Top all-time · #740
Gapingvoid
Personal blog · gapingvoid.comdesignculturebusiness
Gapingvoid is a personal blog at gapingvoid.com about design, culture and business. Since 2007, 88 different Hacker News readers have linked it 130 times, most often “How to be creative”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 12 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
Hugh MacLeod's cartoons and essays on creativity, business and social objects. Readers cite them as clear framings of ideas, and recommend the creativity essay and several cartoons as worth reading.
- Recommended for · 12 comments
- Called a good introduction and a great perspective; one commenter says it puts a point better than they can
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.
Insights You Can See. Gapingvoid works with leaders to design culture intentionally.
Most-linked posts?
- How to be creative6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2007-02-23
- /2004/06/27/company-hierarchy/5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2009-11-22
- Ignore Everybody4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2009-10-02
- How to be Creative. Hugh MacLeod3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-07-05
- /blog/2004/06/27/the-hughtrain/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-03-03
- Sex and Cash Theory [SFW]2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-05-06
- Random thoughts on being an entrepreneur2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-03-01
- “Social Objects are the future of marketing.”2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-06-04
- Social Objects for Beginners2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-04-26
- Pillar management2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2009-12-16
What Hacker News says?
Some inspiration: I would sum this up visually by borrowing from Hugh MacLeod. I imagine the combination of "the white pebble" and "three keys." -White pebble: http://gapingvoid.com/2009/04/09/the-white-pebble/ -Three keys: http://gapingvoid.com/2010/02/14/three-keys/
Comment linking /2010/02/14/three-keys/
on “Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?”Submitted Personalized Porn [SFW] as a story · 238 points
HN discussionYes, it is http://gapingvoid.com/books/ by Hugh MacLeod. He draws cartoons at the back of business cards. I am sorry I didn't quote the name of the author at the first place. I couldn't recall where I had read it. I searched around for a while and couldn't find it so I just posted without the author's name but in quotes to show it was from someone other than me. Thank you for finding the book title, it helped me fin…
Comment linking /books/
on “HN Help: I'm lost”Submitted Ignore Everybody. as a story · 135 points
HN discussionI'm both an artist and a programmer and not great at either, but this is a common issue. I'd also recommend this essay: http://gapingvoid.com/2004/07/25/how-to-be-creative All my attempts are terrible compared to what I imagined, even if I'm trying to be practical. Some of my attempts work themselves out to be better or different than what I imagined. Its a crapshoot. There are a lot of creative things I've quit on…
Comment linking /2004/07/25/how-to-be-creative
on “Your taste is why your work disappoints you.”Submitted Ignore Everybody as a story · 96 points
HN discussionHe was probably missing the Pissed Off Gene - http://gapingvoid.com/2004/08/15/merit-can-be-bought-passion...
Comment linking /2004/08/15/merit-can-be-bought-passion-cant/
on “Successful people are successful”Submitted How To Be Creative as a story · 85 points
HN discussionI'm sorry, but it's really difficult to take that "seminal work" seriously when that work is an in-depth analysis of the "MacLeod Model of organizational sociology". Do you know what the "MacLeod Model" is? A cartoon on the back of a business card, posted to the web without comment nine years ago: http://gapingvoid.com/2004/06/27/company-hierarchy/ Michael O'Church might have some interesting things to say, but when…
Comment linking /2004/06/27/company-hierarchy/
on “I quit my job”Submitted Random thoughts on being an entrepreneur as a story · 67 points
HN discussionI disagree. For those of us who use social networking more for posting updates and discussing things with each other, it has lots of social-contact value. The two benefits it provides that aren't simultaneously given by phone calls, SMS, IRC or watercooler meetups: - broadcast but pull (not push) communication; everyone (from the group that can see a particular post) can join or leave a discussion at any time, and r…
Comment linking /blog/2007/12/31/social-objects-for-beginners/;
on “Google’s growing problem: 50% of people do zero searches per day on mobile”Submitted On Mastery as a story · 62 points
HN discussionI preferred to scribble in the margins of my notebook during lectures; not words or likenesses of anything in particular, but kind of Hugh Macleod-ish pattern scribbles[1]. Some teachers really hated that I wasn't looking up at them and thought I was being super disrespectful, which didn't make sense to me since I was asking questions that clearly indicated I was paying attention. [1]: http://gapingvoid.com/wp-conte…
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2010/10/rackspace-1010-02j-5501.jpg
on “Things Paul Graham is wrong about”Submitted The moment as a story · 60 points
HN discussionThis reminds me of #18 on Hugh MaCleod's "how to be creative" -- Avoid the Watercooler Gang. http://gapingvoid.com/2004/07/25/how-to-be-creative/
Comment linking /2004/07/25/how-to-be-creative/
on “Woz on Creativity: Work Alone”Submitted "Good ideas have lonely childhoods" as a story · 48 points
HN discussionWarning: this is a huge topic. For further reading: Venkatesh Rao's series on the Gervais Principle: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o... My series on the same issue (organizational inefficiency): http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/gervais-princ... In a picture: http://gapingvoid.com/2004/06/27/company-hierarchy/ Short version: firms are inefficient because organizations are in…
Comment linking /2004/06/27/company-hierarchy/
on “Firm Inefficiency”Submitted Death by stuff as a story · 42 points
HN discussion> You're telling me that all I need to do to build the institution of my dreams is provide people with a sense of meaning!? LOL. http://gapingvoid.com/blog/2004/06/27/the-hughtrain/
Comment linking /blog/2004/06/27/the-hughtrain/
on “Immortality Begins at Forty”Submitted Starbucks: Numbers do lie. Sometimes pathologically so… as a story · 42 points
HN discussionHugh's take: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004739.html
Comment linking /Moveable_Type/archives/004739.html
on “Freezing cold, no Internet, boring: it's a French web 2.0 conference”Submitted Hugh MacLeod on career prospects as a story · 41 points
HN discussionI love this as I think it does a good job explaining one of my favorite cartoons by Hugh MacLeod, which screams: "I'm not delusional. I'm an entrpreneur." If you think someone is delusional, maybe they're onto something and just haven't turned on their distortion field yet? http://gapingvoid.com/2010/02/28/random-thoughts-on-being-an...
Comment linking /2010/02/28/random-thoughts-on-being-an-entrepreneur-2/
on “Turning on your Reality Distortion Field”Submitted Decommodify your product as a story · 29 points
HN discussion"Evil Plans are best!" http://gapingvoid.com/2010/04/22/daily-bizcard-03-david-brai... http://gapingvoid.com/ep
Comment linking /ep
on “Apple is just Microsoft with better marketing”Submitted Random thoughts on being an entrepreneur as a story · 22 points
HN discussionI don't think there is any mention of marketing at the cost of technical execution in the article. If your market does not know your product exists, it won't matter how good it is anyway. I'm reminded of Hugh MacLeod's brilliant cartoon "Welcome to Nobody Cares": http://www.gapingvoid.com/11444661477.jpg edit: I stand corrected. "technical execution is mostly trivial"? No thank you. I did not become an engineer to w…
Comment linking /11444661477.jpg
on “Why You Should Start Marketing the Day You Start Coding”Submitted Generation C as a story · 21 points
HN discussionOne of my favorite t-shirts has the motto: "I'm not delusional. I'm an entrepreneur." From the gapingvoid group. https://www.gapingvoid.com/?s=I%27m+not+delusional
Comment linking /?s=I%27m+not+delusional
on “Persist or let it go: a study of entrepreneurial decision making”Submitted Success is complex, Failure is a no-brainer as a story · 18 points
HN discussion
