Other HN Groups in India

[shabda raaj]

Hi Guys,

Just thought that it would be good to have various HN groups in India
aggregated together.

http://groups.google.com/group/bangalore-hn-meetup
http://groups.google.com/group/delhi-hn-meetup
http://groups.google.com/group/mumbai-hn
http://groups.google.com/group/hnpune

http://groups.google.com/group/hackernewsindia

Is there one for Hyderabad? Please add those I have missed.

(I am cross posting this to all these groups.)

[Shantanu Kumar]

Maybe create a Yahoo pipe and setup a http://planet.hackernews.in or
http://hackernews.in aggregating website?

Regards,
Shantanu

On Nov 14, 2:27 pm, shabda raaj <shabda.r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
> Just thought that it would be good to have various HN groups in India
> aggregated together.
>

> http://groups.google.com/group/bangalore-hn-meetuphttp://groups.google.com/group/delhi-hn-meetuphttp://groups.google.com/group/mumbai-hnhttp://groups.google.com/group/hnpune

[Mohammed Fazalullah]

+1 for that.
Yahoo Pipes would be a good idea for automating the aggregation from the other HN India groups.

[Prateek Dayal]

I have gone ahead and booked hackernews.in

We had a small discussion y'day about setting up a hacker news for India. The idea was that if we want to discuss some India specific questions (tech or otherwise), its tough to do that on HN right now. I can go ahead and setup a php based system for the site and see if there is interest. 

Anyone has any recommendations for any open source software?

Prateek

--
Prateek Dayal
Chief Hacker, Muziboo.com

www.prateekdayal.net | devblog.muziboo.com | www.muziboo.com

[Krishna Santani]

That's great. We really are in need of an online space where we can discuss indian centric issues. I think its much better if we can use hacker news clone or something similar to that.

--
Cheers
ksantani

[Saurabh Minni]

Reddit - http://code.reddit.com/

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Prateek Dayal <pra...@muziboo.com> wrote:

[Sudeep Nayak]

We could use a hacker news clone or http://vanillaforums.org with the right set of plugins

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Prateek Dayal <pra...@muziboo.com> wrote:

--
Sudeep

          Nayak

http://twitter.com/sudeepnayak

[Prateek Dayal]

Ideally if we can use a hackernews clone, it would be the best.

However the original one is written in arc which I have no experience with. If someone knows how to set it up, I can work with him/her and get it going. Anyone?

The critical part will be the community ofcourse ,,, 

Prateek

[Sudeep Nayak]

Appcanvas (eg http://hackernews.appcanvas.com/) exports php.

[Prateek Dayal]

Ideally it would be good to stick with the HN codebase as its updated often and also we benefit from all the upvoting/karma/blacklists and other stuff that has been built and tested over time 

I found this - https://github.com/nex3/arc/blob/master/news.arc  

What do you guys think? I will try to set it up in a couple of hours and we can play around with it for a while and see if it works. 

Prateek

[Niyaz PK]

I have a HN/reddit PHP clone running in a few of my websites.

See for example: www.voidy.com

It's php/mysql and the work is not 100% complete, but the basic structure is done. I think we can extend it and use it.

- Niyaz

[Mayank Sharma]

Looks anything but trivial, lets give it a shot nonetheless. I would also prefer a hackernews clone instead of vanillaforums or google groups. BTW good foresight in buying the hackernews.in domain name prateek, I am surprised it was available.

-Mayank

[Vinayak Hegde]

Hi,

We can setup on the headstart.in webspace. The headstart mailing list has almost 3000 people on it including several serial entrepreneurs. If you think the mailing list format works then you can also post to the list. There have been quite a few good discussions on this mailing list. You can seed a few discussion and see how it goes.

It's hard to create a community all on your own. In this case you can just tap into a community rather than building a new one.

Disclaimer : I am a moderator of the Headstart mailing list.
You can subscribe here - http://groups.google.com/group/headstart-network/

-- Vinayak

[Mayank Sharma]

What I really like a lot about the hackernews is that user upvoting and downvoting ensures that a filtered set of discussions remain on the dashboard. The problem with mailing lists is that you get fatigued pretty soon seeing job postings over and over again. I however do agree that creating a community from scratch is a problem, but nothing is easy anyways in startups :-) 

-Mayank

[Nishant Soni]

I think osqa should be a good fit. 

--
Nishant Soni | CEO
www.ReviewGist.com
Phone: +91-9008177320

[Awin Abi]

I too believe that osqa is a better fit. Not sure of the load
performance. If we are looking for something like stackoverflow osqa
is a good fit.

>>>>>>>> *Sudeep*
>>>>>>>> * Nayak*

>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://twitter.com/sudeepnayak
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Prateek Dayal
>>>>>>> Chief Hacker, Muziboo.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> www.prateekdayal.net | devblog.muziboo.com | www.muziboo.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --

>>>>>> *Sudeep*
>>>>>> * Nayak*

>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://twitter.com/sudeepnayak
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Prateek Dayal
>>>>> Chief Hacker, Muziboo.com
>>>>>
>>>>> www.prateekdayal.net | devblog.muziboo.com | www.muziboo.com
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Nishant Soni | CEO
> www.ReviewGist.com
> Phone: +91-9008177320
>

--
Sent from my mobile device

[Shantanu Kumar]

I'm a bit afraid a StackOverflow kind of an interface will be sort of Yak shaving.

Regards

--
Shantanu

kumar dot shantanu at gmail dot com

http://twitter.com/kumarshantanu

Skype: shantanu_k06

+91 99728 69200 (Bangalore)

[safi]

Why dont we go for simple UI and a code base like
Reddit(code.reddit.com).

There are few sites using reddit - http://code.reddit.com/wiki/PoweredByReddit

-safi

On Nov 15, 12:49 pm, Shantanu Kumar <kumar.shant...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm a bit afraid a StackOverflow kind of an interface will be sort of Yak
> shaving.
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 1:16 PM, Awin Abi <awin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I too believe that osqa is a better fit. Not sure of the load
> > performance. If we are looking for something like stackoverflow osqa
> > is a good fit.
>

> > On 11/15/10, Nishant Soni <nishant.s...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I think osqa should be a good fit.
>

> > > On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Mayank Sharma <maya...@gmail.com>

> > wrote:
>
> > >> What I really like a lot about the hackernews is that user upvoting and
> > >> downvoting ensures that a filtered set of discussions remain on the
> > >> dashboard. The problem with mailing lists is that you get fatigued
> > pretty
> > >> soon seeing job postings over and over again. I however do agree that
> > >> creating a community from scratch is a problem, but nothing is easy
> > >> anyways
> > >> in startups :-)
>
> > >> -Mayank
>

> > >> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 11:06 AM, Vinayak Hegde <vinay...@gmail.com

> > >wrote:
>
> > >>> Hi,
>
> > >>> We can setup on the headstart.in webspace. The headstart mailing list
> > has
> > >>> almost 3000 people on it including several serial entrepreneurs. If you
> > >>> think the mailing list format works then you can also post to the list.
> > >>> There have been quite a few good discussions on this mailing list. You
> > >>> can
> > >>> seed a few discussion and see how it goes.
>
> > >>> It's hard to create a community all on your own. In this case you can
> > >>> just
> > >>> tap into a community rather than building a new one.
>
> > >>> Disclaimer : I am a moderator of the Headstart mailing list.
> > >>> You can subscribe here -
> > >>>http://groups.google.com/group/headstart-network/
>
> > >>> -- Vinayak
>

> > >>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:43 AM, Mayank Sharma <maya...@gmail.com

> > >wrote:
>
> > >>>> Looks anything but trivial, lets give it a shot nonetheless. I would
> > >>>> also
> > >>>> prefer a hackernews clone instead of vanillaforums or google groups.
> > BTW
> > >>>> good foresight in buying the hackernews.in domain name prateek, I am
> > >>>> surprised it was available.
>
> > >>>> -Mayank
>
> > >>>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:32 AM, Prateek Dayal

> > >>>> <prat...@muziboo.com>wrote:

>
> > >>>>> Ideally it would be good to stick with the HN codebase as its updated
> > >>>>> often and also we benefit from all the upvoting/karma/blacklists and
> > >>>>> other
> > >>>>> stuff that has been built and tested over time
>

> > >>>>> I found this -https://github.com/nex3/arc/blob/master/news.arc

>
> > >>>>> What do you guys think? I will try to set it up in a couple of hours
> > >>>>> and
> > >>>>> we can play around with it for a while and see if it works.
>
> > >>>>> Prateek
>
> > >>>>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:29 AM, Sudeep Nayak

> > >>>>> <sudeep.na...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > >>>>>> Appcanvas (eghttp://hackernews.appcanvas.com/) exports php.

>
> > >>>>>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:23 AM, Prateek Dayal

> > >>>>>> <prat...@muziboo.com>wrote:

>
> > >>>>>>> Ideally if we can use a hackernews clone, it would be the best.
>
> > >>>>>>> However the original one is written in arc which I have no
> > experience
> > >>>>>>> with. If someone knows how to set it up, I can work with him/her
> > and
> > >>>>>>> get it
> > >>>>>>> going. Anyone?
>
> > >>>>>>> The critical part will be the community ofcourse ,,,
>
> > >>>>>>> Prateek
>
> > >>>>>>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:20 AM, Sudeep Nayak <
> > >>>>>>> sudeep.na...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > >>>>>>>> We could use a hacker news clone orhttp://vanillaforums.orgwith
> > >>>>>>>> the right set of plugins
>
> > >>>>>>>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Prateek Dayal <

> > prat...@muziboo.com

> > >>>>>>>> > wrote:
>
> > >>>>>>>>> I have gone ahead and booked hackernews.in
>
> > >>>>>>>>> We had a small discussion y'day about setting up a hacker news
> > for
> > >>>>>>>>> India. The idea was that if we want to discuss some India
> > specific
> > >>>>>>>>> questions
> > >>>>>>>>> (tech or otherwise), its tough to do that on HN right now. I can
> > go
> > >>>>>>>>> ahead
> > >>>>>>>>> and setup a php based system for the site and see if there is
> > >>>>>>>>> interest.
>
> > >>>>>>>>> Anyone has any recommendations for any open source software?
>
> > >>>>>>>>> Prateek
>
> > >>>>>>>>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 9:58 AM, Mohammed Fazalullah <
> > >>>>>>>>> fazalulla...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > >>>>>>>>>> +1 for that.
> > >>>>>>>>>> Yahoo Pipes would be a good idea for automating the aggregation
> > >>>>>>>>>> from the other HN India groups.
>
> > >>>>>>>>>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 2:35 AM, Shantanu Kumar <
> > >>>>>>>>>> kumar.shant...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > >>>>>>>>>>> Maybe create a Yahoo pipe and setup a
> > >>>>>>>>>>>http://planet.hackernews.inor

> > >>>>>>>>>>>http://hackernews.inaggregating website?

>
> > >>>>>>>>>>> Regards,
> > >>>>>>>>>>> Shantanu
>
> > >>>>>>>>>>> On Nov 14, 2:27 pm, shabda raaj <shabda.r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>>>>>>>>>> > Hi Guys,
>
> > >>>>>>>>>>> > Just thought that it would be good to have various HN groups
> > in
> > >>>>>>>>>>> India
> > >>>>>>>>>>> > aggregated together.
>

> >http://groups.google.com/group/bangalore-hn-meetuphttp://groups.googl...

> kumar dot shantanu at gmail dot comhttp://twitter.com/kumarshantanu

[Samuel Rajkumar]

+1 for reddit clone: Very close to hn
-1 for stackoverflow clone: Do we really want a Q&A forum?

[Mohammed Fazalullah]

+1 for A Reddit clone from my side.

But to point out the community will have to be disciplined in the kind of topics which are posted and the kind of comments that come in. I hope something good will be worked out.

Perhaps we could also approach Paul Graham about this? Maybe he would have some suggestions for this..

[Mohammed Fazalullah]

Oh and everyone could just read up on the essay which Paul Graham wrote about Hacker News. Points to be considered while having an online community, definitely.

http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html

[Charles John]

If reddit clone, then why not a subreddit? A restricted subreddit, perhaps?

[safi]

I guess you are talking about the common guidelines to be followed by
the community. I think those ideas can be borrowed from HN and Proggit
itself, along with that restricted down voting, editors for removing
out of the topic,flame-wars etc can also be followed. Can these things
be phrased out in another HN meetup and put up for discussion??

-safi

On Nov 15, 3:46 pm, Mohammed Fazalullah <fazalulla...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Oh and everyone could just read up on the essay which Paul Graham wrote
> about Hacker News. Points to be considered while having an online community,
> definitely.
>
> http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html
>

> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 4:15 PM, Mohammed Fazalullah <fazalulla...@gmail.com

>
> > wrote:
> > +1 for A Reddit clone from my side.
>
> > But to point out the community will have to be disciplined in the kind of
> > topics which are posted and the kind of comments that come in. I hope
> > something good will be worked out.
>
> > Perhaps we could also approach Paul Graham about this? Maybe he would have
> > some suggestions for this..
>

> > On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 1:47 PM, Samuel Rajkumar <aadva...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >> +1 for reddit clone: Very close to hn
> >> -1 for stackoverflow clone: Do we really want a Q&A forum?
>

[Lakshman Prasad]

> If reddit clone, then why not a subreddit? A restricted subreddit, perhaps?

Indeed, makes a lot of sense to me. I went ahead and created one: http://www.reddit.com/r/india_hackers/ Feel free to join and use it. If you point the dns appropriately, I can make this to be a custom domain. hackernews.in seems decent!

In oder to seed the community activity, it would be a lot of help if there was some email interface. That part we can program, to take the rss and email everyday. and vice versa.

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 4:16 PM, Mohammed Fazalullah <fazalu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Oh and everyone could just read up on the essay which Paul Graham wrote about Hacker News. Points to be considered while having an online community, definitely.

Building a community is more serious business than the choice of software for a website. I too was upset with the lack of discussion spaces and decided it needed full time attention. I'm now working on HasGeek (http://hasgeek.in).

We're running a series of HTML5 events around the country to build up a community. This is hard work -- it takes roughly two months full time effort to put together a quality one-day event, and involves a dozen plus volunteers. I'd say the results are worth it.

Kiran

[Prateek Dayal]

I have installed the HN codebase at http://hackernews.in/

I have posted a discussion to get things started. It has a disclaimer too.

Enjoy :)

[Shantanu Kumar]

+1

[Mohammed Fazalullah]

Thanks for the effort Prateek!

Now as Kiran said, building a community is a lot of work. I hope we can lay down the guidelines and the discipline required from the community.

[Prateek Dayal]

Sure .. we can discuss this there .. in fact that should get a few things started.

Kiran: Any ideas? 

[Mohammed Fazalullah]

We could start with the FAQ and Guidelines from Hacker News.

http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Any other inputs are welcome.

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 7:54 PM, Prateek Dayal <pra...@muziboo.com> wrote:

Sure .. we can discuss this there .. in fact that should get a few things started.

Kiran: Any ideas? 

Looking at nonameconf: the initial enthusiasm can carry the project some distance, but beyond that it requires someone who truly believes in it to keep things going. Barcamp Bangalore ran for years on volunteer enthusiasm alone, but it's gone from three editions a year to barely one every year. DocType HTML5 almost didn't happen. The original planning team reduced to just one person, me.

So this is going to be the most critical bit: who owns this project, and why will you continue to care for this even if no one else does?

Kiran

[Anirudh Sanjeev]

Okay, I'm bike shedding here, but anyways - there is one major problem
with having a "separate hacker news for india"

The cognitive load of having to look at it once in a while is huge. I
avoid wasting time on too many sites so I just check HN and a couple
of other sites a few times a day. For a site to demand regular visits
from me or from other people, it has to create a large amount of
value. I don't believe that anything "a subreddit", "a clone", etc
would fit the bill.

Instead, since this is suitable for having discussions on relevant
topics, why not just continue what's working fine. It encourages a
greater degree of visibility as any message reaches many people's
inboxes (so please ensure that your note is constructive and useful).

Occam's razor - keep the mailing list active, and bless this as the
"official" indian HN community (even though the name isn't perfectly
appropriate). No need to moderate excessively, no need to sysadmin, no
need to go check that other site ten times a day.

Anirudh

--
http://anirudhsanjeev.org

[Shantanu Kumar]

+1 Well said.

[safi]

Makes sense.

[Prateek Dayal]

Hi Anirudh,

Good points. However, I think mailing list will eventually get noisy
no matter how much you ask people to be on topic or focused.

Hacker news works well because posts and comments can be upvoted and
good content surfaces up.

As to why we need a HN for India, please checkout the where do we go
from here thread on HN India.

This is an experiment and if it does not work out, we can shut it
down. However let's give it a shot.

Best,
Prateek

On Monday, November 15, 2010, Anirudh Sanjeev

--

[Mohammed Fazalullah]

Yeah. I guess it's better to try out and see how we can keep HackerNews India up as a community.

Lets see how this turns out to be.

[Mayank Sharma]

Interesting observation there Kiran. I think the whole startup eco-system here in India is quite fragmented, with none of the fragments having a critical mass of sustainability. We have barcamp, devcamp, doctype HTML5, pluggd.in to name a few. I don't really think this is a problem as the ecosystem is quite nascent here. We just need to hang on and stick to what works/helps us the best. 

HN in my opinion is a different kind of initiative compared to barcamp/doctype HTML5 which are more event based. I wonder how much of day to day monitoring by PG himself is required to keep the discussions in HN sane. Similarly here in HN-IN, bad posts will be downvoted, and good posts will be upvoted by the community, keeping the discussions sane. 

It's too early to talk about success/failure of this initiative, but I believe the role of a moderator is not very critical in this initiative.

-Mayank