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mwachs

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starting up https://peeps.biz

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I personally think this is awesome and a charmingly weird way to convene people. I launched my long-germinating app, which is strangely parallel to yours in big ways (peeps.biz), a couple of weeks ago. I think especially with vibecoding, getting recognized/paid attention to is damn near impossible. I think consistency in marketing has to be there as does going out IRL to promote the site. (I’m not doing either het, but I still think it’s true.)

Anyhow, congrats on the app and keep pushing. I think it’s unique.

Man, I thought I was putting in work by doing the lessons from the book (which is INCREDIBLE) with my 1st grader…way to go above and beyond!

This honestly very cool and I’m going to pass along to some of the literacy teachers in our district. Thank you!

Even though it’s in project instructions to use verifiable sources, Claude still makes things up for me.

So after it spits something out I paste: “ Are you 100% sure that every story, quote, fact, and source is accurate and verifiable?”

It then fesses up and asks if I want to rewrite with only verifiable things. I say yes, it does, and so far that seems to work!

Parent of 2 deaf children here. When our first was born, we were handed a very thick packet of information warning us that without intervention (i.e., hearing aids) our child would be at much higher risk of falling behind in school and suicide because of social isolation. So, y’know, respectfully, nah.

My suggestion is for a Blackberry Q10. It has 4G (so it'll last a long time), swappable batteries (very cheap), a great UI, useful functionality (calendar, notes), and a completely worthless app store.

Good idea or bad idea?

Clearly there other ways to do this, but I think commodifying it _might_ be interesting? If you want to test it out for free, enter the promo TELLTHETRUTH.

$150 House 11 years ago

Well, we were going to grade all of them on a modified AP scale and then bring the top 20-40 to a panel (journalists, teachers, etc.) and then take the highest "scoring" offer/essay from that. Still subjective, but it would add some distance. Ultimately, though, this is still a house sale and the criteria is subjective--the baking contest below was a nice metaphor.

My brother just put in an offer that was accepted on a house in California that was thousands of dollars below multiple other offers according to the listing agent. Why? Because the owners liked his letter. Having a letter accompany an offer is fairly standard in real estate and as long as we're not violating any fair housing laws (essays were to be stripped of identifying information), I don't see how this is different. In hacker parlance, it's just at scale. I am, admittedly, a bit defensive about all of this.

RE: Poverty--I can't control what people are spending their money on. I know that sounds like a "not my problem" answer, but it would be pretty condescending for me to tell someone they were not adult enough not to make their own decisions (we made them check a box that they're 18). For a person who would become the new owner, it would change their life dramatically—I've read some realllllly horrible stories about poverty now.

Maybe it's not the best use of money. On the other hand, if you wrote an amazing offer and competed against--max--3,000 people to own a home, would that put you at better odds to dramatically change your life than solely working a minimum wage job in an unsafe environment?

(That said, it wasn't our intent to find the poorest/any specific person to sell the house to—I'm just using that as an example.)

$150 House 11 years ago

Nomination is interesting, but what if the person nominated doesn't want the house? Then we (I'm the person who runs 150house) have gone through potentially thousands of essays for nothing.

I guess it doesn't really matter, but I don't believe this is a scam and it's not preying on poor people: We (middle class) submitted an offer under similar terms for a bed and breakfast in Maine. There is only one house, so only one person/family/entity can eventually own it.

Also, if we don't sell the home via this process (which looks likely), we're refunding money. But sure, call it a scam--although it's the very worst scam considering I've told everyone where I live with my family, my phone number in a large font, my email, and potentially making no money. Quite sinister, indeed.