If you run your web services alone, like me, are you using "I" or "we" pronoun on website and in touch with customers?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10407

by ivan • 19 years ago

7 16 19 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

jrbedard• 19 years ago

hehe, "I" thought I was the only one worrying about this :) I use "we", as me + the company entity. And it will require no re-editing if a partner join or you hire.

staunch• 19 years ago

"The market is a lot more discerning than any employer. And it is completely non-discriminatory. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." -- http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html

ivan2• 19 years ago

So you are acting as a big company no matter you working alone?

python_kiss• 19 years ago

Use "I" because it's more personalized. The excuse for using "we" is simply that the service may seem professional; hence, building more trust. That might actually be true, but unless you're building an online bank, it wouldn't matter.

I initially worked on my webservice alone, and decided to adopt "I" on every possible location. I managed to build a dedicated community around the website, and later on decided to use "we" to denote the community as well as myself. Now, when I say "we thank you for participating", I mean "me and the community...".

Of course, if you've more than one founder (like I do now), you should use "we". Be consistent with the terminology in order to avoid confusing the end-user.

igrigorik• 19 years ago

"we" - if you want to be a big dog, you gotta act like one.

amichail• 19 years ago

It looks like this might be a new use for "we":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We

I guess you need to decide whether such fibbing is acceptable in a web service.

BTW, more serious forms of deception can be found in the ESP game:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~biglou/ESP.pdf#page=3

See the sections on "pre-recorded game play" and "cheating".

zaidf• 19 years ago

Depends whatever comes out naturally. When I am responsible for something, say getting back to the customer, use "I"; when I'm giving a statement about iJigg in general for example use "we".

-Zaid

mattjaynes• 19 years ago

I lived in Scotland for a couple of years and in Dundee the natives would always refer to themselves (individually) as 'us'. For example:

"They hit us wi' a stane." == "They hit me with a stone."

I'm sure you have some scottish heritage somewhere in the family tree, right? ;)

ivan2• 19 years ago

Heh, maybe in previous lifes Matt.

imp• 19 years ago

I try to write in the third person as much as possible and avoid using personal pronouns. Although if you're writing a blog post, then I suppose you could use "I" or "we".

jdvolz• 19 years ago

I like to use the name of the company in place of "I" or "We" because it reminds the customer who you are. Also, it's good for search engine positioning.

jm3• 19 years ago

I use both. When I'm speaking for "the community" or "the developers", i use We.

When I'm referring to a decision that I made as far as the direction of the site, i use I. (taking ownership and standing behind your beliefs)

it's a good question, though. I don't think there's a right answer, it's a question of what impression would you like to create.

comatose_kid• 19 years ago

I prefer "we's all" eg-

[cletus]"We's all had this here idea to create a series of tubes, and shazzam!...Now you gots tha internet."[/cletus]

mauricecheeks• 19 years ago

The company is an entity. It would be appropriate to use "we" more often that not. Use "I" when talking about yourself or yourself on behalf of the entity.

The same should be said for 2 or 3 person teams. Try to get in the habit of thinking about the company as an entity bigger than yourself.

pbreit• 19 years ago

We.

papersmith• 19 years ago

I think if you're alone and selling a non-mission-critical product directly to consumers, using "I" makes you sound more genuine and not out to take advantage of them. If you add a partner you could just do a regex replace.

If you run your web services alone, like me, are you using "I" or "we" pronoun on website and in touch with customers?

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