Ask HN: Why did this post cost me 10% of subscribers?

16 点作者 danielflopes超过 11 年前

A few days ago I published a post with the title: In 2014, if you want happiness, choose workAfter this post my number of subscribers decreased almost 10%. This made me curious: why did this happen?Was it because of my tone? Was because of some bad english? Or was because people don't agree with my point? And if it is because of this last one, why not?I'm interested in knowing the point of view from the people of HN.EDIT: I forgot the url for the blog post - http://danielflopes.com/choosework/

28 条评论

CJefferson超过 11 年前

The problem is you appear to live in a fantasy land. I only read the second paragraph, but it is one of the stupidest things I've ever read (sorry, that is a harsh thing to say, but I think this requires a reply this strong)."Work from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep. Take your breakfast while reviewing your to-do list for the day. Work a few hours. At lunch, discuss with your team what’s the best solution for that problem. Work some more. At dinner, have a great meal with your loving ones and tell them what’s going on with work. Feel free to ask them for their opinion. After that, go back to work, of course – it’s time to answer to those emails, and read a decent book about a topic of your industry. Have a good night’s sleep."This is incredibly self-centered. What about what your loved ones have been up to (as one tiny example?). And god-forbid you have any children. You need to get THEM breakfast on a morning. Perhaps, maybe, you should spend some time with your "loved ones" on an evening, other than just telling them about your work over dinner then disappearing off to work?I would hate to be your "loved one".CLARIFYING EDIT: This isn't intended to be a personal attack on Daniel's life (which I don't know anything about), just my raw opinions as I read the first two paragraphs of his blog article, hopefully to help him understand why some people took harshly against it.

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kohanz超过 11 年前

OP, do you have a family (e.g. significant other, kids)? The post reads a bit preachy. When I read this, I think: the only type of person who would recommend this lifestyle is an early 20-something male who doesn't have much else going in their lives. That may or may not be correct (and it shows as much about my own personal bias as it does about the post), and even if it is correct, that's not a bad thing since if that's the significant demographic that you might be aiming for.However, if you have subscribers who have a life at home, with family, that they enjoy, or just enjoy hobbies that are not congruent with making a living, I can see why they felt alienated by this post.

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byoung2超过 11 年前

You seem to be promoting a recipe for burnout, and that's not a popular viewpoint on HN. Of course you need to work hard at anything to be successful, whether it's sports, art, or a startup, but you need to have balance. For example, after dinner I like to read Dr. Seuss to my 14 month old daughter rather than books about programming or startups. When she's asleep, my wife and I like to watch crime dramas on TV. I like that my work stays between business hours and after that, it's family time.

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PeterWhittaker超过 11 年前

Let me paraphrase you, or meta-phrase, if you will: "What you are doing now, what you are passionate about now, is the be-all and end-all of your life! You need nothing else! Do it 24/7! If you choose to do something other than this, then choose something uplifting, something that supports and reinforces your view of the world! Because it is right! And the only one!"Dude. Chill. Where is your time for discovery? You say "travel, sure", but then you say "Forget the idea about how much fun others are getting in the Caribbean Islands."WTF? How will ever know if you like snorkeling or scuba diving or trapeze or archery, or various other idle pursuits that one discovers when one unplugs?It is possible to have multiple passions. The one you have now is just that: One. Allow yourself time and space to find others."Humans are wired for growth." I don't even know what that means. Humans aren't wired for much other than eating, defecating, and breathing. Everything else is a choice, an itch. Don't over-glorify yours. Don't over-glorify what works right now. Because things change.If you are lucky, you'll discover the changes while you are still young and fit enough to enjoy them.Chain yourself to your current passion, for the rest of your life, and somewhere along the line you will wonder when you traded your monastic cell of devotion for solitary confinement.

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brohee超过 11 年前

Warning: harsh. I had to google it seems you didn't deem us worthy of reading the piece in its entirety. So here it is <a href="http://danielflopes.com/choosework/" rel="nofollow">http://danielflopes.com/choosework/</a>The title is the least issues with the post. The post is content free, pushing anecdotal evidence (the Sam Walton thing) as data, and stating some pretty important things like "Humans are wired to growth. Long lasting happiness comes from setting big goals and meeting them. It comes from the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." without any supporting evidence.I would guess the people who unsubscribed followed the spirit of your article, and unsubscribed because their time is too precious to read drivel from a random nobody with no discernible achievement... The right to tell people how to run their live is pretty hard to gain.

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ars超过 11 年前

I would unsubscribe too, because I quite disagree with this viewpoint.I agree with the basic idea that humans need to do stuff to be happy - but not work necessarily. Taking care of kids is also doing something. Making a nice meal instead of microwaving, is also doing something. Those things bring satisfaction as well.

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amouat超过 11 年前

It makes very depressing and uninspiring reading; I don't want to think of my life as being consumed by work.I think you just need a slightly different angle: many happy people have a driving project or belief that inspires them. I think that's what you meant to say. And it's different from "work", which is a four letter synonym for drudgery.

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ThomPete超过 11 年前

You lost 10% because you claim things that only 22 year olds do and thus wont be delivering insights to people 32.You have much to learn yet, we all do :)

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jamesbrownuhh超过 11 年前

I wasn't a reader of your blog previously, but from the sidebar I take it to be about optimising your activities and effort - work smarter, not harder, that kind of thing. So really I'm guessing that an audience seeking those kind of tips is going to be mildly surprised or discouraged by an article which, in the first few sentences, basically seems to say "work all the time, every chance you get." - Chances are that such content is the absolute opposite of what your audience came for and is expecting.Some way down you do then introduce the idea that time is precious and it should not be wasted "consuming low quality content" - and not saying that your blog is low quality at all, but this sentence does plant a very powerful seed. Don't waste time with things you don't want to read or which are not interesting or relevant to your interests.The combination of the two could be a one-two punch, at least for some people. If people have not enjoyed the article, the immediate reaction may well be to "unsubscribe now."

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loumf超过 11 年前

Probably because the post was incongruous with why they subscribed in the first place. 10% of what number? Which post gets you the most subscriptions?Picking Sam Walton as a role-model of happiness is unsubstantiated -- he was definitely rich, so a better title might be: "If you want money, work more" -- which is essentially what you wrote.

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chany2超过 11 年前

I actually agree with your post. And subscribed to you afterwards.I often encounter the same issue.////Typical Example: Friends ask me what I am doing over the weekend? I said I got some work to do. I have to learn NodeJs, figure out how to parse BCC address off an email, focus on my UI and UX design for my email app, go do more research on hashtags for emails, etc...What I cited there are not "work" per say as coined in most people's mind as the dreary 8 hour work life.What I am actually saying is "I GOT A PROBLEM I AM PASSIONATED IN SOLVING. I AM GOING TO SPEND MY WEEKEND AND NIGHTS RESEARCHING TO SOLVE IT BECAUSE ITS FUN. IT IS MY VIDEOGAME, AND MY WAY OF GAINING SATISFACTION TO IMPROVE MYSELF."//// So basically if you replaced "In 2014, if you want happiness, choose work" with "In 2014, if you want happiness, choose PASSION". No one would unsubscribe.

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mathattack超过 11 年前

With all due respect I can absolutely see why many people would no longer be interested in your opinions after such a self-centered post. This might be the path to achieving something big, but it also the path to loneliness. If you can't take off for even 15 minutes at a meal to talk about what's important for your family, then you can't expect them to really care about your work either."At dinner, have a great meal with your loving ones and tell them what’s going on with work."I can only think what Freud might. They might be loving but they're not loved and they won't be loving for long.It is the content that might disturb folks, not your English. That you don't perceive this might be part of the problem.

metaphorm超过 11 年前

what you wrote is a post that has little meaningful content or new information. it is a short and (in my opinion) poorly written opinion piece exhorting people to adopt a life style that many consider destructive and counter productive.

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danielflopes超过 11 年前

The url to the blog post: <a href="http://danielflopes.com/choosework/" rel="nofollow">http://danielflopes.com/choosework/</a>

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lazyant超过 11 年前

it's very hard to take seriously advice over long lasting happiness from a 22 year old.

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amirouche超过 11 年前

I share the same point of view “choose work” thing. Even if I agree with you, reading the post (<a href="http://danielflopes.com/choosework/" rel="nofollow">http://danielflopes.com/choosework/</a>), at least the first part of it, makes it feel like it's some kind of a military life, while it's not the case, at least on my side. It's all about the way you present the thing or yourself and in this particular case the post's tone is too much ”rude”, ”strong“, ”military“. It sound like cult propaganda. The second part fails to lower the stress the first part provide. Form advice: The text must be longer, with citations & explanations. Content advice: Work Work Work. What does it mean anyway? When I learn a new technology, I don't feel like I'm working, when I code at home most of the time I don't feel like I'm working... What is significant in my particular case is ”focus (on the craft)”. CS is my passion, I want to learn it, but that's not the only thing I do, as working on any target also means that I need to take the time to break the loop to breath fresh air (with or without focus on self-improvement). Good focus needs a balanced-life.

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workaholic超过 11 年前

Trying to take as objective a view here as possible...The present hacker zeitgeist disagrees with your viewpoint. Your post came at a particularly bad time, as this post is fresh on the collective's mind:<a href="http://sethbannon.com/vacations-are-for-the-weak" rel="nofollow">http://sethbannon.com/vacations-are-for-the-weak</a>

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tremols超过 11 年前

I believe that people is starting to get sick of this over-narcisistic trend in blogging where you imply that you are a genious because you cracked X secret of life and you are going to share it with the less enlightened masses. Its going to backfire unless you provide a truly genius or novel insight.

loftsy超过 11 年前

A lot of satisfaction, inspiration and personal growth in life comes from leisure time. Enjoying a glass of wine with a friend, meeting a new person. In the end its the people in your life you will remember and who will remember you. Not your achievements.

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piyush_soni超过 11 年前

@OP, Read this- Top 5 regrets of the dying: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/03/top-5-regrets-of-the-dying_n_3640593.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/03/top-5-regrets-of-th...</a>:)

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angersock超过 11 年前

It's entirely possible that your post just tripped a lot of people's "Oh, it's the end of the year, I should clean out my subscriptions".That said...A quick reading suggests that your message is "choose work, because that means you are doing what you care about (work)". Even if that isn't capturing the subtlety of your message, that's probably what most took away from it.The "work work work" message doesn't go down well these days, especially because the zeitgeist is that companies are squeezing us folks dry. Asking people to bring their work into every facet of their lives is a bit much, to be honest--and I'm saying this as someone who does just that.A message of "do what you are passionate about", or "take pride in your work", or pretty much anything else would have gone better; otherwise, you come across as "become worker drone beep boop".Read The Jungle for a good perspective on how focusing on your work screws you.~Some miscellaneous gripes:Use an Oxford comma (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma</a>) in your sidebar about snippet:"...for happiness, integrity and success." => "...for happiness, integrity, and success."The choice of light-grey-white in the bottom of your about page is brutal--especially the "Me around the web". Why not use the little badges everyone is used to there, anyways, or in your sidebar?Your about page also has the worst-formatted quote (from Chuck Palahniuk, no less, who would laugh at your article I think) block I've seen in a while. You need to set the author's name off from the text, and fix the top padding. Fixing the colors wouldn't hurt either.Also, the picture in your sidebar can best be described as 'slackjawed', the hover version 'imbecillic'. If you're trying to write about how to become rich, famous, and fulfilled, I'd suggest not looking like a stereotypical college kid/PFY.

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yaongi超过 11 年前

The article is very opinionated, with bolded sentences, repeated phrasing, and is mainly imperatives.The immediate response for me is 'some other fucker is telling me I have to work now?'Work means different things for different people.Also, I guess your opinion is actually more nuanced than the article implies, and though I still might not appreciate it, I wouldn't be as annoyed if the article was an honest exploration instead of a rushed polemic.

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octatone2超过 11 年前

"Work from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep."Depressing as fuck.

ishiboy超过 11 年前

you guys are idiots - they unsubscribed because most its the start of 2014 and they have been meaning to fix their inbox spam a while and finally have the motivation to do it.

mindcrime超过 11 年前

FWIW, I mostly agree with your post. I would subscribe, but I couldn't find the RSS feed link.

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malditojavi超过 11 年前

How big the sampling of that 10% is?

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lurkinggrue超过 11 年前

How old is the OP?

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6d0debc071超过 11 年前

I remembering being told something very similar about university. But I got the degree and it was nothing to me. Achieving hard things is not innately rewarding, at least not for everyone. Maybe it's rewarding if your goal is meaningful, but how many people honestly have meaningful jobs? Wiring in another CRUD app? Shoot me now.If people enjoyed their work that much, they wouldn't probably need you to advise them to do it. For someone who's struggling with their work life balance, it's far from clear that 'Work more!' is the answer to their happiness.I know that, before I started only seriously coding a few hours a day and taking three day weekends, and spending the rest of the time on less focused stuff like meetings and planning and mentoring our newbies (favourite work-related activity), I basically had to take a long break from working every couple of years just to recuperate; get my mental ducks in a line, do some stuff that has nothing to do with work. Something I worry that you may not realise is that, for some people, focus and creativity are finite resources.What fuels those resources? Well, it seems to vary. Among other things, I enjoy swimming, reading fan-fiction of varying quality, and martial arts. I don't think I could function as a programmer if I didn't do those things.There was a time - back with the open-plan office coincidentally - when I didn't. When I was just getting into programming and it was all work work work. Sure, I'll pull the weekend, sure I'll help with this. I just wanted to make people happy.Eventually I noticed I was tired all the time, and my creativity and all the fun ideas I used to have just weren't there for me any more. I even stopped dreaming, and feeling emotionally connected to people. Not in a metaphorical sense, I was just so mentally knackered that I went to sleep and woke up in the morning with the impression no time had passed and not even a fleeting image of what I'd been dreaming. People would smile at me and it didn't make me feel happy any more.Would the answer for me really have been to work more?Your advice may be very good for some people, but in so far as you don't know everyone, it's probably a bit risky in terms of how people are going to respond to tell everyone to do it.Would I have unsubscribed? No, not if I found what you were saying in other respects worthwhile - I understand that you probably just want to help people and that's a nice thing, so I'd go with the benefit of the doubt rather than the content of the post. (Like when someone wishes me Merry Christmas - so what if I'm not a Christian? They want me to be happy, so Merry Christmas too!) But not everyone's going to see it like that, and writing it as more like, "What I've found make me happy at the moment." Potentially offers less that someone might take offence to if it's harder to read it as a statement about how you think they should live their lives. ^_^