This does not need SEO. It needs to make members of HN happy. If it does that, they will promote it via word of mouth.
I am a woman. I have been here a long time, about 8.5 years. My hope that HN would provide online networking has not panned out satisfactorily. If this works for me, it will get recommended in my profile and possibly on my blog.
Sexism is definitely an issue in the world. Most of the time, I am much more interested in finding solutions than in pointing fingers.
My hope is that this service serves as a tool for me to effectively network in spite of my gender.
As I said elsewhere in this discussion, HN has largely failed as a networking tool for me and I can occasionally email about three people from here. I appear to be the only woman who has ever made it to the leaderboard (under a different handle). Meanwhile, in a different discussion in the last few hours, a man on the leaderboard casually commented that he has met quite a few members of HN IRL.
My understanding is he is a self made millionaire. In contrast, I am quite poor.
My inability to effectively network appears to be at least partly due to my gender and the tendency of men to interpret overtures from me as an opportunity for romance. Men who view me in such terms never become business contacts. It is an absolute dead end for me.
Then when I complain that sexism on HN is partly responsible for my intractable poverty, I am treated like a lunatic. I don't know how much more painfully obvious it could possibly be. I was homeless when I became the highest karma openly female member here and hit the leaderboard about a month after I got off the street. Yet I continue to get treated like I am just hallucinating some connection between my gender, my inability to effectively make professional connections and my lack of adequate income.
Im very sorry to hear this.
I sincerely doubt that any online plattform can change the outcome of a IRL meeting.
Networking by definition is not anonymous, so if one gets to know people, the same scenario will reapear again and again.
I will try to think about a solution for this.
I must apology for im usually one, vehemently defending freedom of speach. The reason for this is that i love the internet, before the whole world decided to crash the party. It was a great place- insofar, as people who usually would be shunned by society could meet one another and create works- overcoming social isolation.
Let me expand on this- they guy who lifes over the street from my aunt. He is nuts, never goes outside, except at night to smoke - where he runs screaming in panic, should anyone on the street come even close to his door.
In some poorer country he would be homeless- and for society useless. Now turns out that- even with shizophrenia - he has a state that cares for him- he has a sister that cares for him, and he has the internet, to work and communicate. And thus he can contribute to academia.
Now, such a social mess- will never fullfill the needs for a social silod suburbia, in fact he cant. So if i promise to try to solve your networking and integrating problem- will you stop trying to harass the social misfits and otucasts who are incapable of fitting in?
That's untrue. I comment and post about a great many things. It is also essentially a gender based dismissal and personal attack.
Sad to see that even making the leaderboard as a woman fails to get community support when I need it in the face of ugliness of this sort. It's both ironic and maddening that your comment has gotten zero push back from the community though it is essentially evidence of the very thing I am criticizing.
