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Comment by cperciva | Hacker News Reader

I don't think pushing the deadline back by one day is a good idea. The people who are not affected by the storm don't need the extra day; the people who are affected by the storm will probably need considerably more than a day.

Given that YC already has a policy of considering late applications, I would opt for keeping the deadline where it is but loudly announcing "if you couldn't get your application in by the deadline because of the hurricane, please submit a late application". And possibly add a "I'm applying late because of the hurricane" checkbox to the form.

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I suspect somebody will be struck by an epiphany during the storm. technology + disaster situation experience + kickstarter could be interesting.

It may not be an epiphany, but watching just a few seconds of the news coverage I thought of the number of times many of those things had happened to NYC in summer disaster movies.

If I had cameras, boats/kayaks, a few actors & friends to help out, shoot overnight on the deserted river roads, a few lines of dialogue and a rough idea for a story, I'd be out there trying to shoot with big-budget backgrounds that would normally cost tens of millions in sound stages or post-production. Though since I'm currently in Toronto, can't really do it.

If I'd been able to plan (or had the idea a few days ago to be able to plan and know in advance how it would likely look), for perhaps $10-20k (mostly for rented boats, cameras and bail money) could have had a semi-decent looking disaster movie or a good short film. Getting the moment the lights went out from some high vantage points & down on the water would have been amazing too.

While it appears clever it is in fact inhumane. While people suffer and die during these days and every spare pair of hands is in need, you'll be making a movie out of it to entertain masses and make a buck.

False equivalence: clever (here: profitable) vs humane.

You can easily be one without being the other. Or both, or neither.

Moreover, people suffer and need every spare pair of hands these days just as they do every day. In NY, in NJ, everywhere. What's your excuse for "making a buck" and not helping, the rest of the year?

So you are implying that it is acceptable to have a camera crew filming people while they are dying? Well, that's being too literate, but anyway, if it was a documentary film - I would have no problem with that. The author however quite clearly compares it to "disaster movies" which are not. And making a profit out of an event that caused people's sufferings without helping them out is not what I consider to be good.

Ad absurdum, appeal to emotion.

Personally, I would find it in bad taste. Profitable? Perhaps... but likely not. At least not directly -- a PR stunt, at most.

So, a rather bad combo overall IMO: would piss people off & not make the buck.

> The people who are not affected by the storm don't need the extra day; the people who are affected by the storm will probably need considerably more than a day.

They might need another day, or days, if their power is currently out.

If there is a way to integrate this in the application form you could confirm whether you are from an affected area or not.

A special checkbox for late applications is a great idea. I would also suggest asking the teams affected by the storm to send an email to YC or post to a new thread (assuming they have some Internet access, I still see lots of tweets from NY!) This will give you an estimate of how many late applications to expect.

Add a team location flag - those east of point X will be given extra consideration time.

yeah thats probably not a bad idea - allowing users to flag if their application is late due to storm and just accept it

I think it's probably better to ask people if they were affected rather than trying to guess based on their location. It's not something you can get really get away with lying about, since it just takes an interviewer asking "so, tell me how you were affected by the hurricane" to get someone blacklisted.

"I was glued to the Weather Network for like two days straight, and didn't get a chance to complete my application form."

Also, not all teams are located in one area.

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