People think of a mobile app when you say you’re building an “app”
Even when I clarify and try to explain that it’s a web app, most people are still confused. So sometimes I call it a website, which I hate because that sort of implies that it’s static. Sometimes I describe it as poker software. I still haven’t found a good solution to this. I think “website” is probably best.
This is really a blessing in disguise, because words like “app” and “software” sound like potential users would have to download and install something and potentially fumble around with settings/permissions before they can get a first glimpse, and also having to delete/uninstall afterwards. You mentioned people are lazy, but you might still be underestimating just how lazy people are. Patience is measured in milliseconds on the web.
This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I hate it. But apparently it’s just a thing that many people do. At least in the business world. Let me give you some examples.
I think ghosting is so ubiquitous in every facet of life that at this point, we’d all be better off to just accept it as a neutral fact. In particular:
If someone doesn’t respond after the second request, assume he is guilty of ghosting with no way of proving innocence because let’s be honest, technical problems with communication are rare these days and even if it’s actually the case, a third request is almost certainly going to run into the same problem
If at some later point contact is reestablished, pretend like nothing happened and don’t push the other person into coming up with an excuse if you deem the interaction still worthwhile
Paying for people’s meals doesn’t seem to induce much reciprocation
A lot of times I meet with people and will pay for their meals, in hopes that they’ll reciprocate and spend more effort trying to help me out. But I’ve found it to be incredibly ineffective.
I’d be surprised if it was effective. From the perspective of the receiver, what you’re signaling isn’t “I’m nice and forthcoming”, it’s “You better be worth my money”, and if you’re not demanding immediate reciprocation, you’re making them indebted in a gift economy they have no interest in participating in. The only people you’re likely to attract with this strategy are people who are unscrupulous to take advantage of you.
Long inferential distances is the realest thing in the world
One example is that I was talking to a professional poker player and coach. He didn’t know how to read a 2d graph with x-y coordinates. I said “x-axis”. He said, “what?”.
This made me decide to change the text on my app to say “horizontal axis” instead of “x-axis”.
He also struggled to understand that a point on the graph refers to a pair of data points. And to understand what the slope means. And how to calculate expected value.
He wasn’t the only one. I have plenty of other examples of stuff like this.
I don’t want to come across as being mean though. Just sayin’. I certainly have my own share of incompetencies.
But how could one reasonably expect people in general to have such obscure technical knowledge? I mean, this sounds weird to say on Lesswrong, sarcastic even, but that’s just due this forum being a bubble within a bubble within a bubble. Even though stuff like expected value are not very hard to grasp per se, people outside STEM fields don’t just bump into such topics by casually browsing the internet. To classify it as incompetence seems misguided; I’d be much more worried about a society where people broadly speaking understood these topics, because then you have to wonder what other non-universally useful stuff are they wasting everybody’s time with?
This is really a blessing in disguise, because words like “app” and “software” sound like potential users would have to download and install something and potentially fumble around with settings/permissions before they can get a first glimpse, and also having to delete/uninstall afterwards.
That’s true. Good point.
I think ghosting is so ubiquitous in every facet of life that at this point, we’d all be better off to just accept it as a neutral fact.
My perspective here is that even if it is ubiquitous, that doesn’t make it ok. I don’t think it’s ok to treat people like that, and thus, I think that ghosting should be frowned upon. (There could of course be an innocent explanation for the ghosting, in which case I have no problem with it.)
But how could one reasonably expect people in general to have such obscure technical knowledge?
I see “x-axis” and the ability to read a 2d graph as something that the great majority of the high school educated population should know, even if it’s been a while since they’ve been in school.
Expected value I wouldn’t expect most people to know, but I certainly would expect a professional poker player to know, especially when you are also charging people money to coach them.
Expected value I wouldn’t expect most people to know, but I certainly would expect a professional poker player to know, especially when you are also charging people money to coach them.
I would agree if we were talking about Poker AI or Poker software developers here, but I don’t see why a professional poker player would need to know about expected value any more than a Go player needs to know the Minimax algorithm—humans can’t do these calculations in their heads and have to rely on gut feeling anyway (or am I wrong here? Do Poker players actually calculate probabilities? I thought it was just a cliche from Casino Royale).
There are a lot of times when you have to do actual math in poker. For example, if you bet $50 into a $100 pot, I’d have to risk $50 to win $150, and thus need to win 1⁄4 of the time to break even. If I have a flush draw, I have to estimate how often I’ll win with that flush draw, which there are shortcuts to help you do. But the example I just described is a simple one. What if there is more money left behind, so when I hit my flush I can expect to win the $150 in the pot, plus some more? And how do we incorporate the possibility of you having a higher flush draw and me losing a lot to you when we both hit the flush?
You can get by without doing any actual math, and instead just winging it, but actual math does help in these situations.
Anyway, the bigger point is that the same thing probably applies to expected value: you can get by without it. But to me, that doesn’t mean you should try to get by without it. It’s a very fundamental concept, and if you’re going to make a living with poker, why wouldn’t you take a little time to learn them?
This is really a blessing in disguise, because words like “app” and “software” sound like potential users would have to download and install something and potentially fumble around with settings/permissions before they can get a first glimpse, and also having to delete/uninstall afterwards. You mentioned people are lazy, but you might still be underestimating just how lazy people are. Patience is measured in milliseconds on the web.
I think ghosting is so ubiquitous in every facet of life that at this point, we’d all be better off to just accept it as a neutral fact. In particular:
If someone doesn’t respond after the second request, assume he is guilty of ghosting with no way of proving innocence because let’s be honest, technical problems with communication are rare these days and even if it’s actually the case, a third request is almost certainly going to run into the same problem
If at some later point contact is reestablished, pretend like nothing happened and don’t push the other person into coming up with an excuse if you deem the interaction still worthwhile
I’d be surprised if it was effective. From the perspective of the receiver, what you’re signaling isn’t “I’m nice and forthcoming”, it’s “You better be worth my money”, and if you’re not demanding immediate reciprocation, you’re making them indebted in a gift economy they have no interest in participating in. The only people you’re likely to attract with this strategy are people who are unscrupulous to take advantage of you.
But how could one reasonably expect people in general to have such obscure technical knowledge? I mean, this sounds weird to say on Lesswrong, sarcastic even, but that’s just due this forum being a bubble within a bubble within a bubble. Even though stuff like expected value are not very hard to grasp per se, people outside STEM fields don’t just bump into such topics by casually browsing the internet. To classify it as incompetence seems misguided; I’d be much more worried about a society where people broadly speaking understood these topics, because then you have to wonder what other non-universally useful stuff are they wasting everybody’s time with?
That’s true. Good point.
My perspective here is that even if it is ubiquitous, that doesn’t make it ok. I don’t think it’s ok to treat people like that, and thus, I think that ghosting should be frowned upon. (There could of course be an innocent explanation for the ghosting, in which case I have no problem with it.)
I see “x-axis” and the ability to read a 2d graph as something that the great majority of the high school educated population should know, even if it’s been a while since they’ve been in school.
Expected value I wouldn’t expect most people to know, but I certainly would expect a professional poker player to know, especially when you are also charging people money to coach them.
I would agree if we were talking about Poker AI or Poker software developers here, but I don’t see why a professional poker player would need to know about expected value any more than a Go player needs to know the Minimax algorithm—humans can’t do these calculations in their heads and have to rely on gut feeling anyway (or am I wrong here? Do Poker players actually calculate probabilities? I thought it was just a cliche from Casino Royale).
There are a lot of times when you have to do actual math in poker. For example, if you bet $50 into a $100 pot, I’d have to risk $50 to win $150, and thus need to win 1⁄4 of the time to break even. If I have a flush draw, I have to estimate how often I’ll win with that flush draw, which there are shortcuts to help you do. But the example I just described is a simple one. What if there is more money left behind, so when I hit my flush I can expect to win the $150 in the pot, plus some more? And how do we incorporate the possibility of you having a higher flush draw and me losing a lot to you when we both hit the flush?
You can get by without doing any actual math, and instead just winging it, but actual math does help in these situations.
Anyway, the bigger point is that the same thing probably applies to expected value: you can get by without it. But to me, that doesn’t mean you should try to get by without it. It’s a very fundamental concept, and if you’re going to make a living with poker, why wouldn’t you take a little time to learn them?