DHH: Fuck the Real World

http://www.rubyrailways.com/dhh-fuck-the-real-world/

by pet3r • 17 years ago

149 36 17 years ago

rubyrailways.com

davidw2• 17 years ago

DNW: This is mostly a rehash of previous things the guy has said.

dageroth• 17 years ago

Are you saying he is violating the DRY-principle? Blasphemy! ;-)

tjogin6• 17 years ago

How rude of him to not assume that everybody already reads and listens to every word he ever says.

davidw2• 17 years ago

I was just pointing out that the article really isn't worth a look for those who have read most of what he's already written.

mixmax3• 17 years ago

The most amazing thing about this, and DHH in general, is that it is all common sense. But he is the only one that has the guts to shout "but the emperor has no clothes on"

axod3• 17 years ago

>> "only one that has the guts to shout "but the emperor has no clothes on""

On what point specifically? I really would not trust advice from him on how well advertising models work. Seek out someone who has made a money from advertising and trust them instead.

If you've already decided to offer a paid product, 37signals, fogbugz etc all seem to have good things to say on that model, but taking their advice on which model to choose seems like a very bad idea to me.

mixmax3• 17 years ago

On choosing a business model. Far too many companies rely on just getting users, and monetizing later.

Of course advice from someone who has had success with both an advertising and a pay model would be the ideal, but lacking that I'll settle for advice from someone that has actually had success.

Come to think of it, I can't recall having read about a company that has had success (as in making enough money to live on within a year or two from launch) with an advertising model. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, just that it seems to be an outlier.

Charging for your products, on the other hand, is a well-proven model that has worked for hundreds of years. This is how the vast majority of companies generate cash. I just think it's refreshing to see someone that actually comes out and says it, instead of all this get-big-fast hype that only worls out well for an absolute minority.

trapper• 17 years ago

Great point. I personally believe in the paid model, but if I were to try an ad-supported model I would do just as you suggested.

tjogin6• 17 years ago

They're not saying to not use an advertising model.

They're saying "don't forget about the regular old proven model of charging money for your product — it's still relevant and it has these great attributes, here's our experience with it".

Don't take their advice personally, because it's not. They're just broadcasting their own experience.

antidaily• 17 years ago

I think it takes a lot of practice to communicate as efficiently and effectively as the 37s gang does. It's not just about getting a reaction; they know what they're talking about. I don't mind the swearing if it's sincere. At least they're passionate.

jhancock• 17 years ago

not really. Lots of people have shouted this..it was before RSS and blogging so the megaphone and recording devices were not on. I'm sure I'm not the only one. When Java started taking off with J2EE, I tried really hard to let the majors (Sun, IBM, Netscape, Microsoft, BEA) understand how their monolithic frameworks were not what most users needed. It all fell on deaf ears to the tune of: "What, EJBs are too complex? Swing shouldn't bypass native UI controls?" This not just from the architects inside those big co's, but from the users that would believe anything a big co told them. It took a full decade of users to experience how poorly conceived these frameworks were before DHH had a stage to stand on.

Timing is everything. Users had to go through this severe disillusionment before anything like Rails could have every been accepted. If it wasn't DHH, it would have been someone else. Its the message and timing of it, not the messenger that is generally more important.

Also, do not get me wrong. I'm actually not a Rails fan nor a serious opponent of it, use what works for you. Rails only gets half the equation right in my opinion. Rails too severally bastardizes MVC and lacks quality internals (hopefully Rails 3 will change some of this). What Rails does right is the accessibility of its APIs/DSLs, convention over configuration, etc...btw, all been done before the dark cloud of Java rolled onto the scene. Just goes to show how starved the web dev world was to flock to only half a solution. Turns out this was exactly the half of the equation they were starved for.

henning• 17 years ago

I was railing and whaling against Web 2.0 bullshit in 2006, no one paid much attention, though.

Deestan• 17 years ago

He is annoyed that critics take DHH's "Fuck" words out of context, but he's not really helping the cause with that blog post title.

mannicken2• 17 years ago

I suggest critics grow up and stop looking down upon every "bad word" with perspective of a kindergarden teacher.

People will say brilliant things and a bunch of total complete bullshit both using "bad words" and not.

Again, I suggest going after the idea rather than attacking individual words -- it's a signal of inability to criticize everything else.

jimbokun• 17 years ago

I think it works both ways. Sometimes people will find something brilliant because it was said with swear words, but wouldn't take much note of it if said with other words. If the idea was not that great without swear words, I'm not sure how the swear words make it brilliant.

bluefish• 17 years ago

You have to give DHH, Jason and others at 37signals credit for not just having decent business ideas and executing on them but also developing a brand and image. It doesn't hurt that DHH is stylish and can deliver humorous, slightly self deprecating lines like “We don’t have 200k RSS subscribers because of my deliciously swirly hair”. It also doesn't hurt that 37signals doesn't lock DHH into the code monkey box and instead lets him travel around giving talks and promoting that image. I've seen him talk in person and have to admit that he is a great presenter, even on topics unrelated to code.

tjogin6• 17 years ago

That, and the fact that they are giving away their knowledge and experience to anyone who wants to listen. (Plus repackaging it and selling it to anyone who want to pay for it.) Anyone who doesn't appreciate that can simply not listen to them — it's an odd request for anyone to ask people to stop publishing stuff on their own website. I for one am thankful for their free advice.

People tend to dislike the way their advice is definitive, they see a trait of arrogance in that. Me, I think of it more as being non-fuzzy, they cut through to the gist and the focal points.

volida• 17 years ago

i am annoyed by the title

gord• 17 years ago

I love the title. Its refreshing.

We should continue to self censor the F-word.. but not for the reasons you think.

It simply becomes less effective/refreshing/honest/direct/entertaining the more you use it.. its such an important and nice word, we need to ration its use in order to preserve its role in the language.

megamark16• 17 years ago

If you say it all day, every day, then your 5 year old will go to school and use it. On the other hand, if it slips out when you hit your thumb with a hammer (assuming you're not a very uncoordinated career carpenter) then your 5 year old will know that it must have hurt like the dickens, but that it's not a word for every day use.

boredguy8• 17 years ago

I really hate to be the prude, but do we need titles like this on the front page?

kirubakaran• 17 years ago

Why not? It is not even spelled wrong.

ahoyhere2• 17 years ago

If you hate to be a prude, you can stop.

If you hate to be the prude (the only prude), well, I think you might as well get used to the hating.

abstractwater• 17 years ago

is there a video of the talk up somewhere?

tjogin6• 17 years ago

Upcoming. DHH said on Twitter that he'll tweet a link to it when it comes up.

ahoyhere2• 17 years ago

The great thing about advice like this is, is that you can give away all the real secrets to your success, but never fear that people will take you on because people either feel satisfied just listening to it rather than doing it, or just don't want to hear it and come up with excuses why the advice-giver clearly doesn't understand the real world.

I've always considered that aspect to be entirely brilliant.

tjogin6• 17 years ago

That's half the truth. Jason Fried likes to compare this to how world famous chefs lets people in on their cooking secrets.

Reading their cook books or watching their tv shows isn't going to propel you to their level of skill or put them out of business, just help you a bit a long the way.

The secret to success isn't secret.

Karrot_Kream• 17 years ago

“I didn’t start coding when I was 6, but 21, and Jason (Fried) started business school later too”

On the other hand, I did. And now I'm in college having the time of my life analyzing frequency responses of signal filters, and doing only peripheral amounts of coding. Shows how much what you did as a kid has a bearing on what you end up doing later in life :)

MisterMerkin• 17 years ago

Some people are just born with the linkbait gene.

kubrick• 17 years ago

I think the world needs contrarians like this, but that the world also needs to know not to take them entirely seriously.