I use the LightPhone. IMO, eInk takes things maybe a bit too far. The refresh rate is terrible and I have yet to seen an eInk phone that has a good texting experience. Most of the companies doing this are trying to get people off their smartphones (a goal I agree with). But making texting harder ironically leads to me using the phone longer than I would if I had an easy way to send a text.
The battery life and visibility in the sun are both great features. I'm hoping the middle part of the spectrum between the eInk phones and the iPhone/Pixel starts to fill in. Something more along the lines of the Wise Phone (https://techless.com/).
Yes. I actually tend to call people back when they text me if I'm on the Light Phone lol, the physical experience of typing is that frustrating. I find myself hoping nobody texts me when my SIM is in the Light Phone because then it's hard to keep track of what info is on what device, iPhone or Light Phone, because yeah, I had to keep both, while I love the Light Phone and regret nothing and it's helped me practice better habits, the lack of productivity tools means the Light Phone is mainly a hike phone or going on a date phone for me.
I still would love an everyday phone that isn't an iPhone. Amazing rec for Wise Phone, has anyone tried it personally?
Yes, and the people who went out and did the research, took the photos, wrote the stories, and performed the studies should all work for free too. (sarcasm)
The example you gave is a study from a journal. Quite a difference from "news" as most would think of it (CNN, Fox, etc) which are free.
I'm glad the mods unflagged this, as I do believe there is some interesting discussion here.
Do you see your app as being useful to people researching more philosophical aspects of the Bible? (For instance: I'm atheist to the core, but I'm curious about the impact Stoicism had on the Bible.)
I flagged this submission because I think it has a high potential for not-interesting and unproductive discussion. Others can vouch if I'm wrong, but I don't see a place for an app like this on HN. Product Hunt seems more appropriate.
This is a very loosely held opinion, though I'm not willing to go back and forth on it, and I doubt my flag will change anything one way or another.
Your flag would have contributed, along with others, to lowering the rank of the story and also to the [flagged] marker getting put on it. I don't think flagging was appropriate in this case—the app seems as on-topic as any other, and the fact that the material is religious shouldn't make a difference, although religion is of course a divisive topic and most religious-themed submissions tend to get this treatment from some users.
Religious tolerance has been a prime principle of intellectual culture for many centuries. If you zoom out to a historical perspective, it's clear that it's in all our interests to practice it, regardless of what our religious or irreligious views may be. We don't have to hold the same views to respect each other, and the art of interesting discourse with people who hold different views is something we should all cultivate, assuming that we have the intellectual curiosity that the HN guidelines speak of.
From a different angle: the problem with mobile apps as Show HNs is that they're not easy to try out (https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html) without going through the rigamarole of installing them. But that's a problem with the entire category, and as long as we haven't disallowed them (which we're not going to), this submission seems as valid as any other.
Was I wrong to rely on the system to prevent my view from having an outsized or misrepresented amount of control here? I figured my vote, along with many others, would decide the fate of the submission, ultimately moderated by you.
I can adjust my behavior if this wasn't the right way to think about it, but I just want to make sure I'm acting as intended with this point of view.
No, in the sense that other users had to do the same thing in order for flags to 'win' over upvotes. Yes, in the sense that your flag probably had more effect than you assumed it would.
I wouldn't say you were super wrong about how the system works or is intended to work! I'd say you and the other flaggers misapplied the site guidelines in this case. You're right that it's moderation's job to correct for such failure modes.
Did you read the HN guidelines? I can vouch that you're wrong. Someone spent time working on an app they care about and has proven by the conversation here to be interesting to the community. If someone wrote an app on a topic you'd be interested in, would you have flagged it?
Please consider that there are varying perspectives on HN beyond your own and that sharing an app which allows people to study the Bible isn't forcing a worldview on anyone.
You serious? The guy/girl is taking on the task of trying to help with understanding of one of the most complex, and well known, books we have as a species! And he/she is trying to do so using technology that most here are familiar with. How in hell (pardon the pun) is this not relevant?
Its a super interesting challenge
Even as someone dismayed by the outsized influence of ancient religion on modern society, I don't think it's fair to flag this. Like it or not, this impacts a lot of people, and developing an app for that audience comes with its own set of interesting UX, curation, funding, etc. considerations.
Even if I don't like the product, it's certainly worth a discussion at least.
The problem is, unless I'm misunderstanding something about HN, they can not vouch until the submission is already dead.
You're not out of bounds to suppose this will have some bad comments, but I do think it's presumptuous to bet there will be no interesting discussion. There in fact has already been both - a lot of interesting discussion, and a little bit of bad comments. I encourage you to flag bad comments while they are still the minority, and only resort to flagging the submission if they take over, since, again, nobody can vouch for the submission until it's dead, at which point there will be fewer people to vouch for it, as it will be hidden.
Edit: Actually, maybe vouch is only for comments, and not for submissions? I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I think my suggestion still makes sense.
I flagged it too. If we take it to the extreme... and I see tons of bible app discussions on Hacker News then I will quickly lose interest in HN. The bible isn't based on facts and contradicts itself many times over.
If everyone flagged every article they found uninteresting, particularly something that rarely comes up here, because they're afraid it will become common on HN, then we'd pretty quickly have a pretty narrow and boring "lowest common denominator of interesting" site.
On a side note, I'm curious the history of "lowest common denominator". Did it start out as a confusion of "least common multiple" and "greatest common divisor/denominator" from mathematics, or was it more purposeful?
Maybe a US thing? Yes, people do this. Quite a bit right now especially because there is a supply shortage so buyers are desperate to find houses for sale. Not unheard to get bid out by cash buyers going well above asking price. So the possibility of finding a home you love before it's listed on the MLS is attractive to buyers.
Yeah, same in USA in regards to most people using real estate agents. But lots of people are sending letters right now due to the supply shortage. This is a more convenient way to do it.
a) you can do it entirely from your computer
b) you don't have to drive anywhere or go door-to-door
c) you get feedback on who opened and read your letter
d) you're guaranteed it'll go to the homeowner, not just the tenant (if it's being rented out at the time)
e) you get a professional introduction that signals to the homeowner that you're serious; more so than someone that just prints off 50 copies of a letter on their home printer and drops them like flyers on doorsteps.
I think an issue with that thinking is that people don't choose a home from their computer. They want to drive to the area to get a feel for it, they want to see the houses.
In addition, unless the homeowners have also previously signed up with your service (in which case why not an estate agent?) then, IMHO that's still a flyer on the doorstep (as opposed to manuscript and personal letter if I leave a card).
>e) you get a professional introduction that signals to the homeowner that you're serious; more so than someone that just prints off 50 copies of a letter on their home printer and drops them like flyers on doorsteps.
A professional introduction by whom?
A web only start up that "introduces" two perfect strangers for a fee?
Ok, so you're saying remove the phone number question? It's optional and we have a public flow where you don't register till most of the way thru (click Send Letter button on home page without being logged in and you'll see what I mean).
