Post by nickgreyden on Jul 10, 2010 18:01:48 GMT -5
After a bit of thought, this is the sum of how I feel about this project as of now.
I don't like it. Dan is putting goals in the hands of other people. While I honestly believe his intentions are noble and his goal is data for awesome, the plan has several flaws. First off, Dan is a youtube celebrity. While we all make jokes about this, we all know a great number of younger viewers know Dan through this medium and as such, it is a logical deduction that a great many of the ideas will come from those of this age bracket. While it is foolhardy to think that no good or even great ideas come from this age group, the sheer lack of experience in the world around them will mold their ideas and thus they are sure to be colored in this fashion. Of course these ideas can be voted down, however I worry about the numbers rising instead.
Not all youtube viewers or Dan Brown's followers are of this age of course. Many, as we can clearly see on the SPOTM age demographic poll, are fast exiting their teen years or even beyond it already. Different cultures and life experiences might indeed make for many awesome ideas. However what if these get lost in the mad shuffle of things, shelved to rot on page 2 or 3 with the current ADD generation. How many of even the SPOTM community will bother reading this lengthy post let alone read it after it is buried three or four pages back? It says a lot when people won't take the time to read, research, and learn. Ignorance is bliss... and foolish.
Next, what is more inline with my own expertise. Ideas are great, and every idea deserves to be heard. However, every idea needs to be tested. In a hypothetical situation, say Dan is charged with getting a dog as a weekly goal. Five hundred people think this is a good idea. However did they bother to think about a place for the dog? What about the cost to get a dog? Did they think of food for the dog? Shots? Spade or neutered? What about the lease on the house? What happens when next week Dan is charged with taking a bus ride for two days? Now there needs to be someone to watch the dog, to feed the dog. This very quickly gets out of hand. I did not hear of a way that an idea can be discussed and ways in which it is "bad" pointed out. The harmless idea of "get a dog" as I just pointed out could go terribly awry without anyone having thought of it. Maybe there will be a way to discuss possible impacts, but I heard no mention of them.
Finally, in the end, you are your only master and better at knowing your history and limits than anyone. I guess at anytime during this Dan can call it quits but we don't know enough things about him to make an informed desicion. We do not have access to how much money he has, so ideas of "donate $4000 to UP" might be popular but impossible. We don't know his medical history so things like "Climb Mount Everest" might be popular but out of his league. What is he terrified of? What can he not eat? What about dumping Danielle? Marrying her? Moving out? What about going back to school? *evil grin*
Also, people are jumping on the bandwagon with how awesome this is. I've seen things like "it will be awesome if we make it awesome". However, everyone needs to remember this. Dan is one guy. He can't be everywhere at once. He is not Superman. And to be the ultimate pessimeist at this point, if you have seen the moderator module at work on his channel, I don't have a lot of hope for the future of this. I am really expecting a lot of fear factor, reality comedy, and not a lot of good done for the world. Sorry guys, my hopes are not high for this.
I don't like it. Dan is putting goals in the hands of other people. While I honestly believe his intentions are noble and his goal is data for awesome, the plan has several flaws. First off, Dan is a youtube celebrity. While we all make jokes about this, we all know a great number of younger viewers know Dan through this medium and as such, it is a logical deduction that a great many of the ideas will come from those of this age bracket. While it is foolhardy to think that no good or even great ideas come from this age group, the sheer lack of experience in the world around them will mold their ideas and thus they are sure to be colored in this fashion. Of course these ideas can be voted down, however I worry about the numbers rising instead.
Not all youtube viewers or Dan Brown's followers are of this age of course. Many, as we can clearly see on the SPOTM age demographic poll, are fast exiting their teen years or even beyond it already. Different cultures and life experiences might indeed make for many awesome ideas. However what if these get lost in the mad shuffle of things, shelved to rot on page 2 or 3 with the current ADD generation. How many of even the SPOTM community will bother reading this lengthy post let alone read it after it is buried three or four pages back? It says a lot when people won't take the time to read, research, and learn. Ignorance is bliss... and foolish.
Next, what is more inline with my own expertise. Ideas are great, and every idea deserves to be heard. However, every idea needs to be tested. In a hypothetical situation, say Dan is charged with getting a dog as a weekly goal. Five hundred people think this is a good idea. However did they bother to think about a place for the dog? What about the cost to get a dog? Did they think of food for the dog? Shots? Spade or neutered? What about the lease on the house? What happens when next week Dan is charged with taking a bus ride for two days? Now there needs to be someone to watch the dog, to feed the dog. This very quickly gets out of hand. I did not hear of a way that an idea can be discussed and ways in which it is "bad" pointed out. The harmless idea of "get a dog" as I just pointed out could go terribly awry without anyone having thought of it. Maybe there will be a way to discuss possible impacts, but I heard no mention of them.
Finally, in the end, you are your only master and better at knowing your history and limits than anyone. I guess at anytime during this Dan can call it quits but we don't know enough things about him to make an informed desicion. We do not have access to how much money he has, so ideas of "donate $4000 to UP" might be popular but impossible. We don't know his medical history so things like "Climb Mount Everest" might be popular but out of his league. What is he terrified of? What can he not eat? What about dumping Danielle? Marrying her? Moving out? What about going back to school? *evil grin*
Also, people are jumping on the bandwagon with how awesome this is. I've seen things like "it will be awesome if we make it awesome". However, everyone needs to remember this. Dan is one guy. He can't be everywhere at once. He is not Superman. And to be the ultimate pessimeist at this point, if you have seen the moderator module at work on his channel, I don't have a lot of hope for the future of this. I am really expecting a lot of fear factor, reality comedy, and not a lot of good done for the world. Sorry guys, my hopes are not high for this.
