Many people at news.yc with interesting thoughts have no contact data in their profile. It's a pity.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28030

by ivan • 19 years ago

12 32 19 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

ivan5• 19 years ago

Sure, I understand you can have real reason for this.

ralph3• 19 years ago

I'd assumed the email address I entered on my profile was public. It was only on logging out to check just now I realised it wasn't. Perhaps I'm not alone. I've now copied it into the free text as well.

ivan5• 19 years ago

E-mail address in profile is a big secret for me also :) This is probably question for PG.

pg2• 19 years ago

It would not have been nice to publish everone's email addr on the web for spam crawlers to find. But if you want to put an email addr (or anything else) in your profile, you can.

joshwa2• 19 years ago

You could also make it visible only to logged-in users, or users with karma > n...

raganwald• 19 years ago

Thanks for the reminder, I didn't even realize there were profiles on news.yc!

pg2• 19 years ago

I've thought of adding messaging within news.yc. Would people use that?

joshwa2• 19 years ago

c.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zawinski%27s_Law

ralph3• 19 years ago

No. Email does a better job. I don't want to have yet another medium to check and use.

jsjenkins168• 19 years ago

Many dont list their email though. I guess it leaves the option to stay private but I suspect ppl often dont list it simply out of laziness or they forget.

Being a startup site, where people may be looking for contacts, co-founders, advice, etc, I think having a tool to get in touch with each other would be very useful. I vote yes do it, but KISS.

danielha2• 19 years ago

"No. Email does a better job. I don't want to have yet another medium to check and use."

Many times I'd rather call someone up, but I may only have their email. Point is, there are usually always better alternatives. However, choices make the end goal more possible than it might have been.

whacked_new• 19 years ago

I think it would be convenient, if there would be some sort of an inbox number next to your name. It doesn't even need to be complicated. A ping/pong kinda system is more than enough -- at least enough to develop a rapport, and then, if necessary, trade emails.

I a little more paranoid regarding privacy matters, but I am sure I'm not the only one.

A bit over a month ago i wrote a barebones PM util "addon" and submitted the link here. The feedback was generally good, while it was on the frontpage, then it whittled. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18437

(it still exists, and I think still works, unless you changed the login mech).

As for stats, around 16 messages in the first 48 hours of the submission. Perhaps they were mostly test posts, but I did receive a few messages and an offer to trade email. Unfortunately he didn't check back when I sent him it :P

Just thought you'd know.

palish• 19 years ago

Experimentation is the spice of life.

comatose_kid• 19 years ago

I'd use it.

ivan5• 19 years ago

Me too

gyro_robo• 19 years ago

Yes, like on reddit.

Goladus• 19 years ago

I would, especially if I was alerted via email when there were unread messages in my inbox.

I am generally reluctant to email people directly for minor comments that I'd rather not post in public. I wind up just not communicating at all.

I also prefer to limit where my email address is posted online (obfuscated or not).

For serious things, email is generally worth it, but there still might be issues with spam filters or accidental deletions.

omouse• 19 years ago

I have my email there! But unfortunately I have no interesting thoughts, sorry.

ivan5• 19 years ago

That's the reason why you are here

maxklein2• 19 years ago

From what I've seen so far, I don't really see a lot of interesting thought here. The things said here are interesting in comparison to the outside world, but once you read for a while, you realise that you're reading the same old shtick over and over again. That's MY interesting thought of the day ;)

juwo• 19 years ago

perhaps because we are all frogs in a well - and with PG the bullfrog? :)

maxklein2• 19 years ago

I'd describe pg more as the french man who pulls out one frog every now and then. To fame and fortune, we are led to believe...

Many people at news.yc with interesting thoughts have no contact data in their profile. It's a pity.

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