In regards to the "random people" scenario, I have found that people who harbour such feelings will almost never make them public in a public forum even if they feel comfortable telling close friends or acquaintances. I have found that this has somewhat changed over the past few years where more and more people are somewhat saying "meh" and openly voicing any anything-phobic thoughts.
I certainly think you're right about the fact that this can partly be attributed to the fact that more and more people have more efficient ways of posting these sorts of comments/articles but there also seems like there's something more to it. There seems to be some fundamental social change in the US that has emboldened people to feel comfortable to spew rhetoric publicly. It's almost like a legalized form of hate under the guise of free speech laws in ways that have never happened before.
I think there is also a bit of backlash to government programs that tried to mandate equality and fairness, but many served to just be bureaucratic money sinks. Unfortunately in some peoples minds, the inefficiencies of these systems, and the outright deception by some politicians in support of these programs to further their own aims, get blamed on the recipients of these systems. It is not fair, but I think it is a natural product of people that don't analyze the situation fully.
Lets take immigration for example, there are politicians in the system that are in total support for the current situation, because it creates a market for less than minimum wage workers for companies, some of which contribute to and lobby political offices. As such, it creates a financial system that encourages bureaucracy that is intended to look like something is being done about it, when in fact the intent is to maintain the current status as long as possible. Unfortunately in this situation, people just looking to make a life for themselves and doing what anyone else would do in their situation, are left to bare the brunt of the outrage, a situation said politicians are more than please with. There is a lot of scapegoating going on in the US right now, which I fear could be leading to a dangerous situation.
Well I have tried this actually on numerous occasions; people are willing to tell a lot, especially when stimulated into emotion. This goes for online as well; if you stimulate people, like for instance; i'm from the Netherlands and there is this whole Joran van der Sloot crap going on in the US. In forums here, you often see people saying 'no matter what, he needs a fair trial', which is followed by 100s of 1000s of messages, posted by people with their real name, that he should 'hang', 'be shot', 'shanked in prison', 'tortured', 'have no fair trial as he doesn't deserve it' etc. If (some, but that's unfortunately most) people are passionate enough about something, they'll say/do anything.
So I still think you live in a slightly skewed world if you don't encounter that when you randomly approach people. I do think it has been like that for a long time (10 years ago I walked into a bar in Germany, the guys at the bar were openly and loudly talking about wanting Hitler back as the foreigner problem has to be dealt with; these people have internet in their hand now through smartphones) though, only now you see it popping up on the internet.
Fair point and I am certainly aware of that. I was actually hoping that would come across in my post.
My main concern is that it's becoming increasingly more acceptable to be publicly hateful in a non-anonymous fashion. This is somewhat unprecedented in the internet-age. I mean, some of the comments were outright disgusting.
What's also intriguing about aw3c2's message is how his/her question clearly demonstrates how our brains have trained themselves to ignore banner ads.
I read TC every day and it took me a little bit before I realized that the huge banner ad at the top and the one on the right were a) there and b) anti-SOPA.
Cheers! I am actually a non-javascript plus adblocking person. That website is really LOUD and obnoxious with so much contrast and huge text, I have no idea what is content, what is not, what is important, what is RANDOM BIG WORDS.
Given the US Gov (and I'm fairly certain most other govs as well) has wiretapping laws in place (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Assistance_for_L...), I don't see why anyone would be surprised that the hardware providers also provide a mechanism to allow for tapping.
... and why my g+ follower count went from ~200 to ~1200. wait 'til they see a stream full of my lolcats.
on a serious note, it seems as though most of the HN circle haven't posted much yet, my stream hasn't got that much more content to what it normally does. Looking forward to what the HN community posts, awesomez no doubt.
Well, I used to work at IBM alongside Scott Ambler. He is one of the international though-leaders in regards to Agile. He's a good guy and has amassed a great collection of scrum/agile related materials online on his personal site @ http://www.ambysoft.com/onlineWritings.html
I won’t actually continue this blog until 9 other tech-entrepreneurs agree to become regular contributors and share their stories on this blog (I’ll give you access). I won’t (nor will you) be making any money off this. The plan is not to make money, it’s to share experiences and create a community. You may score some attention for your business/launch/etc… which in itself is a huge reward.
Here’s what I’m looking for (male, female, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, blue green, one arm, 3 legs) to fill these roles:
1. The founder going it alone: (Filled) - Yohannes Tadesse
2. The founder working in the Bay Area
3. The founder working in Asia
4. The founder who wants to leave his/her day-job but hasn’t
5. The founder who’s no longer a founder anymore
6. The founder who’s on his/her n’th startup
7. The founder who’s part of an incubator program
8. The founder who proves it’s never too late to be a founder
9. The founder who’s raised over $5 million
10. Peter Sean Parker or Paul Graham.
I know we’re all busy so I was hoping to get a blog post approximately every 4 days from the said people. If you can do more, even better.
To “apply”, simply do this:
Send an email to thefoundersblog@gmail.com or tweet to @TheFoundersBlog to let me know which role you’re looking to fill and why you should be the person for that role.
1 step! That’s it! I will let you know if you’ve been selected once all the roles are filled. I have a feeling the last one will be tough, but it’s certainly not a joke.
Who told you that B2B sales was easier than consumer sales? I was working for a large tech company doing B2B sales before I left to start my own consumer focused business.
It's definitely much harder to acquire 1 "B" customer; however, their typical spend is much higher than 1 "C" customer. Perhaps that's what gives the illusion that B2B sales is easier.
As you stated, the sales cycles are long. You are at the mercy of the cycle. You gotta know where to invest time. It will kill you if you're not focused. Stay focused, take sales training, read books, have a mentor. Take my word.
