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Comment by peteforde | Hacker News Reader

Would anyone care about this if it wasn't launched by highly visible Facebook alums?

Quality should be judged on merit, not who made them.

If there's magic here, somebody lift the kimono.

I don't believe you don't take into account who makes something in judging it, at least initially. Few things are impressive on day 1, either because they actually aren't that impressive or because it often takes more than 1 day to understand an impressive thing. Who makes something is a good way to understand the thing faster, and I don't think that's the least bit unreasonable.

Just launched startups are not static pieces of art to be "judged on merit." They are about iteration and execution. At this stage the team is more important than the product.

I don't think they would care. I can't remember how many times I pitch Twitalbums.com to news outlet (specifically to TC) and I'm still waiting for my post ;-) Granted: it was not built for the Iphone, but it was a Twitter app, I mean, a twitter app... you have got to cover that :-)

It's about leverage. If they can build equal or better things than what they built inside of Facebook, it makes it easy and likely for Facebook to acquire them. At best Facebook can copy them, but then they are chasing their own tail. If path doesn't get acquired by FB, they can sell to someone else who wants to get some FB-like magic, or shoot for the moon and become a destination in their own right.

I didn't even know that -- and was impressed with the build quality (or at least of their site, installing the app now)

"Would anyone care about this if it wasn't launched by highly visible Facebook alums?"

Reputation and association are forms of merit (or demerits) accumulated by people. For example, people often pre-order books based on the author.

I like the idea of a more limited social network. Or better yet, one with tiers. I hesitate adding people on facebook if I don't know them that well. It would be cool if adding them didn't automatically give them "friend" access level.

This may not have surfaced as quickly on HN if it wasn't launched by highly visible Facebook alums, but I read the post, installed the app, and setup an account before I saw this comment.

It all looks quality from here.

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