Top all-time · #8950
Michelle Lim
Personal blog · michellelim.org/writingcareerprogramming
Michelle Lim's personal blog at michellelim.org covers career and programming. Since 2020, 8 different Hacker News readers have linked it 11 times, most often “Using “Frontend” or “Backend” to describe the Engineering you like (2020)”. The last post was in 2023, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (6) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Michelle Lim's 'Into the Fediverse' post, which argues that new social networks should bootstrap by joining an existing social graph through interoperable protocols like ActivityPub.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 6 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Hi! I’m Michelle Lim. I was previously Product Lead at Warp. I also write essays.
Most-linked posts?
- Using “Frontend” or “Backend” to describe the Engineering you like (2020)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2020-09-18
- Social media apps should share the same social graph by implementing ActivityPub2 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-06-29
What Hacker News says?
> network effects If you're building a new social network today, it makes sense to tap into an existing social graph so you can bootstrap your network with an existing ecosystem. Michelle Lim made a great case for this in her post here: https://www.michellelim.org/writing/into-the-fediverse/ These protocols exist today. This is a W3C recommendation as of 2018-01-23: https://www.w3.org/TR/2018/REC-activitypub-2018012…
Comment linking /writing/into-the-fediverse/
on “Facebook bans, sends C&D letter to developer of Unfollow Everything extension”Submitted Using “Frontend” or “Backend” to describe the Engineering you like (2020) as a story · 134 points
HN discussionreally dig the "slow" idea. Will you federate? There's a good argument for this here (you would have a built-in audience of at least 5m accounts): https://www.michellelim.org/writing/into-the-fediverse/ Federation could be your "moat" to avoid joining the Club of Abandoned Social Apps (it's a harsh ecosystem, ask Clubhouse or App.Net).
Comment linking /writing/into-the-fediverse/
on “Show HN: Slow Social, a social network built for friends, not influencers”Submitted Social media apps should share the same social graph by implementing ActivityPub as a story · 27 points
HN discussionThis reminds me of the product-infrastructure spectrum of dev specialization. [1] [1] https://www.michellelim.org/writing/stop-using-frontend-back...
Comment linking /writing/stop-using-frontend-backend/
on “You need Software Developers to believe in your project (2020)”Submitted Stop just using “Front end” or “Back end” to describe the Engineering you like as a story · 17 points
HN discussionI like sharing this article concerning people who may be thinking about creating a new viral social media service. The lesson would be to tap into an existing social graph with the use of interoperable standardized protocols: https://www.michellelim.org/writing/into-the-fediverse/ What I'd really like to see though is a decent CMS with this sort of paradigm in mind. RSS is nice but AP takes that to a completely new…
Comment linking /writing/into-the-fediverse/
on “Misskey: Alternative Fediverse software that also uses ActivityPub”Submitted Stop just using “Front end” or “Back end” to describe the Engineering you like as a story · 10 points
HN discussionone way would be to be interoperable with an existing ecosystem from the start. Michelle Lim makes a great case for this here: https://www.michellelim.org/writing/into-the-fediverse/
Comment linking /writing/into-the-fediverse/
on “Mewe.com”Submitted My journey from engineer to Growth Lead at a startup as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSounds like you're more interested in "solving the business problem" and less interested in "solving the problems of the code that is solving the business problem." Hillel Wayne recently wrote about this distinction: > New Newsletter! An exploration of a core difference between "programming" and "software engineering": how much you work on "solving the business problem" versus "solving the problems of the code that…
Comment linking /writing/stop-using-frontend-backend/
on “Ask HN: Anybody else exhausted by code discussion?”