Comment by tankbot | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tankbot | Hacker News Reader

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You're adding to the problem here instead of taking the constructive criticism to heart and taking action to make things better.

This project is now a business seeking outside funding and should be conducted as such. There are no excuses and perception is everything. Instead of an itemized (note: this projects as petty) response, you need to fix it and say "thank you" to sillysaurus for the valuable input.

You've since added $1 minimum contributions. Awesome! What does that person get? An honorable mention? Their name on the 'Founder's List'? There's nothing in the tier descriptions...

The overall message is still unclear. How does Johnny MacBook benefit from all of your hard work? What is the point?

I want this project to succeed, and that is where the feedback comes from. It's obvious to me and everyone else here that you've put a lot of time and effort into this project. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that it's enough to build it. If they don't know what it is and what it does for them, they won't come.

Excuse me, but I am not one to simply say "thank you" when some of the suggestions therein don't make sense.

The video IS all I could manage to do. I don't have the equipment or the skills to make a professional looking video.

The second point does make sense, I'm acting on this.

As for the third... he acts like I'm supposed to ask for $10,000 for such a goal. GNUstep is an very large project. Getting it to 10.6 compatibility is going to take time and I can't take the time off of work unless I haver the money I need to make it happen. Asking me to do this for anything less than what I projected is ludicrous beyond belief.

So, yes, I realize where the input comes from and I respect that. I will, however, not simply take those comments and act on them when some of them are unsupportable and untenable.

All of that being said I am planning on adding a video in the next couple of days (most likely tomorrow) of me talking about the project so that people have a face to put to it.

I seriously do thank all of you for your input and I apologize if my responses seem combative. It was my understanding or impression, however, that this was not simply a case of me taking input and mindlessly acting on it, but, instead, a discussion of what's best to help the project succeed and that does include my responses to your feedback.

GC

> Excuse me, but I am not one to simply say "thank you" when some of the suggestions therein don't make sense.

You should. There's no downside, but there's plenty of downside to being brusque. You don't need to act on the suggestions.

> As for the third... he acts like I'm supposed to ask for $10,000 for such a goal. GNUstep is an very large project. Getting it to 10.6 compatibility is going to take time and I can't take the time off of work unless I haver the money I need to make it happen. Asking me to do this for anything less than what I projected is ludicrous beyond belief.

He's saying that unless you recontextualize the project, you're asking for too much. Potential donors will have their expectations anchored by (a) their ideas about Kickstarter projects in general, (b) their ideas about similar Kickstarter projects, and (c) their understanding of the value you'll be providing relative to their needs.

If your goal is high relative to similar Kickstarter projects you have to make it appear worth that premium. If it's unclear what value your project will add to your donors' lives that will make your job that much harder.

That's what he's saying.

By the way, if you're asking for donations to pay for the time you're working on it and not the hard costs of the project then it's absolutely critical you have a video with your face on it and not just text. Folks are really donating for your labor, not to for this abstract project.

You're correct. Much of this does need to be clarified. It wasn't my intent to be brusque, just disagreeing where I saw cause to. Thank you for your feedback.

I know this is HN, but not everyone is trying to "make a business" from his hobby project. Couldn't you consider that the campaign author is just an engineer that wish he could afford to spend more time on something he likes to do and is passionate about? That's why he is able to offer a year of work on undercompensated rate. The same moment when he tries to "do it like a business", the fun is over, the joy is over, and it's just a work. And I doubt any remotely competent software engineer needs to bother with kickstarter to do the boring worky thing.

> You've since added $1 minimum contributions.

Those were always there. They are always there. The top-level commenter was complaining about reward tiers. Apparently he thinks developers aren't incentivized enough by the work getting done on the platform they want to use. I think that's pretty bizarre.

> How does Johnny MacBook benefit from all of your hard work?

He doesn't in any way you could successfully communicate to "Johnny MacBook". The drive is squarely aimed at exactly the people who would most directly benefit from the work being done, and be the most likely to contribute: Developers.

> This project is now a business seeking outside funding

Huh? No it isn't. It's sponsored improvement of an existing open-source project; it might very well be useful to businesses, but is in no way a business itself.

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