I was just thinking about this today. Funny enough, the stuff HN says usually comes up when I talk to people while I'm out or talking to customers. They have the same concerns, but HN will just tell you up front, whereas most people just won't say anything. Would you rather know what people are thinking, or not know anything at all?
I'd say you should just focus on answering people's questions/criticisms as long as they aren't trolling. I did a Show HN today, and while a lot of it was critical, I think most of it was valid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5828480 - we also got some great suggestions on parts that were confusing.
We require Facebook, we have a credit card with up front payment. This is literally as bad as it gets, in terms of HN standards. And we got plenty of people who paid us money up front and Facebook connected (some people are paying us $200 and giving us access to a lot of Facebook information and they've never met us before). When you're dealing with money and identity, I think you should address people's concerns and take it seriously. Difficult to sweep that stuff under the rug and pretend like it's not a big deal to take someone's money or identity and use it in some way.
I'd say expect that HN will be critical, as will most people. At least HN is telling you. Most people won't care enough to take time and comment.
Reminds me of a quote that I really like: "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference." - Eli Wiesel
Good points, Jared. My post veers a bit on the negative side, but I just wanted to address the things that are demoralising to people putting up stuff for feedback. You've been around a long time building and shipping stuff, so you probably have a thick skin.
I agree that it's better to get some critical feedback than none, but only if it's on-topic. A lot of times, I see Show HN posts derailed by comments on stuff that doesn't even matter.
I'd say you should just focus on answering people's questions/criticisms as long as they aren't trolling. I did a Show HN today, and while a lot of it was critical, I think most of it was valid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5828480 - we also got some great suggestions on parts that were confusing.
We require Facebook, we have a credit card with up front payment. This is literally as bad as it gets, in terms of HN standards. And we got plenty of people who paid us money up front and Facebook connected (some people are paying us $200 and giving us access to a lot of Facebook information and they've never met us before). When you're dealing with money and identity, I think you should address people's concerns and take it seriously. Difficult to sweep that stuff under the rug and pretend like it's not a big deal to take someone's money or identity and use it in some way.
I'd say expect that HN will be critical, as will most people. At least HN is telling you. Most people won't care enough to take time and comment.
Reminds me of a quote that I really like: "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference." - Eli Wiesel