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Ask HN: Should I open up my apps data so anyone can use and derive from it?

6 pointsby MrMattover 15 years ago
I've built a site for climbers called Bouldr (http://bouldr.net) - a worldwide, user editable guidebook for climbers.<p>Recently, I've been toying with the idea of making all of the data that has been submitted to Bouldr open (Creative-Commons) to everyone in the form of a downloadable archive as well as an API.<p>My thinking is that if I make the data available in a similar way to how Stack Overflow already does, then more climbers will be motivated to contribute, and more interesting uses of the data will come to light.<p>My only concern is that I may inadvertently <i></i>kill my site to death<i></i> by overlooking some glaring reason that this is a bad idea.<p>So my question is: Is opening up the data from Bouldr a good / bad / stupid / dangerous idea, and why?<p>Cheers!

2 comments

brown9-2over 15 years ago
I think it would only constitute a "bad idea" if somehow having the only access to that data is the key to your business plan and revenue (if you even have one - not sure if this site is for hobby or for profit).<p>Otherwise, why not share it? Especially if you rely on users contributing the data to you in the first place.
MrMattover 15 years ago
Link to site: <a href="http://bouldr.net" rel="nofollow">http://bouldr.net</a>