HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

nfailor

21 karma · joined June 25, 2013

submissionscomments
nfailor··on What does "HREF" stand for? (2008)
yeah upvotes must just be for humiliation's sake.
nfailor··on Ask HN: "Social Class" or "Purchasing Power" criteria for target ads?
someone with a little more time than me can probably find a full .pdf I don't have one handy but http://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/d...

data gathering is largely the problem there--so we address it through round about means.

nfailor··on NationBuilder Platform Launches
fix turf cutting yet?
nfailor··on Why we use Balanced for payments
wells does same day ACH debits? when'd that happen?
nfailor··on Do Any Ecommerce Sites Need Help Writing/Editing Web Content?
as someone who launched a marketing firm on the basis of copywriting I'm going to give you a spot or two of advice.

it's a service that's one of the first to cut when expenditure budgets get tightened.

the best skill you can develop is the ability to quickly write (and justify) scalable copy.

you'll get a lot more mileage out of just submitting copy corrections to established entities.

nfailor··on Our Seattle Startup weekend pitch – give us feedback?
I'm not entirely convinced that the pain of dating apps is actually scheduling the date.
nfailor··on Should I buy LED or CFL light bulbs?
all I need to be happy is a bright set of color changing LED bulbs--you're lying to yourself if you think otherwise.
nfailor··on Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?
which is a client-centric failure. convincing a small business (such as a kayak rental outfit) why that they ought to invest in targeted search [which would have a favorable effect] gets a lot harder when they're only pitched for the scammier side of things.
nfailor··on Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?
that's actually still about mindshare though--that's why radio ads still exist. they catch you on the way to the store.
nfailor··on Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?
yes, the ROI centric approach is problematic--but that's client side.
nfailor··on Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?
again, that's a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of advertising.

http://www.commissionedwriting.com/CONFESSIONS%20OF%20AN%20A...

nfailor··on Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?
1) those are not advertisers, those are direct mailing etc., outfits. I think they're annoying too. I don't use them. If a client suggests using them, I suggest they find a new agency. I suggest you write a note to the CEO and discontinue your association with the brand. they pay attention to that.

2) might I suggest 'site:.edu'

3) it's not a fear, a critical mass of users won't pay for content.

nfailor··on Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?
1. we do the best we can to target. you get blanketed by irrelevant ads for a myriad of reasons not limited to: -lazy clients who don't understand their userbase -ads for things you might be interested in being choked out by higher paying spots.

2. that's actually not an advertiser's job--although some of those elements may be part of a campaign. we live in an era where clients demand an ROI, they want a conversion stat, and that's what they base an ad buy on--we agree this is detrimental in the industry. we'd much rather present you with a product over a span of time. we'd much rather show a product to likely consumers.

I'd give you a treatise on the industry, but ogilvy did that:

http://www.commissionedwriting.com/CONFESSIONS%20OF%20AN%20A...

3. that's also a client generated evil.

4. we've been making that sort of connection our entire history. content producers check too, they call it 'knowing your audience.' we're actually in the midst of a massive democratization. instead of five or six market research companies (or one TV research company, or one radio company) we're opening up. you can actually opt-out--that's never happened before.

5. so pay for the service.

not enough users are interested in baring the true cost of a service--hence the dependence on ad revenue.

nfailor··on Ask HN: Dealing with a huge MySQL database - help
not even close to 'huge,' although my english syntax is a little rusty.
nfailor··on How a Car Engine Works
I'm a Sagittarius and we're skeptical.
nfailor··on Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app
psah, haven't lived unless you did it on the 1k.
nfailor··on Oyster, Netflix for books, is launching the beta version of its iPhone app
...which is precisely why it worked well for travel and cards...
nfailor··on Who Makes Below Minimum Wage in the Mechanical Turk Sweatshop?
that was an underpaid job ten years ago when it was called technical writing. barely above minimum in mturk is a sad direction.
nfailor··on Planet Labs Raises $13M To Build World’s Largest Fleet Of Satellites
is it really a 'fleet' of satellites?
nfailor··on My Startup has 30 Days to Live
no it's not, it's growable+cloneable.
nfailor··on My Startup has 30 Days to Live
Absolutely.

If you're starting up you should be questioning the ROI on everything--and trying to figure out what it may be for a VC is part of that.

There's no free l(a)unch.

nfailor··on Ask HN: Has there been any research on Advertising and Information Systems?
the impact/influence/experimental marketing world has a few source texts and starting points but by and large we keep that stuff in-house.

people get upset when they realize "ten cool uses for Milk" is an ad for milk...

nfailor··on My Startup has 30 Days to Live
this.

I would add, I usually give myself twenty four hours between drafting and submission of any seriously emotionally charged communications.

sometimes you don't need it, but you want to be as calm (hah) as possible.

nfailor··on My Startup has 30 Days to Live — In 30 days, my startup will be be dead
the tech industry would do much better if it would circumvent VC by going B2C...
nfailor··on GoBank is Live
so green dot bought a bank?
nfailor··on Ask HN: How to get Snowden
also, I'm fairly confident he's traveling on asylum papers from Ecuador. US passport is irrelevant.
nfailor··on Ask HN: How to get Snowden
well, if he spends the evening in a Havana hotel he won't be that far from USINT.