So at risk of being the exact type of crusty old guy the tweeter is complaining about, I think Rik is completely missing the point. Progammers are busy, and not just with work but with learning. Somebody said its a 60hr/wk job, 40hrs for your boss and 20hrs just keeping up with technology, and while probably a bit facitious most weeks it feels that way. So not only are we keeping up with the platforms we're working on, we're also trying to keep an eye on what technology is on the horizon, or even other technology that exists and is usable today that we probably should know about.
Rik sounds like somebody who applies for 100 jobs and complains why companies never give him feedback without realizing that each of those jobs is getting 100s of applications and replying to them all is not remotely possible.
Then further, his market is developers who have been around awhile and seen some shit. This is an industry where everything old is new again; the reason people have a knee-jerk reaction to projects like Beads and Makepad is because we've seen things that look similar, probably used them ourselves, and been burned by them. People working on projects like this, when they are marketing to experienced developers, should try and place the project in the context of the history of similar projects and explain why this time they have it right.
Lastly, it doesn't matter if your project is asking for money or asking for developer attention, insulting your target market is never the right play. Startups spend massive energy honing and refining their marketing message, they don't expect potential customers to just magically get-it. Projects who want developer attention should view their marketing with the same importance. And if a project, just like a product, does not take their marketing seriously, I'm less inclined to take them seriously unless they are very clearly and obviously solving one of my immediate problems at which point I don't care if their marketing is a plain text document.
Rik sounds like somebody who applies for 100 jobs and complains why companies never give him feedback without realizing that each of those jobs is getting 100s of applications and replying to them all is not remotely possible.
Then further, his market is developers who have been around awhile and seen some shit. This is an industry where everything old is new again; the reason people have a knee-jerk reaction to projects like Beads and Makepad is because we've seen things that look similar, probably used them ourselves, and been burned by them. People working on projects like this, when they are marketing to experienced developers, should try and place the project in the context of the history of similar projects and explain why this time they have it right.
Lastly, it doesn't matter if your project is asking for money or asking for developer attention, insulting your target market is never the right play. Startups spend massive energy honing and refining their marketing message, they don't expect potential customers to just magically get-it. Projects who want developer attention should view their marketing with the same importance. And if a project, just like a product, does not take their marketing seriously, I'm less inclined to take them seriously unless they are very clearly and obviously solving one of my immediate problems at which point I don't care if their marketing is a plain text document.