Top all-time · #488
Eugene Wei
Personal blog · eugenewei.com/blogbusinessstartups
Eugene Wei writes Remains of the Day, a personal blog at eugenewei.com about business and startups. Since 2012, 118 different Hacker News readers have linked it 156 times, most often “Status as a Service”. The last post was in 2023, but the archive is still widely read.
Often recommended · 17 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Eugene Wei's essays on social status, TikTok's algorithm and Amazon's margins. Commenters call Status as a Service the essay to read before building a social network.
- Recommended for · 17 comments
- Called great, fantastic, excellent and very good; 'should read' on social networks; clear-eyed analysis of social networks as status games; one commenter found
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
The blog and personal website of Eugene Wei
Most-linked posts?
- Status as a Service25 people · 25 mentions · first linked 2019-02-28
- TikTok and the Sorting Hat10 people · 11 mentions · first linked 2020-08-04
- Amazon's Invisible Asymptote9 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2019-04-16
- How TikTok's design makes the algorithm work7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2020-09-21
- Invisible asymptotes7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2018-05-22
- Amazon, Apple, and the beauty of low margins6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2013-01-24
- Remove the Legend to Become One5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2022-08-26
- Twitter: When the network is the thing4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2015-09-02
- Remove the legend to become one4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2017-11-15
- The age of distributed truth (2017)3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-06-28
What Hacker News says?
POW for status is so difficult it’s practically nonexistent. Utility hasn’t been increased to compensate for inability to earn social capital. https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service
Comment linking /blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service
on “U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says”Submitted TikTok and the Sorting Hat as a story · 332 points
HN discussionThis is a great writeup of some of the story behind the Tiktok algorithm - https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorti...
Comment linking /blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorting-hat
on “TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app”Submitted And you will know us by the company we keep as a story · 280 points
HN discussionThis feels like both an anecdote and a straw man. I can point to two blogs on either side that have a lot to offer. Large bundle: https://www.joshwcomeau.com/ Small Bundle: https://www.eugenewei.com/
Comment linking /
on “1MB Club”Submitted Amazon and the "profitless business model" fallacy as a story · 231 points
HN discussionChecking my rss reader ... https://feld.com/ (VC, but wide ranging) https://mapbrief.com/ Snarky GIS content https://randsinrepose.com/ Management advice for a level I'll never get to :) http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/ Right of center economics https://ultrasaurus.com/ Tech https://www.eugenewei.com/ Big pic tech and society
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favorite Blogs by Individuals?”Submitted Status as a Service as a story · 202 points
HN discussionAnyone interested building a social network should read: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service tl;dr - There is a specific reason that we like to use social networks, and it's the receiving of status or accumulate capital. From this theory, a network like Slow Social cannot succeed because there isn't enough social capital that can be consumed.
Comment linking /blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service
on “Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers”Submitted Amazon, Apple, and the beauty of low margins as a story · 187 points
HN discussionWas this the article that you were talking about? http://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2012/11/28/amazon-and-margins
Comment linking /blog/2012/11/28/amazon-and-margins
on “Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos”Submitted Invisible asymptotes as a story · 184 points
HN discussionA lot of people aren't groking what this means, even on tech and startup savvy HN. Naval and Balaji said it well: Charging for the blue check moves it from a status symbol to a utilitarian one. It elicits shrieks because it’s more about leveling the playing field than making money. https://twitter.com/naval/status/1587523978456748033 The blue checks wanted to abolish billionaires, in the name of equality. The billio…
Comment linking /blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service
on “Twitter Blue for $8/Month”Submitted What I Learned from a Taipei Alley as a story · 183 points
HN discussionanemic growth Twitter may primarily be a text-based medium and for that reason it appeals to people who are more textually and informationally oriented. This idea isn't original to me: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2018/5/21/invisible-asymptote... , https://alexdanco.com/2019/10/17/the-audio-revolution/ . Maybe there's much more growth in it: or maybe that's the nature of the company and product.
Comment linking /blog/2018/5/21/invisible-asymptotes
on “Twitter’s founder admits that shutting down the API was “worst thing we did””Submitted TikTok and the network effects of creativity as a story · 136 points
HN discussionThese articles have been posted in previous HN discussions. I think you will find them useful in answering your question. https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service https://cdixon.org/2015/01/31/come-for-the-tool-stay-for-the...
Comment linking /blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service
on “Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?”Submitted Amazon and the “Profitless Business Model” Fallacy as a story · 102 points
HN discussionRelated: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24049676 https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorti...
Comment linking /blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorting-hat
on “Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels”Submitted Amazon and the “profitless business model” fallacy (2013) as a story · 95 points
HN discussionQuoting from the excellent blog post[1] submitted here yesterday[0] that stole my morning workout time: " Instagram is some strange hybrid mix of social and interest graph, and now it’s also a jumble of formats, with a Stories feed relegated to a top bar in the app while the more stagnant and less active original feed continues to run vertically as the default. Messaging is pushed to a separate pane and also served…
Comment linking /blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorting-hat
on “Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels”Submitted Status as a Service (2019) as a story · 81 points
HN discussionThis article suggests that the “one video at a time” format makes attention metrics much more reliable: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2020/9/18/seeing-like-an-algo...
Comment linking /blog/2020/9/18/seeing-like-an-algorithm
on “Real World Recommendation System”Submitted How TikTok's design makes the algorithm work as a story · 67 points
HN discussionMG Siegler and John Gruber engage in some fascinating speculation about how Amazon uses their float here: http://www.muleradio.net/thetalkshow/51/ ... which was inspired, in part, by Eugene Wei's thoughts on how Amazon's float gives them leverage: http://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2012/11/28/amazon-and-margins
Comment linking /blog/2012/11/28/amazon-and-margins
on “Introducing Login and Pay with Amazon”Submitted “Platform” risk as a story · 63 points
HN discussionA fantastic essay by Eugene Wei on how TikTok’s tool set makes this possible: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2021/2/15/american-idle
Comment linking /blog/2021/2/15/american-idle
on “TikTok Remix Culture”Submitted The age of distributed truth as a story · 43 points
HN discussionThis article was popular here when it was published. https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorti...
Comment linking /blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorting-hat
on “TikTok reveals details of how its algorithm works”Submitted Status as a Service (2019) as a story · 39 points
HN discussion
