Hacker News

/dev/null: social network for developers

40 points by mnapoli 2 hours ago | 57 comments

I have a petty complaint: if you name your social network after a core Unix concept, then why make your users login exclusively through a Microsoft subsidiary?

retromagik 46 minutes ago

Based on the branding, I think their target demographic assumes the dev in /dev/null is short for "Developers"

ASalazarMX 26 minutes ago

It's a cute name, but considering how combative developers can be about naming, I think it should have been more clever than cute.

If 'dev' is developer, 'null' makes me think it's for worthless developers, or for things that developers don't care about.

joshuat 31 minutes ago

dev = developer

bin = trash

pitched 43 minutes ago

GitHub is a social network already. You’re logging into one social network with another social network. And I’m complaining about that fact on a different social network. What has the world come to?

ASalazarMX 25 minutes ago

DM me and subscribe if you want an explanation.

stephenlf 60 minutes ago

Is this a real question? If so, here’s a real answer:

GitHub is the single most widely adopted, developer-specific OIDC identity provider.

If it’s facetious, then WSL BABYYYYYY

mystifyingpoi 49 minutes ago

Why does this need OIDC at all? Basic email + password account is like 1-2 prompts away.

ASalazarMX 24 minutes ago

I guess at some point developers will have to prove they're serious developers by exposing their GitHub profile.

Edit: it's part of your profile already, better vibe code some random ideas to farm some GitHub dev credibility.

ranger_danger 17 minutes ago

I don't think a github profile (or any specific activity therein) should be a prerequisite for being considered a 'serious developer'.

ASalazarMX 10 minutes ago

I am of the same idea. Requiring online, public repositories, specifically in GitHub, doesn't cover all developers. It covers many of them nowadays, so there's that.

hobofan 47 minutes ago

Because effective anti-spam account measures are not 1-2 prompts away.

bigwheels 48 minutes ago

Maybe spam concerns, but your point remains valid.

saghm 47 minutes ago

And having those passwords leaked is probably only another 1-2 prompts away

OtomotO 54 minutes ago

Guess I am simply not invited to the party then.

Or I am not a developer after all.

Identity crisis intensifies

pitched 40 minutes ago

The dev in /dev/null is device, not developer. So you’re not a device but you can still be a developer.

fatty_patty89 53 minutes ago

>Is this a real question? If so, here’s a real answer:

>Let's all be willing docile salves

This is how you sound

pants2 46 minutes ago

Nobody's forcing you to use that website

sandeepkd 51 minutes ago

How does publicly published PGP based login sounds?

ranger_danger 23 minutes ago

FWIW DOS and Windows both have a null concept too:

  C:\> TYPE file.txt >NUL
  C:\>

Daviey 59 minutes ago

[flagged]

ajjenkins 2 hours ago

It would be nice if the website had more information about the platform before you create an account.

mnapoli 34 minutes ago

Fixed! Check out the website it shows content now, no landing page anymore

ersind 2 hours ago

This was done only in two days, there are important pages missing.

embedding-shape 51 minutes ago

> This was done only in two days

So not at all ready to be seen? Maybe we should all flag this so it can re-appear once someone spent at least a bit of time on making it proper and ready for public consumption?

mystifyingpoi 46 minutes ago

Does this excuse the main page missing any information what this thing even is? Come on.

stephenlf 59 minutes ago

I signed up for TextLog a few weeks ago. I love the text-only social network, but their European infra meant too much latency for my US-based browsing. Maybe this will scratch that itch!

sp4cec0wb0y 39 minutes ago

Your posts have to be approved? Odd way to run a social network imo.

hk1337 51 minutes ago

> Failed to open page

I'm guessing that wasn't expected result.

deadbabe 42 minutes ago

/tmp/social would have been better I think. dev = device, doesn’t make sense.

hk1337 22 minutes ago

I like it. I might steal that.

muslimpeacepriz 2 hours ago

Shouldn't that domain be dev-null.social instead of 'shell'? Dorks.

ersind 2 hours ago

Looks good!

JaceComix 59 minutes ago

Which part looks good? The <50 words or the YouTube video?

I'm not saying this isn't a good idea or that people don't want something like this but... There's nothing here?

sidrag22 39 minutes ago

yep im confused, i see a handful of words that signals almost nothing other than there is potentially something behind the login gate. then an 8 hour video... im not just gonna jump into some random 8 hour video without any context, just as im not about to signup for something with no context for what it really is.

caaqil 38 minutes ago

This is interesting: a. Developers on average are probably low on E trait in the Big Five b. Most users in the online developer communities (at least the ones who will be doing the "social" part, per the standard 1% rule of social platforms) loathe LinkedIn-style stuff, being asked to log in or provide PII. c. Most "social" services devs regularly use are for technical/utility stuff (GH, SO, subreddits) more than the social aspect.

If a, b and c are true, then this site is reinventing HN/proggit with forced GitHub login on top. NGMI.

antiloper 51 minutes ago

> Computah... build me a social network in PHP. Import the user's profile from GitHub, they shouldn't have to fill anything in. No likes, reposts or algorithms. Add a catchy slogan at the home page. Make no mistakes!

nailer 51 minutes ago

I can't see any of the content unless I sign in.

I don't know if I want to sign in, because I can't see any of the content.

satiric 48 minutes ago

I'm thinking of it a different way. In order to join a social media network these days, I need to have some assurance that it's going to be worth my time. They didn't provide any, so screw 'em.

simonhamp 45 minutes ago

it was supposed to be public. maybe it got reverted. the team were moving super fast

mnapoli 24 minutes ago

yeah that's fixed

mnapoli 33 minutes ago

That's fixed

TheChelsUK 2 hours ago

Very good idea

cyanydeez 2 hours ago

conceptually, just sounds like a place you go when you don't want anyone to hear, see or think about you.

brabel 56 minutes ago

A dream developer experience.

lenerdenator 48 minutes ago

Devs need to be around actual humans in-person more, not less.

ASalazarMX 17 minutes ago

I have the right amount of humans in my life, I don't want more. Online is great for me, for this use case.

rvz 2 hours ago

> No likes. No reposts. No algorithm. Everything else goes to /dev/null.

*Closes tab

aftbit 52 minutes ago

Just skip the whole thing and send your thoughts straight to /dev/null

stephenlf 47 minutes ago

Weird, especially because it DOES have likes.

mnapoli 33 minutes ago

Yep our bad, we fixed this, no landing page anymore

wccrawford 41 minutes ago

No, it has stars. /s

sigh Yeah, that's really a bad look for them to claim no likes and then have something that is functionally identical.

andrewstuart 2 hours ago

[dead]

nailer 54 minutes ago

> follow people who write code, and commit plain text to a shared log.

Isn't that Twitter?

verdverm 45 minutes ago

Twitter is gone, isn't it? X under Elon is not a place I will ever hang out

Discord is where more dev communities are moving to

simonhamp 54 minutes ago

it's fully open source (https://github.com/nunomaduro/dev-null.sh/pulls) and received over 200 PRs in less than 48 hours

esaym 40 minutes ago

I am always so floored when I see a new thing written all in PHP. I always got crap for using Perl most of my life.

t1234s 51 minutes ago

Why do all these guys have "Soy Face" when you take their pictures?

ASalazarMX 15 minutes ago

TIL soy face is the 'unmasculine' version of pog face.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soy_face