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I can name quite a few low score threads in the "New" section that are more interesting and relevant to the hackers amongst us than this. IMHO there is somethin

I can name quite a few low score threads in the "New" section that are more interesting and relevant to the hackers amongst us than this. IMHO there is something rotten about the outcomes of the HN frontpage promotion mechanism nowadays.

aheilbut 13y ago
There's something inspiring about seeing someone hustle to create an opportunity to improve themselves, and about how the internet is empowering individuals to do that on a global scale.
codygman 13y ago
Are you kidding me? This is what being a hacker is all about... Getting access to a computer for the first time, immediately trying to figure everything out. Add on the fact that she's in a country that strongly encourages going into other fields and the fact that there probably isn't much support to go into this field and you've got a very inspiring story. Then getting the "obsession" to figure everything out, trying out linux (or other open source OS's), and going from there to become proficient with programming. I think this is very relevant to me as well as other hackers.
ryanmolden 13y ago
The last sentence hints at some kind of conspiracy or upvoting-ring, but of all stories this one seems least likely to be due to something like that. It may just be the case that your interests and what you find relevant are not actually generalizable to the HN community at large. I actually like stories like this. Stories of people being driven to better themselves and their lives and using the internet to open doors that never would have been possible even 10 years ago. If HN just became story after story like this then, yes, it would be tiresome, but I don't think we are in any near-term danger of that happening. Having a broad range of stories, even some that are not strictly about tech in some way that would personally benefit you, is good for a community, unless we want to develop some sort of echo-chamber where all we ever read/think/talk about is <insert pet technology topic here>. I have met people who are like that, I choose not to associate with them for a reason.
- michaell2 13y ago
  or perhaps the silent majority of the "HN community at large" mostly agrees with me, but a small, entrenched, vocal minority successfully bullies its way to impose its own view of what is and is not "inspiring" on everybody else. "Gimme money" Nigerian letters are not inspiring, not even when done by a Kenyan who allegedly knows (or wants to learn?) how to program.
  - MarthaChumo 13y ago
    michaell2, I respect your opinion, but to remove the doubts from your mind, I will give you a few links to show you a bit of what I have done. You can Google "Martha Chumo", or "Njeri Chelimo" (This is the name I use for github, twitter, etc) and check out the results. I have been featured on various sites cause of my learning. Checkout http://www.codecademy.com/stories/code-from-kenya http://www.codecademy.com/stories/code-from-kenya . You can contact codecademy, and will tell you I'm a moderator there and I helped out creating the Ruby lessons. You can also contact teamtreeshouse.com, and ask about their student @NjeriChelimo. I have been very active in the community, and I am soon to be featured in the Treehouse Dean's list. Here's the link to my profile there -> http://teamtreehouse.com/njerichelimo http://teamtreehouse.com/njerichelimo. I have been contributing to the Apache deltacloud project -> http://deltacloud.apache.org/ http://deltacloud.apache.org/. You can contact the deltacloud devs and confirm that I exist, and that I can actually program. I was accepted as a speaker at DevCon Tel Aviv -> http://devcon-june2013.events.co.il/people/847-martha-chumo http://devcon-june2013.events.co.il/people/847-martha-chumo . You can contact the conf organizer and confirm this. I am the Nairobi MongoDB user group organizer. This you can confirm from the 10gen community manager. I try to blog - http://nchelimo.blogspot.com/ http://nchelimo.blogspot.com/ , http://njeri-chelimo.blogspot.com/ http://njeri-chelimo.blogspot.com/ , http://njerichelimo.blogspot.com/ http://njerichelimo.blogspot.com/. You can also checkout my github account -> https://github.com/NjeriChelimo https://github.com/NjeriChelimo I know there are a lot of cons out there, but I am definitely not one of them. I hope this clears your mind a little.
    - nthj 13y ago
      Martha, I think I speak for a lot of us on HN that we weren't concerned this was a con, as evidenced by the fact that you're currently number #4 on the home page. From one self-taught programmer to another, congratulations on reaching your goal, godspeed to New York, and keep us in the loop on how things play out. We're cheering for you.
nthj 13y ago
The older I get, the less I care about technology and hacking as ends to themselves and the more I care about empowering people to create great things. It's so much more rewarding.
sbank 13y ago
Bitter much?

aheilbut 13y ago

There's something inspiring about seeing someone hustle to create an opportunity to improve themselves, and about how the internet is empowering individuals to do that on a global scale.

codygman 13y ago

Are you kidding me? This is what being a hacker is all about... Getting access to a computer for the first time, immediately trying to figure everything out. Add on the fact that she's in a country that strongly encourages going into other fields and the fact that there probably isn't much support to go into this field and you've got a very inspiring story. Then getting the "obsession" to figure everything out, trying out linux (or other open source OS's), and going from there to become proficient with programming. I think this is very relevant to me as well as other hackers.

ryanmolden 13y ago

The last sentence hints at some kind of conspiracy or upvoting-ring, but of all stories this one seems least likely to be due to something like that. It may just be the case that your interests and what you find relevant are not actually generalizable to the HN community at large. I actually like stories like this. Stories of people being driven to better themselves and their lives and using the internet to open doors that never would have been possible even 10 years ago. If HN just became story after story like this then, yes, it would be tiresome, but I don't think we are in any near-term danger of that happening. Having a broad range of stories, even some that are not strictly about tech in some way that would personally benefit you, is good for a community, unless we want to develop some sort of echo-chamber where all we ever read/think/talk about is <insert pet technology topic here>. I have met people who are like that, I choose not to associate with them for a reason.

michaell2 13y ago
or perhaps the silent majority of the "HN community at large" mostly agrees with me, but a small, entrenched, vocal minority successfully bullies its way to impose its own view of what is and is not "inspiring" on everybody else. "Gimme money" Nigerian letters are not inspiring, not even when done by a Kenyan who allegedly knows (or wants to learn?) how to program.
- MarthaChumo 13y ago
  michaell2, I respect your opinion, but to remove the doubts from your mind, I will give you a few links to show you a bit of what I have done. You can Google "Martha Chumo", or "Njeri Chelimo" (This is the name I use for github, twitter, etc) and check out the results. I have been featured on various sites cause of my learning. Checkout http://www.codecademy.com/stories/code-from-kenya http://www.codecademy.com/stories/code-from-kenya . You can contact codecademy, and will tell you I'm a moderator there and I helped out creating the Ruby lessons. You can also contact teamtreeshouse.com, and ask about their student @NjeriChelimo. I have been very active in the community, and I am soon to be featured in the Treehouse Dean's list. Here's the link to my profile there -> http://teamtreehouse.com/njerichelimo http://teamtreehouse.com/njerichelimo. I have been contributing to the Apache deltacloud project -> http://deltacloud.apache.org/ http://deltacloud.apache.org/. You can contact the deltacloud devs and confirm that I exist, and that I can actually program. I was accepted as a speaker at DevCon Tel Aviv -> http://devcon-june2013.events.co.il/people/847-martha-chumo http://devcon-june2013.events.co.il/people/847-martha-chumo . You can contact the conf organizer and confirm this. I am the Nairobi MongoDB user group organizer. This you can confirm from the 10gen community manager. I try to blog - http://nchelimo.blogspot.com/ http://nchelimo.blogspot.com/ , http://njeri-chelimo.blogspot.com/ http://njeri-chelimo.blogspot.com/ , http://njerichelimo.blogspot.com/ http://njerichelimo.blogspot.com/. You can also checkout my github account -> https://github.com/NjeriChelimo https://github.com/NjeriChelimo I know there are a lot of cons out there, but I am definitely not one of them. I hope this clears your mind a little.
  - nthj 13y ago
    Martha, I think I speak for a lot of us on HN that we weren't concerned this was a con, as evidenced by the fact that you're currently number #4 on the home page. From one self-taught programmer to another, congratulations on reaching your goal, godspeed to New York, and keep us in the loop on how things play out. We're cheering for you.

nthj 13y ago

The older I get, the less I care about technology and hacking as ends to themselves and the more I care about empowering people to create great things. It's so much more rewarding.

sbank 13y ago

Bitter much?