First Impression: For some reason, unless I can see an example of exactly what this looks like / a demo I can't see myself signing up.
Signing up was fairly quick. However making my first post was a little troublesome: Hitting the "enter" button when didn't seem to post anything. The overall feel here feels less like a diary and more like a self-contained twitter feed. I think it's the atmosphere of the application that is throwing me off the most.
Congrats on shipping a product though! I'll continue to try it out.
From time to time I suffer the same issue. I look back hours later and get angry at myself for 'wasting' so much time. There are a few things you can do to help you out that others have mentioned. However this works for me the best:
I edit my hosts file (Windows: /Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts, Mac: /etc/hosts) to look something similar to:
127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com
127.0.0.1 techcrunch.com www.techcrunch.com
127.0.0.1 reddit.com www.reddit.com
etc.
Alternatively you can use other tools to block traffic. RescueTime (http://www.rescuetime.com/)is an awesome tool as well.
BurstNET is located very close to where I am. About a year and a half ago I toured their facilities for a colocation project. Upon walking in I was horrified. They rows of tower based servers with their cases ripped off on the wire-frame racks you would find in a home improvement store. After seeing that and hearing they lacked any fire suppression system I respectfully walked away from their bid.
I think it really comes from the ease of the exit and the disconnect from anything human. Even when you come down to it on a snail-mail level there is still a human element to that communication. Whether it be the signature at the end, or hosting a physical object in your hand, I think something makes it more real.
When you are online everything fits into the same type of frame: Words in a font on a screen. It looks just the same just about everywhere. I think it may be that these people believe they are yelling more at a screen and some text than a real human being on the other side.
I have contacted 37Signals and they informed me they will look into the issue. Thank you for the link to David's post as well. I am giving it a read over now.
As I commented before I think it is a bit of me still trying to give everyone a chance. From the brief it did seem like that something was off. I just have to keep developing on letting certain "opportunities" pass at certain times.
About four months ago I had a client who received their licensing information put in a claim on me. Even though I sent full documentation showing that they received their license they still refunded this individual. That did get me quite upset with PayPal. Since then I really haven't done that many transactions with them or any online freelancing. I'll have to keep the wire transfer in mind for the future. Thank you bosch!
Absolutely. Once he IM'ed me I was looking for a way to get out of there without seeming rude. I cringed when he agreed to the price I gave. I thought it was going to end the conversation there. I am still working on growing a pair and walking out of things as soon as I want out instead of trying to find a way to make things work. It is still a transition for my mind to get into "It's okay to say 'No.'"
Update: Thank you all for your help and blunt honesty in this matter -- I deeply appreciate it. Taking your advice I am wrapping up a few final projects I have outstanding and updating my resume. I will keep you all posted on the outcome of the situation with a blog post that I will post to HN later this month. Thank you again for your time, advice, and support.
My wife first got Pregnant a few months after I got this job. (I worked there a bit over 14 months now. The first two months were really just be doing a design or two. for them.) Before this job the money from the other startups was even more sporadic. This, was almost a relief, having a solid amount of money per week at a job where I could do what I liked. (The area has few other tech companies.)
And you are completely rational in saying that it is irrational to expect to live on $500/week with two kids. However it is absolutely possible to do with one child, trust me. At the time this was the safest thing for us to do. My wife breast feeds, cloth diapers, and stays at home with our daughter. (If you ever have a child the first two will save you a significant amount of money.)
We just found out about the second child being on the way. This plays into my emotions and thoughts on having to do something about the situation I am currently in.
Signing up was fairly quick. However making my first post was a little troublesome: Hitting the "enter" button when didn't seem to post anything. The overall feel here feels less like a diary and more like a self-contained twitter feed. I think it's the atmosphere of the application that is throwing me off the most.
Congrats on shipping a product though! I'll continue to try it out.