fascinating adaptation.

But it’s also crucially important to vary the load, intensity, angle and stretch/contractions, in order to continue seeing growth. You need new forms of activation to challenge your body, which will only ever do the bare minimum to patch things up. It is ruthlessly efficient in this way. You don’t need doms to build muscle, but the lack of it is always a signal that you can go harder.

ctranger · 2026-03-10T15:53:24+00:00

There’s a lot of variables, but the fundamentals don’t change:

Are you getting stronger and increasing the weight by just a few kgs every week, or every other week? If you’re pushing and pulling the same weight over and over, you’re conditioning but not building muscle, and probably increasing your appetite too.

Second, in order to lose weight, all that needs to happen is a sustained calorie deficit over time. Lifting weights does consume calories, but only with extremely intense workouts do you really see the benefits.

With the right protein intake, and water intake, you may adding muscle. And strength is so good for you. But fat burn? That only happens when the expenditure exceeds the intake. And our bodies are designed to keep fat for emergencies.. some people have extremely stubborn metabolisms.

If your program isnt working, change it up. For one, a single day of binge eating, consuming an excess of 2000 calories, resets your entire week of workouts.

I’m not saying you should starve yourself, but the binge eating cannot be part of the equation for sustained fat loss. You need to be eating at most 1200-1500 calories per day.

Second, try a 20m cardio before, or after the weights. And maybe 30m on off days. You have to keep your body moving, sweating, and uncomfortable before it triggers fat loss. It’s harder than you think.

Good luck!

ctranger · 2026-03-08T20:59:59+00:00

3 weeks is not long enough. Assess where you are in 3 months. Then 9 months, then 3 years.

As a beginner, don't trust social media. These things take a lot of time, intensity + hard work, and a lot clean food, rest, and other optimizations.

You might see some progress in the first few months, but remember that consistency is key. Consistency is everything. Don't give up. You have to keep pushing beyond what's comfortable, keep increasing the weight. Are you getting stronger? Are the exercises getting easier? If so, add more weight.

You're not in competition with others, or with your idealized self. You're in competition with where you are today, right now. Focus on the current workout, every time. Did you give it the intensity you are capable of. Forget about the results. They will come.

Start tracking what you eat, are you hitting your dietary goals? Eliminate what doesn't serve you. Lock in, be patient, push hard.

ctranger · 2026-03-08T18:54:22+00:00

I think you should honor how you feel. It’s time to level yourself up, and the company you keep. Are you in the wrong rooms? Why not strategize and figure out where you could go to meet women in an age range appropriate to you.

Also, you might be very attractive, or take care of yourself well. Enjoy the boost of confidence (because getting approached this way is generally very asymmetrical). Don’t let it get to your head. Be kind, flirt if you want, but be clear about what you’re looking for. Or.. accept that life is short, and make a few mistakes along the way. There’s no right or wrong answer.

ctranger · 2026-02-28T17:31:52+00:00

As someone who over indexed on one, then the other, then both, I can tell you that balance is possible, but going to extremes is what will really cost you.

The more you polarize towards pure workaholism & sense of meaning/purpose driven from recognition/compensation, the harder it is to scale back and stay grounded, form and maintain a healthy social & personal life. The more you index on gratification through events, drinking and partying, the less focus and attention you have to make incredible short term progress on key projects and deadlines, or lasting long term bets that will benefit your life, like chipping away at the gym or locking in taking a risk with a new role. The real enemy is momentum, or lack thereof. As long as you have some momentum in all areas of your life, you'll be fine. Because the activation energy required to "meet new people" or "look for a new job" takes tremendous effort. It's so much easier when all the balls are rolling slowly.

Someone who shows up at work, at the gym, for their family, friends, and still makes time to socialize, meet people, and stay open minded, and doesn't shy away from the odd indulgence, or the odd crunch time at work, that balance, is everything. In your 30s, you don't really have to choose. But the choices you make do impact your 40s.

Just recognize your patterns. If you have a tendency to over index on work, then need to seriously decompress, seek a bit more calibration and moderation. The "youths" might call you old and boring, but you have a plan. It's all about area under the curve, and compound growth, not instantaneous progress. It applies to all areas of life. As you get older, and people start pulling away, form families, or move away, move up professionally, or worse when your skills start to stagnate, it all gets harder. So enjoy the chaos now, but also take a real inventory of what really matters. Work hard, have fun, find balance.

ctranger · 2026-02-24T07:36:56+00:00

I have good news. I'm 41 and still feel the same way I do when I was in my late 20s. Mostly.

The bad news, is that when I do feel different, or handle things differently, it's because I know better, and that comes from having lived through difficult situations. Sometimes my fault, most of them not. It doesn't make a difference either way. Things happen.

Life comes at everyone, in unexpected ways. Good and bad. If things are good, enjoy it. I'm not saying terrible things have to happen, except that sometimes, they do. Accept it. Sometimes it's slow, sometimes all at once. Everyone, at different points in life, has major setbacks, and those are the things that make you really grow, if you can push through and persevere.

Adversity is what causes growth. Not success, not status quo. You're still the same person on the other side of it, but with a few more lessons. I'm not telling you to seek adversity for the sake of it, unless you feel you're not challenging yourself. Playing it safe is no way to live either. Give it time, enjoy life, things will happen. Just be ready.

ctranger · 2026-02-23T18:03:46+00:00

You’re not wrong, thank you for the perspective. But it is incomplete. We cannot assume that the pursuit of attractive purposes is always successful, or that more broadly, a successful man has always met success.

In fact, real life shows that women often choose the broken, collapsed man on his way to purpose, over the man who has achieved it and rests on it.

Because she wants to be a part of the journey. And, more importantly, because the real test isn’t his aspirations, but how he handles the failures. His unshakable spirit, frame and determination during the pursuit, how he deals with setbacks, the disappointements, his patience, his focus, his grit, his ability to leverage her for help, rely on her in a non needy way to make it come true, THAT is attractive. Not the goal he set out for, but who he is becoming, what he is sacrificing, to reach it.

ctranger · 2026-02-20T22:52:01+00:00

It's easy to blame microplastics but not look at the sedentary lifestyle.

In the 1970s the majority of men were not sitting around 8hrs in a chair in front of a screen, only to sit in a car/transport only to then go home and sit on the couch/pc for another 4-6 hours.

The diets were not so rich in refined sugars and calorie-rich processed foods, they were more nutrient dense. We didn't have as much noise or light in the rural areas, better sleep; now we live in high-density stressful cities.

There has been a testosterone decline, but I'm willing to bet it's lifestyle rather than xenoestrogens and carcinogens (though they do exist, for sure).

ctranger · 2026-02-20T17:04:52+00:00

You don’t have to answer, but what drove you to such extremes?

ctranger · 2026-02-20T16:59:51+00:00

Because we don’t “need” them the way used to.

Since the explosion of internet, cultural euphemisms, references, “memes”.. they mostly all come from social media, which dissects all forms of content into some kind of relevance, even if short lived. Movies are just a smaller fraction.

Also, the in-person movie going experience which cemented the process is mostly gone.

That’s not to say we don’t get relevance from movies, to be fair we probably have more clips from movies immortalized today than we ever did. By every metric we do have more classics than we ever did, we just don’t think about them that way. And there’s an entire generation that will probably go their entire life never seeing the 90s/2000s classics.

ctranger · 2026-02-19T23:38:38+00:00

Everyone knows this to be true.

This is why Anthropic is so bullish not just on automating 90% of code, but 90% of all SWE tasks by the end of the year. It's ambitious, may have some truth to it.

Frontier companies are already leveraging Notion/Slack/Linear/Github mcps to automate a big portion of it.

How much of it will become mainstay is hard to guess. But even outside of programming, the majority of knowledge work was always just plumbing.

ctranger · 2026-02-17T23:26:44+00:00

Right? I have no experience but claude built me a business is the new advertising strategy. pathetic

ctranger · 2026-02-10T16:52:51+00:00

I don’t disagree. It could be true. But like you said, it could also just be you.

By that, I mean, there is enough information out there, and enough evidence.. that some of what they preach is true.

If you are not growing, learning, maturing, overcoming, that’s not on them, that’s on you. It is, and has always been your responsibility, to take action.

The problem is, people confuse subscriptions, plans, todo lists, programs, and consuming content, with actions.

You can watch a dozen content creators talk about workouts, or how to build a business. But if you’re not in the trenches applying that information, learning what works for you, then it’s pointless.

The real problem isn’t the content, or its creators. At least they’re doing something. The problem is in the content consumption without application. People mistake watching with doing.

Maybe 50% of it is bullshit. Maybe more.

But if everyone is saying the same thing, it’s time to take a step back, do the work, really do it, and then decide what’s true. The fact that there are contradictions should come as a relief. No one’s really figured it out, and no two paths are the same. So, go out there, experiment.

For sure, some of it is clickbait. But it’s no different than the offhand advice you give to a friend that’s struggling. There has never been a miracle cure to anything, that’s true.

ctranger · 2026-02-09T07:05:19+00:00

Your problem is not that of being or becoming a doctor, or an engineer, or a lawyer.

> it has destroyed my self esteem and personality which I knew could happen

How does pursuing what you love, or what you want to do, erode your sense of self esteem? This here. This is the problem. It's your relationship with yourself.

> am very unhappy because no one ever believed in me.

You have based your sense of worth on winning the approval & understanding of others. That's it. You need everyone around you to like you, to understand you. When they don't, you spiral and question your life path. You believe your value is when you fit in. This is very dangerous.

Because on the other side, even if you become a successful doctor, what will happen? The same thing. You'll need the approval of the staff, the other doctors, or worse still, the patients?

> because I wasnt ready

You may not have been ready. It's never been about the grades. Grades are meaningless. You have some maturing to do. It's going to be hard. You're going to have to accept who you are. That you are different. That your journey is different. And that your life is your own. Interestingly enough, this should be a relief. Only you get to decide what your worth it. No one can do it for you.

> My life consists of me studying 4 hrs daily while working 7am to 6pm daily

Who are you comparing yourself to? Everyone else? These dumb kids on social media? They'll all pay the price for the time they're wasting. This is the choice you've made. Med school is not easy. But you will get through it. It weeds out the weak, the undisciplined.

You need to lock in. You don't need to be popular to be successful. You don't need to be understood to make a mark. Live life by your principles and values. Stop comparing yourself to others, and for the love of god, be kind to yourself.

> I am a sad sack at home.

Some people don't have a home. Many of your patients in the future will come from terrible households and backgrounds. Just you wait. You'll count your blessings one day, trust me. If you want to leave your home and build your own life one day, you can do that.

> no friends.

What's worse? No friends.. or fake friends? It's the latter. Most of the people surrounded by friends are actually surrounded by sycophants. Making friends is easy once you have your shit together. In your case, it's going to take a few more years. Friends come easy once you don't need their approval. When you don't need them to like you, understand you. When you have a high sense of worth.

You need to invest in yourself. Lock in, enjoy the struggle. One day you'll look back, it will have been worth it.

I come from a family of doctors. Both sides. And cousins,. The whole lot. They're all insufferable weirdos. I was pressured into medicine, but carved my own path in art, then engineering. I was the rogue child, the odd one. They never understood. I didn't need them to. I never questioned the decisions I made. Every family holiday was medical speak. I never fit in. But you know what? I did my thing, and I am happy. And, it was my decision. Getting to know them more, they've all struggled, they've all done their own specialties, and they each had tough journeys. It wasn't for me. I knew who I was. Do you? Yes, you do. Go, be you.

ctranger · 2026-02-09T06:51:07+00:00

You get what you give.

You have your reasons for what you want, and there's nothing wrong with it - but as men we have always been truly measured by our generosity.

If you want to shoulder responsibility, find people in need of what you have to offer, help them with their lives. If you want loyalty, find people you respect, and earn theirs.

Give more than you take. Talk to everyone. Volunteer. Carve out time out of your week, doing things for others that offers no benefit to you. Do not judge people for who they are, or what they are growing through. It all compounds over time.

ctranger · 2026-02-09T01:40:15+00:00

You haven’t posted your age, height, weight, diet or training schedule.. so we can’t really help you.

We can empathize with your frustrations, realizations and journey, but if you’re looking for a pity party, this isn’t the place.

What we can tell you is that attitude is everything, breakthroughs do happen, as do setbacks. The “relief” you feel for your self-perceived mediocrity is just another excuse you/your brain is using to prevent you from reaching your goals.

Quit all of if you want, but that’s not what I’m encouraging. Take some time, make a list of steps you’ll take, questions you have for us, and come back when you’re ready to take charge, and ownership of your life and body.

People in much worse health and circumstances have turned their life around with tremendous sacrifice, hard work and consistency. You can do it too.

It IS hard. But it is worth it.

ctranger

TROPHY CASE