Comment by freehunter | Hacker News Reader

Comment by freehunter | Hacker News Reader

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There's a great use for an app like this, and it's something I've wanted forever. Unfortunately, the only people who download and install it seem to be assholes.

That reason is alerting people around you to things going on. If I see a firetruck going past my office, I'm going to want to know where it's headed, for a number of reasons (is there anyone I know involved, are people safe, am I going to be delayed getting home, am I in any danger). Local news isn't going to pick up every fire department response.

Or in more positive ideas, a spontaneous block party is happening down at the local ice cream shop. I'd love to walk down there, but I don't know it's happening. Hyper local services would be incredibly useful with leveraging technology to bring a community closer together. Twitter could solve this problem, but I need to know who to follow. With hyper-local services like Yik Yak, I wouldn't need to follow anyone. The information would just be there.

>if taking down an app could save a kid's life then shouldn't we do it?

It's not technology's problem, it's society's. We could save millions of lives by getting rid of cars. Thousands by getting rid of cell phones. There's a reason we don't do that. There's a much easier answer to the problem of how to protect children from being bullied on Yik Yak: teach your kids the value of walking away.

> That reason is alerting people around you to things going on. If I see a firetruck going past my office, I'm going to want to know where it's headed, for a number of reasons (is there anyone I know involved, are people safe, am I going to be delayed getting home, am I in any danger). Local news isn't going to pick up every fire department response. Or in more positive ideas, a spontaneous block party is happening down at the local ice cream shop. I'd love to walk down there, but I don't know it's happening. Hyper local services would be incredibly useful with leveraging technology to bring a community closer together. Twitter could solve this problem, but I need to know who to follow. With hyper-local services like Yik Yak, I wouldn't need to follow anyone. The information would just be there.

Ok, so you want a local information app (Circle?). Why does anonymity have to be central to such an app?

> We could save millions of lives by getting rid of cars.

Cars exist for a clear purpose with clear benefit. Here, the costs are deemed acceptable considering the benefits of rapid travel. What are the benefits of Yik Yak? As I noted in my original post, even the creators of Yik Yak couldn't come up with a "good" example of Yik Yak that followed its anonymous design.

> teach your kids the value of walking away

Yes, it would be lovely if all parents everywhere instilled morality into their kids. That isn't the case. Some kids have crappy parents, or no parents at all. When a student posts something that causes a death there are two victims: the suicide, and the kid who has to live with the fact that their actions resulted in death. Most of the bullies in the Formspring suicides were kids themselves, too immature to understand the impact of what they were doing.

As well, I'd like to add a third victim by this lack of morality (well, I'd prefer the term civility but I'm good with either in a pinch!). Society as a whole.

Although we'd like all kids to be rational, understanding, and mature they simply aren't. I don't think many adults are either. We're ruled by our emotions and if people insult us (or our hair, clothes, etc..) we feel awful on some level even if we know not to care about the insult. Kids even more so.

If we could all be reasonable, rational, respectful we'd be good. But the jerks of the world have ruined it for us and walking away and burying our heads in the sand isn't always possible or the right thing to do.

>My problem with Yik Yak isn't that its anonymous

then

>Why does anonymity have to be central to such an app?

Anonymity doesn't have to be central to what I'm describing, but it would certainly help with getting people to use it. One less barrier.

You're playing the "but think about the children!" card, and I don't know a single person on earth who respects that argument at face value. Kids are kids, and you can't ban everything that could hurt someone's feelings. Everyone has to learn reality sooner or later.

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