Top all-time · #13552
Derek Zumsteg
Personal blog · zumsteg.netdesignwebbusiness
Derek Zumsteg writes Hate Life, Will Travel, a personal blog at zumsteg.net about design, web and business. Since 2011, 5 different Hacker News readers have linked it 6 times, most often “A/B testing gets misused to juice metrics in the short term”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
The linked posts cover software product comparisons, such as Dropbox versus Syncplicity, and criticism of A/B testing. The comments only cite them as related reading and do not judge the writing.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 2 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Occasional musings of Derek Zumsteg
Most-linked posts?
- A/B testing gets misused to juice metrics in the short term3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-07-11
- Comparison of Dropbox versus Live Sync (2009)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-01-28
What Hacker News says?
No one posted the funniest comment in the Quora thread, from Dropbox founder Drew Houston: > http://www.zumsteg.net/2009/03/08/further-comparison-of-drop... > (kidding -- mostly)
Comment linking /2009/03/08/further-comparison-of-dropbox-versus-live-sync/
on “Why Dropbox Succeeded and Syncplicity Didn’t”Submitted A/B testing gets misused to juice metrics in the short term as a story · 514 points
HN discussionYour point is a good one - what you're describing I've heard referred to as "the novelty effect". In fact, a lot in this article reminds me of another essay critical of the short-sightedness of many A/B tests: https://www.zumsteg.net/2022/07/05/unchecked-ab-testing-dest...
Comment linking /2022/07/05/unchecked-ab-testing-destroys-everything-it-touches/
on “Tyranny of the Marginal User: why software gets worse, not better, over time”Submitted Unchecked AB Testing Destroys Everything It Touches as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Human brains drive anti-customer design decisions on shopping sites as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Comparison of Dropbox versus Live Sync (2009) as a story · 1 points
HN discussion