owkaye

Doesn't matter. I would never use my main linkedin account to login, and I won't bother to create a(nother) linkedin account just to access your service. Nor would I ever want to date a 'working professional'. Sorry, not for me but best of luck with it. Hope it works for you.

I could easily "never work again" with $3M.

I've had a gmail account for years yet I still have not received an invitation from google to join G+ ... so why should I care about its success or failure when I cannot even use it yet???

What truly annoys me is the proliferation of Javascript links. They prevent me from opening the page in a new tab, and I have learned that VERY OFTEN I prefer to open pages in new tabs. So the Javascript links take away my control and I HATE THAT!!!

So you're saying that by NOT giving people an easy notification system HN avoids dealing with some of the folks who might be more tempted to ruin it, right?

That makes sense ... I guess. I'm not convinced that it's a good approach to avoiding the bad guys, but it's easy.

I just received my first email notice from notifo and it's still not clear to me when I will (and will not) receive email notices at HN:

Will I get them ONLY when someone replies to a specific post I've made?

Will I get them when someone posts a reply in a thread I've created, even though the reply is to someone else's post instead of to mine?

Will I get them when someone posts a reply to someone else in a thread that someone else has created?

These are just a few of the questions that remain unanswered until I do some more testing ... but my current suspicion is that notifo cannot notify me unless the post is a direct reply to one of my posts.

If this is true it means I will NOT get a notice -- even in a thread I created -- when a reply is made to someone else's post.

And if this is the case it will fail to notify me of all the HN activity I want to be notified about.

:(

"Well, I didn't make it. :-)"

I know, I wasn't complaining about anything you've done. I just think the lack of information on its availability is lame-brained, and the fact that no information is available on this site which explains how to use it is short-sighted ... and the actual steps required before you can enable it are also overly demanding and unnecessary.

But that's just my opinion ... :)

"pg -- in my anecdotal observation -- tends to like to use YC companies' technology where he can."

Makes sense "IF" the feature is documented in an obvious place here on the HN site so we will AT LEAST know that it exists. In this case not only is the feature undocumented but it is also far more time-consuming to implement than it should be.

What's more troublesome for me is the fact that it apparently offers no option to "unsubscribe" from threads after you're no longer interested in them -- which means you'll continue receiving emails on threads you're done with.

Either that, or you only receive emails when someone replies to your specific posts, and maybe you won't get any email notices when people reply to other posts in the thread you want to monitor.

All in all the notifo service is still unclear to me, but from what I read so far I have a feeling that it is too limited to do what I actually want, which is to get notices on any THREAD I want to monitor -- not just get notices when someone replies to specific posts of mine.

" At the time Notifo was added, there were a bunch of threads. I think that, since that time, there's a bit of "you should be able to figure this out" involved. "

If this is the case then in my opinion it is not only an ignorant but also an arrogant attitude. Why should I be expected to think that such a feature exists when nowhere is it explained properly?

" What I provided was essentially a pointer to relevant search terms. "

I know, but at least you got me started. HN didn't even to that much -- but they certainly could have -- simply by adding a sentence to the profile page stating that push notices are available on a limited basis at notifo.com.

" I agree, it's not the clearest thing in the world. "

I know it's not your idea of a good software implementation, but for the life of me I cannot understand why a company/service like HN -- which anyone might expect to provide clear and concise information on important features -- has not posted a simple explanation that (1) notification is available, and (2) here's how to get it.

Well, I didn't have any idea what that "notifo" term meant ... and in fact I still don't.

So you're suggesting that the blank notifo field in my profile, with no explanation of how to use it or what it does, might actually send me an email if I enter the proper URL and make the appropriate changes on the notifo website?

For starters the "notifo" label on the blank field might be better as a link to the notifo website. At least then we would have a clue about where to begin to possibly learn enough to enable simple notifications for the threads we start or want to follow.

I hate to say it but this is about the worst implementation of a notification system I have ever seen in my life. Why not just put a 'notices' link at the top or bottom of every thread page when a visitor is logged in? Then when I click it, take me to a page that allows me to manage my notification subscriptions in a simple, straightforward and OBVIOUS manner?

I think this thread has served its purpose. Workflowy appears to be the ideal tool for what I need. If someone has a better suggestion please email me, my email address is in my profile. Thanks.

I will start by looking at workflowy since you like its ability to focus on a single task when that's all you care about at that time. Thanks. (edit: I think workflowy may be the one I heard about here a while back, the name sounds somewhat familiar.)

I've tried pen and paper and it doesn't work well for me.

I have no time or desire to rewrite my tasks every day. There are literally hundreds of them, each with tens or hundreds of sub-tasks needing to be finished before the main task is considered complete.

Basically I want to use a computerized system because I believe that it will be far faster, easier and more flexible for me.

it doesn't have to be online, but it must run on a computer. There, I hope this makes it clear that pen (or pencil) and paper is not an option ... :)

If you can post a URL and/or provide some reasons why you say this is a good one, that would be helpful. (edit: I found a program called "Getting Things GNOME!" that is probably similar to the one you referred to as "things". Thanks.)

Please do not post time-wasting comments like this. I asked a serious question and I would appreciate a thoughtful and useful answer.

I've been a programmer for 15+ years and I'm very very good in the capabilities you say you're looking for.

I am also very business-minded having run my own outsource programming service overseas for the better part of a decade until I moved back to the USA 20 months ago.

Unfortunately I have learned that most companies in the USA these days are not willing to allow me to use the language in which I have developed and practiced my expertise for the past 15 years, regardless of how much faster I can produce for them in this language.

Instead most companies seen to hold out for programmers who know today's "popular" languages. So they lose out on my extensive background and experience, and I lose out on an opportunity to bring one of these companies the kind of service and performance they complain about not being able to find.

One of my clients has so many web-based requests that he asked me to build a better system, and this system is basically what I came up with.

A visitor wants to use one of our request forms so he enters his email address and clicks Submit. The next page says "Check your inbox, spam and junk mail boxes for the email we just sent you, then click the link to complete our request form."

Nearly all of them click the link. SPAM and bogus requests have dropped to zero.

Once in a while we get a complaint stating that they never received the confirmation email, but we know they were all sent because we BCC copies to a special gmail account for archival purposes.

The client is happy.

No, this is not a login system but I'm going to implement it on my new website as a login system because it is MUCH simpler than dealing with passwords ... and there is far less resistance to this system than some of you seem to be complaining about.

The fact is, people really dislike dealing with passwords and this system gets rid of them.

Interviews are not illegal and they are typically a very important part of the hiring process, so I don't see this as a problem.

U.S. banks have gone through dramatic changes in recent years. Now nearly all of them require proof of U.S. residency. Local banks ask you to appear in person and online banks use other means to prove that you live in the USA.

If you really NEED a U.S. bank account and are not personally in the USA, your best option may be to find someone here who already has one, then use his/her account.

I have always thought that there may be a unique opportunity here, so go ahead and email me privately if you'd like to discuss this further.

"she just happened to be completely ignorant about there being a way that she could avoid the obvious legal issues"

I think she has known all along that she's been running her business illegally by stealing other people's work without permission, and because she was never confronted about it until now she became emboldened to continue to expand her illegal practices.

I think she's acting ignorant, and it does not feel genuine to me at all. Anyone who claims to have been employed as an editor for 3 decades certainly knows what is legal and illegal. She just figured that she could get away with it -- and when confronted she decided that "the best defense is a strong offense" so she attacked the author verbally and tried to belittle her -- thinking perhaps that the author would simply back away and 'disappear' rather than assert her rights.

One thing I really hate is when a website like this uses javascript links unnecessarily. They prevent me from opening the linked pages in new tabs, so I have to switch back and forth needlessly. When there is no need for javascript links -- which take control away from the user and make his experience distasteful -- why not just use NORMAL hyperlinks???

I have NO ONE who prefers facebook to email. Then again I'm not a very social person online. I use the Internet primarily for research (self-education, it's like a huge free library on my desk) ... and for business, and business users certainly do not rely on facebook for online communication. I doubt they ever will.

No answer so apparently the OP has lost interest or obtained the answer he/she was looking for.

"... lead me to believe that he might not really be qualified beyond just having a lot of money."

I would LOVE it if I could find an investor like this! Apparently you're looking for a partner to help work in the business and not just an investor. That's fine, but some entrepreneurs do better when the investor ONLY provides working capital -- and stays away from the business otherwise.

Are you trying to become a "merchant middleman" who buys items for resale to the customer, or are you instead attempting to provide the credit card charging service for the other merchant?

I tried it. The website said it was ringing before my phone rang, then it said connected before my phone rang. Then my phone rang and I picked up, but no voice was transmitted in either direction. Interesting concept but it doesn't work for me.

If you need someone to fix it for you I can certainly use the work.

Sometimes it irritates me to see so many people apparently complaining about the shortage of competent / qualified programmers these days. I'm more than 50 years old with nearly two decades of professional experience as a programmer. I ran my own outsource programmer training center in Asia for several years and we ran more than 200 trainees through the system before we closed.

I also have an additional range of business experience that might come in handy to a future employer, especially in a company run by people much younger and less experienced than me.

And I'm not afraid to put in 12 hours days for weeks on end when it's important to the company.

But I never see any job listings for people who can bring what I want to bring to the table. Instead I typically see complaints about startups not being able to find qualified engineers. Yet I've been back in the USA for more than a year already, and so far I haven't been able to get a single startup to consider hiring me.

Is it my age that puts them off? Or should I be looking for work with companies other than startups? Or am I looking at the wrong startups?

Or should I just do my own startup and stop trying to help with someone else's?

Posts like these are just a waste of time. If you're not willing to provide the details so we actually know what company / product / service you're talking about how can we offer any credible advice?

Sure, it's easy to say "focus on the business" and "don't give up" but maybe what you're doing is a losing proposition from the beginning -- and maybe you SHOULD give up!

Who knows, maybe you should have given up before you ever started? It's hard to say without knowing any real facts ... :(

"Anyone else leave a time bomb or easter egg?"

Years ago I had a client who promised me thousands of dollars to develop a website. At first he tried to convince me to work in exchange for a percentage of the company, but when I refused he said he would pay me cash.

I built the site but never trusted him to pay me so I included a "delete script" that would erase all the code on every html page of the website when a set of three unique parameters were passed to a specific page of the site in a URL.

When I was nearly finished with the site he suddenly called to tell me he was on a plane to meet investors and needed me to upload the site to his live server "immediately" so he could do a demo in a few hours. I uploaded it just as he asked, and then he seemed to become invisible or unavailable for more than a week. Hmmm ...

After many unsuccessful attempts trying to get him to respond to my calls and emails I finally decided to trigger my delete code. He called within the hour to ask what I might have done to "his" website.

I told him he does not own the website because it was still mine until he paid for it. He claimed that I had agreed to wprk in exchange for a percentage of the company, and I laughed.

Eventually he asked if I had a copy of the website that I could send him if he paid me, and an hour after I said "yes" the full amount appeared in my bank account.

I sent him new copies of the html files (without my delete script) and thankfully I never heard from that dishonest unethical opportunistic client ever again.

Lesson learned: Never trust a programming client to do what he promises, even when it is in writing.

From that point on I have always asked my clients to prepay for my programming labor. Most of them complain at first, but I give them a discount when they prepay, and that's usually enough to convince them to trust me to do what I say I will do -- instead of me trusting them to pay me later.

When they learn that I'm honest and always send a refund when they overpay, they never complain about my payment system again ... but they really appreciate the price break I give them when they prepay.

Let me know when you have the rfhd&cs done. I'm designing a house that will use radiant floor heating and I'd be interested to see your system. My email is in my profile.

>> Why the split was never declared before you started working together?

> We've gone back and forth many times. It's hard to decide on equity when circumstances change.

No it's not, it's easy.

I've always felt that two or more people involved in a business like this should share equity in relation to the number of hours they have actually worked, adjusted for any cash they have invested in the business.

For example if neither of you have invested cash but your partner has worked 400 hours and you've worked 1200 hours then the split is 25/75 in your favor. Simple!

The split changes as the ratio of hours changes or as the partner's cash investment changes, but the basic agreement here is that each partner's time and/or money is equally as valuable as that of the other partners. If one partner stops working completely his share will continue to shrink as the other partners continue to increase their relative shares by working more and more hours.

This IMO is "fair" because no matter what, it's the hours the two of you have worked that determines who gets the most, with cash investment considered too of course.

I told my brother this years ago when I had already invested 700 hours in a new business, as well as five thousand dollars in cash. He saw the potential of my venture and he wanted to jump in with a 50/50 deal immediately. I said no, I've invested 700 X $50 = $35,000 in labor and $5000 in cash so I'm ahead of you by $40,000 -- so here's how we will do it:

My share right now is 100% and yours is 0% but you have the right to invest cash or time (valued at $50 per hour) in order to catch up to me. When you've caught up by investing as much time and/or money as me then we will be equal partners, but until then we will use this sharing ratio to determine who owns how much of the business.

It's a good system that rewards partners for their actual contributions instead of some pre-conceived notion of how much each one might be worth relative to the others.