Quality journalism.

Decades ago, a friend of mine at the time (female) met a guy. She was really beautiful and a genuinely nice person, so lots of guys would ask her out. She told me about a date with this one guy, and he didn't call her again. Even though she hid some of the details, I was able to ascertain the general contours of what happened and was able to figure out his agenda. How? Because of something he said to her.

She told me that he picked her up and they went out for diner, but when he dropped her off at home he became concerned about parking, wondering if a garbage truck might pin him in the next morning. At the time, she thought nothing of that. But she explained to me that she hadn't planned for him to stay overnight.

But what he said was a pretty BIG siren. It was obvious he already intended to stay the night, otherwise why would parking the next morning matter? My guess is that if she had known his agenda she would have viewed him differently and maybe been more wary.

End of story? He never called her again. She was mystified as to why. I thought: well of course he didn't call--got what he wanted!

In response to your question, wouldn't say that there are telling signs, it's more about the content of what people say as the story above illustrates.

A few other loose thoughts about understanding people:

1) It's dangerous to assume that other people think as you do. In fact, people come from a range of contexts and backgrounds which are not obvious when you meet them. They are perfectly happy to smile and nod with you while completely disagreeing.

2) People are heavily self-interested. Unless it's your mother (and sometimes even then), expect people to look out for themselves first. Someone making a show of sacrificing for you? Hmm.

3) People enjoy feeling superior to others, even in very minor things. Shrewd people know this and use that information to their advantage. (Not advising this, just saying what people do).

4) Chinese proverb: the dog that can bite doesn't bark. When people have the capability to get you, they don't have to talk about it--they do it. The big talkers generally don't have the ability (though there is the occasional outlier).

You may want to look into some books on this topic. A useful one is 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. Not saying that you should follow his advice, but it is useful in understanding games that people play at work.

Book link (not affiliate) - https://amzn.to/2dzBqXD

1) People's words are like deep water. Pay careful attention to what people say--it's profoundly revealing (more than they realize). By listening, I've been able to identify people who intended to trouble me in some way. It's incredible, they just can't keep it inside even when pretending to be nice.

2) Actions speak louder than words (given #1, this is really saying something). Don't look for people to be who you want them to be; wait long enough for them to show themselves. And they will. ETA: You may occasionally encounter someone who is able to fool you for extended periods of time, like years. But even then they often leave useful clues as to their agenda.

3) If the product is free, the product is me!

Look at Viki, a really popular VOD site, acquired by Rakuten for $200 million or so. Focuses heavily on South Korean, Chinese, and Japanese dramas. Segregation? More like making it easy for people who want to watch the shows to find and follow them regularly. Successful? Yep. This sort of media consumption is here now.

AfroStream did the same thing as Viki but instead of Asian countries used the African diaspora. Didn't follow them so don't know what the business reasons are for their failure, but relating it to diversity and segregation seems unwarranted.

It's more like they were targeting the long tail of media consumption, even if unsuccessfully.

Two things I do: monitory my credit reports regularly and give nonsensical answers to the security questions.

Think about the number of people in the financial world who are looking to get a percentage of a second advantage with high-speed trading. Hard to believe they'd pass this up if they knew about it.

Have you considered partnering with a non-profit (i.e., Taproot Foundation* )? This is like a super-streamlined version of some of what they do.

Also, if you decide to go the non-profit route, you might be able to land corporate sponsors.

Anyway, nice work! Wish you all the best.

*I am not affiliated with this organization, just saw that they posted volunteer coding jobs online.

New York Tech Meetup (now the New York Tech Alliance) - https://nytm.org/ (meetups happen monthly; events happen regularly, check the site for the schedule)

Co-working spaces in NYC - there are new ones popping up (and shutting down) all the time throughout different parts of the city. Probably easiest to search for co-working spaces near where you live. I haven't been to any in awhile, but a Google search should get you a decent list.

New York Tech Week - http://techweek.com/newyork-schedule/ (this happens in the fall, but you can still get an idea of popular companies and people from the speaker list. More of an information source.)

Freelance web developer and designer (5+ years). Primarily develop and design custom, responsive WordPress themes, or convert PSD or front-end code to WordPress.

I've worked on complex sites for digital agencies and companies (30+ templates, 25+ plugins), as well as on sites for small businesses (10 templates, 10 plugins). References available.

Technologies I use: PHP, HTML, CSS/LESS, jQuery, WordPress, mySQL, Foundation, Bootstrap, and SVN or Git for version control. Slack to keep in touch with clients.

Reach out to me at: hn [at] heta [dot] co (not com). I can send you links to live sites I've developed, etc.

Thanks for your consideration.

I also use online flashcards (Anki can be a useful tool for making your own online flashcard decks).

Developer and designer (5+ years). Primarily develop, design, and customize WordPress themes, or convert PSD designs or HTML/CSS/jQuery to WordPress.

I've worked on complex sites for digital agencies (30+ templates, 25+ plugins), as well as on smaller sites for small businesses/individuals (10 templates, 10 plugins). References available.

Technologies I use: PHP, HTML, CSS/LESS, jQuery, WordPress, mySQL, Foundation, Bootstrap, SVN or Git for version control, Sifter for issue tracking, Slack to keep in touch with clients. Resourceful.

Reach out to me at: hn [at] heta [dot] co (not com). I can send you links to live sites I've designed and developed, sites I've converted to WP, etc.

Thanks for your consideration.

Developer and designer (5+ years), work out of my own shop, Heta.co.

Primarily develop, design, and customize WordPress themes, or convert PSD designs or HTML/CSS/jQuery to WordPress.

I've worked on complex sites for digital agencies (30+ templates, 25+ plugins), as well as on smaller sites for small businesses/individuals (10 templates, 10 plugins). References available.

Technologies I use: PHP, HTML, CSS/LESS, jQuery, WordPress, mySQL, Foundation, Bootstrap, SVN or Git for version control, Sifter for issue tracking, Slack to keep in touch with clients. Resourceful.

Reach out to me at: hn [at] heta [dot] co (not com). I can send you links to live sites I've designed and developed, sites I've converted to WP, etc.

Thanks for your consideration.

Developer and designer (5+ years), work out of my own shop, Heta.co.

Primarily develop, design, and customize WordPress themes, or convert PSD designs or HTML/CSS/jQuery to WordPress.

I've worked on complex sites for digital agencies (30+ templates, 25+ plugins), as well as on smaller sites for small businesses/individuals (10 templates, 10 plugins). References available.

Technologies I use: PHP, HTML, CSS/LESS, jQuery, WordPress, mySQL, Foundation, Bootstrap, SVN or Git for version control, Sifter for issue tracking, Slack to keep in touch with clients. Self-taught and resourceful.

Reach out to me at: hn [at] heta [dot] co (not com). I can send you links to live sites I've designed and developed, sites I've converted to WP, etc.

Thanks for your consideration.

Developer and designer (5+ years), work out of my own shop, Heta.co.

Primarily develop, design, and customize WordPress themes, or convert PSD designs or HTML/CSS/jQuery to WordPress. I'm also building an app and run my own server (Ubuntu) as a hobby.

I've worked on complex sites for digital agencies (30+ templates, 25+ plugins), as well as on smaller sites for small businesses/individuals (10 templates, 10 plugins). References available.

Technologies I use: PHP, HTML, CSS/LESS, jQuery, WordPress, mySQL, Foundation, Bootstrap, SVN or Git for version control, Sifter for issue tracking, Slack to keep in touch with clients. Self-taught and resourceful.

Reach out to me at: hn [at] heta [dot] co (not com). I can send you links to live sites I've designed and developed, sites I've converted to WP, etc.

Thanks for your consideration.

WordPress!

Developer and designer (5+ years), work out of my own shop, Heta.co.

Primarily develop, design, and customize WordPress themes, or convert PSD designs or HTML/CSS/jQuery to WordPress. I'm also building an app and run my own server (Ubuntu) as a hobby.

I've worked on complex sites for digital agencies (30+ templates, 25+ plugins), as well as on smaller sites for small businesses/individuals (10 templates, 10 plugins). References available.

Technologies I use: PHP, HTML, CSS/LESS, jQuery, WordPress, mySQL, Foundation, Bootstrap, SVN or Git for version control, Sifter for issue tracking, Slack to keep in touch with clients. Self-taught and resourceful.

Reach out to me at: hn [at] heta [dot] co (not com). I can send you links to live sites I've designed and developed, sites I've converted to WP, etc.

Thanks for your consideration.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11631231

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