Top all-time · #8331
Bill Mei
Personal blog · billmei.net/blog · on HN as Kortaggiowritingstartupsproductivity
Bill Mei's personal blog at billmei.net covers writing, startups and productivity. Since 2016, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 32 times, most often “Friendships form via shared context, not shared activities”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-07-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Commenters link Bill Mei's posts on the Silicon Valley job search, friendship, and how friendships form, to support points about wealth inequality, depression and remote work. None of the comments judge the writing itself.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Bill’s Essays
Most-linked posts?
- Friendships form via shared context, not shared activities3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-05-30
- How to spend money on your friends without it looking like bribery2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-04-26
- How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-03-14
- Most ideas cannot be explained simply2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-09-24
What Hacker News says?
Here's another interesting case (from another thread on HN) of someone who worked his ass off to rise way above average: https://billmei.net/blog/silicon-valley-job-search Thousands of people want to be him. Few are willing to do what he did. I am sure some of them blame the rich for their ailments.
Comment linking /blog/silicon-valley-job-search
on “Stocks are up but 80% of the value is held by the richest 10%”Submitted Friendships form via shared context, not shared activities as a story · 530 points
HN discussionFriendships do involve a lot of time grinding, but is it just time the force that forms a friendship? Or what you see actually comes the other way around, meaning that people who "bond well" tend to spend more time together? While indeed time is important, it does not mean that merely spending time with somebody creates a friendship between you. It is more the quality of the time than time itself and, sadly, often o…
Comment linking /blog/friendship
on “The cause of depression is probably not what you think”Submitted How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree as a story · 298 points
HN discussionYour underlying assumption is that there is some other hobby that I enjoy, have time to pursue, and have opportunities near me to engage in. As someone with kids, free time is both in short supply and sporadically available. This is separate from my belief that friendships form via shared context not shared activities: https://billmei.net/blog/friendship
Comment linking /blog/friendship
on “What Tech Workers Don't Understand They've Lost by WFH”Submitted Psychological tricks rich people use to look generous without spending more as a story · 95 points
HN discussionFor me, the main reason for Duolingo's drastic decline in quality is not solely due to gamification but due to their learning algorithm no longer being effective. I was one of the early beta users and joined Duolingo in June 2012 before it was publicly available, and was a huge fan in the early days. At one point I had a streak of 1,000+ consecutive days, and even applied to work there.[0] Back then, Duolingo used t…
Comment linking /blog/silicon-valley-job-search
on “How Duolingo reignited user growth”Submitted Interviewing expert marketers as a story · 34 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why Are People Racist? as a story · 20 points
HN discussionSubmitted Remote is not the future of work, it is the past as a story · 7 points
HN discussionSubmitted Common ways startups fail to make what people want (and what to do instead) as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted Neuroscience reasons for what AI cannot do yet as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted ChatGPT turns every user into a power user as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted I tried 21 diet and exercise programs. None of them worked. Except for one as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted The deception that we crave as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Trust Your Tests as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted AI taught me to be a better human as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Daydreams Decide Your Destiny as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why early success online is a trap as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) hurts communication and hinders innovation as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Most ideas cannot be explained simply as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Real Purpose of History as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to spend money on your friends without it looking like bribery as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why dating apps don’t work as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Canada Is 2nd Place as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Quick hacks to make video calls less fatiguing as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Prisons of the Mind as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Most ideas cannot be explained simply as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to spend money on your friends without it looking like bribery as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why do we fantasize about the apocalypse? as a story · 1 points
HN discussion