First off, this is the hardest part. Once everything is digital, keeping a future copy is simple as long as people are interested. I wouldn't worry about file formats too much, just use popular image and video formats, and it'll be easy to access for the foreseeable future.

Things to keep these available...

1. I'll inform all of my siblings of the files I have backed up, and basically copy them to a large USB key or external drive and label it. If I die, they easily have another copy.

2. I'm going to issue a copy of the files to my siblings. They might not be quite as tech savy as the HN community, but they take a lot of photos themselves, and they know how to manage them, back them up on drives in folders, etc. The more copies, and more people that have them, the better odds someone will carry them on. I'll also give a copy to my parents and grandparents, simply so they can view them any time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISznqY3kESI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo

My question, is there an issue with comments I'm not seeing? Do the popular topics on the homepage have dozens of spam or troll comments that are pruned out constantly, so I don't notice the problem? Or is the issue those 1 or 2 downvoted comments I mentioned earlier?

HN receives a small number of comments, so fine tuning algorithms isn't a big deal in my opinion. This isn't Reddit, where the number one post right now has 4,000 comments. That presents a lot of complications, since they need to try and cycle new comments so they all receive some visibility, allowing them a chance to rise if they're of high quality. On HN, you have 20 comments, or 50 comments, so regardless of the sorting, nearly everything gets read. As long as HN generally sorts comments, they're fine.

Now, I have some gym equipment in my room. This doesn't work nearly as well. I'll start to workout, then check that forum post to see if anyone replied, then I'll browse YouTube for some music, then I might do a few sets, and finally I get distracted by something and quit.

For me, the gym, or biking outdoors works best. Once I'm on my bike, I'll mess around for hours. If I try to bike indoors, I'll last about 2 minutes.

Nonetheless, congratulations on raising $100k from 1,000 users. That shows some dedication from the community, so you must be doing something right. Hopefully I'm wrong on my forecast, and good luck on the project.

Send us 100k, and we'll finish our beta application, and give you rewards, like your name in the code, or for $500, you can have a coffee with us on video chat. Or for $25,000, fly yourself here, and we'll give you a tour of the city and cook you dinner. Does this not sound crazy to anyone else?

If they raise an extra $150k, they'll develop extras, such as a plug-in architecture to enable an ecosystem of open-source plug-ins for different discussion and decision-making protocols that will scale to much larger groups. I don't know what the hell that even means, but isn't it a little irresponsible to even consider such features when you haven't made an official release, and proven the concept has any long term traction?

If you can't tell, this entire thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. After 18 months of beta they're unable to launch, or make enough sales to organizations to fund their development, so they're asking the crowd for a 100k donation? I don't believe their software is as life changing as the video makes it out to be, and I don't think they have a viable business. I expect them to burn through the money, launch, and fade away.

Anyway, I call, and it was the closest thing to magic I've ever seen. I give reception my SIN, and ask for the woman that signed the letter I received. I'm on hold for only 10 or 20 seconds, the woman answers, and greets me with my name. I didn't say more than a couple of sentences explaining the issue, and she says she'll check her computer, taps a button and poof she knows everything. Literally a few more seconds, and everything is sorted, and a cheque is being mailed.

I was almost speechless, I was expecting a 30 minute call between departments, explaining numbers, CRA scratching their heads since this was taking place across multiple provinces, and then me having to physically mail in a variety of personal information. Instead, it was a 1 or 2 minute call with an incredibly friendly woman, and she was so organized, it's like she spent the day preparing for me to call in advance. And, to reiterate, this was the woman that signed the original letter I received, not someone from support or customer service.

Now, the CRA website is a nightmare, but talking to them on the phone was the most impressive service I've ever encountered.

Now, if you receive a hundred million comments a day, it'll be a little more complicated, but those sites are few and far between. At that point, you most likely have a budget for better hardware and specialized staff.

Let me ask you a couple of questions...

1. Do you want to take a break from work right now and play a few games?

2. Do you want to play games tomorrow?

Uninstalling games, and forcing them to be redownloaded changed the question from number one, to number two. Like most people, I aspire to be a better person tomorrow, so it was easy to say no to question number two, and redownloading.

Firefox/Chrome, Windows 8.1, Intel HD 4000.

http://i.imgur.com/Yd4jCme.jpg

http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/03/3D-printed-shoes-by...

https://markforged.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/MF14_MK1_b...

If you look closely at the above image and squint your eyes, I think that's a carbon fiber part it actually printed, that appeared in the video for a split second. It would be great if we could see it close up. It would be even better if they printed a second copy with plastic, and then demonstrated the difference in strength.

Instead, they spent the entire video saying they're going to change the world, and then I guess you're suppose to take their word on it, and just drop $5k on the preorder.