Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

Thanks for suggesting it, I didn't know about that place. It seems like a flood of unrefined ideas coming from non technical people. I also see a lot of "that would be a good business" type of ideas which is definitely not what I'm after.

The good thing about that place is that it points out some obvious flaws with my initial idea. Maybe doing it on Github instead of reddit and focusing on developers and requiring a bit more details before submitting a suggestion would solve these? I don't know.

Maybe "idea" is a too vague term here. I'm not thinking about business and large scale things. Only small little things that are in the "sideproject" category. And it's not that it's not good enough for me but having a full time job and other responsibilities seriously limits my abilities for execution.

Here the "refinement" of the ideas could be shared like it is in a company environment or in the open source development space (but that is more the execution part).

Other than that I see your point and that's why I was (and still is) unsure about this. Maybe it can never work in practice...

I get your quote, but some people like myself get stuck when we try to think of fun side project ideas or app ideas to build something. This helps people like that who just need a little push in the right direction.

I don't think there's a direct correlation between a good idea and or interest in pursuing it. The idea may simply not cross the threshold of what you want to send time on.

This also may be one of those things that's not a billion dollar idea, or a million dollar idea, but just a 'couple of thousand dollars' idea. Some people aren't willing to spend time on things that don't cross that money threshold, but others most be willing to do it.

That's a good point. On the other hand one may have ideas that are not pursued because of: lack of domain expertise, lack of capital, family commitments, etc.

Thanks for sharing it. It is similar to what I was describing although on a much broader scale. I'll look into it in more details later because it has some funny/interesting suggestions.

Whoa, that site is still around! Brings back some web 1.0 memories. I used to hit that one regularly in my search results.

Fictitious? I put my very best ideas on there.

First idea I opened actually got implemented: https://www.halfbakery.com/idea/anti_20enron_20policy#108023...

I've been trying to remember this site for a long time. This is it! Thanks for posting, couldn't remember what the name was for ages!

(btw, looking for other people that would want to build something like that, feel free to reach if interested!)

I didn't used the expression in a literal sense (which I tried to state but maybe I didn't do it well enough). For me "ideas are worthless" represents the opposite of the mindset where people get secretive about their ideas or not wanting to give them away because they are afraid that someone will make good money with it.

I clearly care about ideas if I want everybody to share theirs. I just want to do it openly and freely without people thinking that others will steal them and make advantage of them.

It seems you misread the comment, no? There's little gain in being this standoffish, especially when your interpretation is off.

They're obvioulsy not saying that ideas are worthless, period - They're saying that ideas alone don't go anywhere unless you execute them. Furthermore, it seems they're here to share ideas, not to execute others.

> Not everything needs to be a platform

I couldn't agree more. I was thinking about a github repo so people can contribute via pull requests. I should have put more emphasis on the fun part and how I don't want it to be a Business Ideas™ because that goes against the spirit of my original goal.

I also like your list. Maybe I should put my list on my website as well. Thanks for sharing.

Nice list!

There are at least four Android GPS trackers in F-Droid: OpenTracks, RunnerUp, OSMTracker and TinyTravelTracker, maybe there's one less app you need to build!

https://github.com/OpenTracksApp/OpenTracks

https://github.com/jonasoreland/runnerup

https://github.com/labexp/osmtracker-android/wiki

https://github.com/redfish64/TinyTravelTracker

> A Better (D)VCS

Well there are a couple git based reimplementations. I look forward to GOT (http://gameoftrees.org/) functional but still work in progress

Not that I'm going to build this, but in regards to your time-tracking software[0]:

Is this something you'd want to integrate with Org-Mode or similar note-taking formats for logging? Or do you keep your time-tracking separate from your notes and TODO lists?

[0]: https://github.com/NateEag/track-time

I took a look at your page and found Watson. Thank you so much for linking to it. I’ve been looking for such a tool for a very long time. Will probably try it out soon. Thank you again!

I really like your Marauders Map idea.

I'd been playing around with location sharing, and making a map to see where everyone in my family is, as wall art.

But I completely forgot about how neat the Harry Potter Design was. I'd love to put a skin on it to make it more like the Marauders Map.

For your audio engine, I'm unclear on which of this isn't covered by JUCE (besides open source)?

You could take a route similar to how you train your brain to notice that you are dreaming.

Basically, start making it a priority in your mind to notice these ideas by creating a habit to think about them intentionally. Take some time everyday to write down any and every idea you have for a software that would help solve something, anything. It's not the ideas the matter, it's about training your brain to make them important. If possible, do it multiple times a day.

Fast forward a couple weeks and you'll be writing down that "insignificant" idea you just had!

I totally agree with you and thanks for sharing the article. I'll read it later.

And if you could do that reliably, you should already be a billionaire from your many successful startups.

You are spot on. After checking some recommended sites here (e.g. /r/appideas) it's clear that a lot of people just shitting out (for lack of a better word) ideas without half of a thought on execution. I think there are a particular kind of people who do this. The kind who wants to patent everything and always looking for the Next Big Thing™.

I have no solution for this other then focusing on the following things:

    - How detailed the idea is. The mere fact that someone took the time to think about it and write it down (1-2 page at least) is a good first filter that throws out things such as "It's like tinder but for job search".

    - Limiting it to "technical" people who has experience with actual execution of ideas and instinctively point out problems

Same for upwork requests. See if you can find common tasks that can be automated or generalized into a product.

You identified a sales problem. There is a giant gulf between problems that companies say they have, even say they want to pay for, and actually cutting a purchase order when the rubber meets the road.

What we are lacking is a blockchain-verifiable reputation audit trail into an escrow-like system tied to an ideas factory on one side, implementers on another side, and funders on a third side, down to the individual natural person level. The problem with an escrow is no one wants to park unused capital, but implementers are screwed if they put up the effort and when it comes time to collect all the "funders" evaporate.

Milestone-based backing also encounters problems with funders getting screwed when implementers reel off an endless stream of milestones with no real end in sight, like with Star Citizen.

If you can trace escrow and delivery promises (perhaps with time bounds) not just to an organization but to a natural person sponsor within that organization, then over time the actual probability of funders and implementers actually delivering can be tracked and algorithmically computed for present and future promises to fund or deliver. This tends to flush out sociopathic individuals who hide their track record behind their hops from organization to organization (especially those who implement dark patterns that only show up in the long-run).

This is just recognizing a general scaling problem with monetary systems in general: they preserve pricing information but lossy encode all other aspects of the transaction, and that doesn't work efficiently in a global economy.

Looks like you've just identified a real problem that entrepreneurs will pay money to have solved for them.