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Comment by mei0Iesh | Hacker News Reader

I see this as a directory of self-centered egotistical people who feel like they're important and want to flaunt themselves. It gives me an icky feeling and I wouldn't want myself listed there. Is this website normal and I'm wrong for feeling this way?

Some of the personal slogan things for example, sound like meaningless thoughts of a narcissist:

"I create things to discover."

"I have ideas, then I make them real."

"I listen people, then I write about them."

"I notice things and try to make them better."

"I do interesting things to make sure I have interesting tales to tell."

"I help make the world a more sensible, purposeful, and meaningful place."

"I ask 'Why not?' and then write words or code to bring ideas into the real world."

What does any of that mean? Why are they posting their picture like that. Why should I care what they're doing right now?

Please tell me why this isn't just egomania.

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I may be mistaken but my impression was the opposite. I only saw the listing as a way to grab the project some quick social proof.

I figured the intended audience is people who prefer to craft their own website rather than just blast the social networks with what they had for dinner and their latest obscure political point of view.

I can imagine when I find the 'now' page on somebody's website, it'll seems like a nice and natural way to see what they're up to.

And c'mon, it's Derek Sivers.

The one positive I see in publicly showing what you're currently working on is the very starting point of accountability.

Like telling your friends that you're training for a marathon. It adds some pressure to finish things.

Beyond this, personally, I wouldn't see why I would do it.

* I'm talking about adding a /now page. The author Derek Sivers is likely listing people to encourage the movement. I see someone in my field who is doing cool thing, I'd like to do cool things, let's put my money where my mouth is and "get out there."

There must be some distinction since Sivers says announcing your goals makes you less likely to accomplish them.

He talks about it with Tim Ferriss in his podcast. That might add to the understanding.

That's all I got as to guessing why.

> Like telling your friends that you're training for a marathon. It adds some pressure to finish things.

According to a lot of people, it is quite the opposite.

https://www.google.se/search?q=dont+tell+people+you+are+doin...

Not thinking about or planning to do something, but doing something.

You're not wrong. The Internet, social media, and smartphones have made us a very "now" culture (with the attention span of a gnat), but static Web pages are about the least "now" thing I can think of, and the aspiration to actually provide useful information about who you are in between the times you update that page, without anything actually useful (e.g. I write server code in Austin) just seems lame to me.

to me they're all ideals that the creator is striving for. By putting that out there the author is reminding themselves of what's important to them and making themselves publicly accountable to them. If I read someone's /now page and it says "I notice things and try to make them better" I'm likely to ask them what they've noticed and improved the next time I encounter them. If they haven't noticed or improved then I've just helped remind them that they've allowed themselves to stop focusing on the things that are actually important to them.

These all sound they belong in the TV show "Silicon Valley". :)

I don't see how there'd be anything to be criticized about this. IMHO, both of you are being too judgmental.

Or just trying to figure out what the utility is.

Critiquing the "movement" to come to a conclusion is helpful. Adding cruft to your web presence with no end result is also pointless. Except if that's your cup of tea.

We're in the process of adding more context by adding search, maps, and categories. In regards to 'utility' - it will enable you to connect with others that are focused and creating something similar to what you are doing.

This has the potential to help both individuals move forward.

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