Ideas are both valuable, as in they allow society to advance, and worthless, as it’s almost always the execution that matters.
Also: “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.”
FriendDA is a cool concept. As a concept, rather than as a name for any specific terms, I suspect it’s done a ton of good in the industry. It can be a quick way to make folks aware when a causal convo takes a potentially unexpected business turn.
Of course, it’s also fundamentally (mockingly) different in kind from what industry folks mean by “NDA”. As long as all involved get that, it can be useful.
SemanticStrengh 699 days ago [-]
Any NDA that works worldwide or at least for European countries??
kemitchell 699 days ago [-]
Common law and civil law legal systems are fundamentally different, and they differ meaningfully in how NDAs get written on them. I doubt a single set of terms could cover both kinds of jurisdictions without more or less sticking two NDAs together with an IF THEN ElSE between them.
I am just an American lawyer. Working with colleagues from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada on Waypoint and Guestbook, I was surprised how well one set of terms could serve clients under all those systems.
groby_b 699 days ago [-]
No offense, but this is worse than useless, it's actively damaging in most cases.
As an actual NDA, it's too informal. Enforcement, if any, would be a pain.
As a joke between friends, it'd mostly annoy people who have lived long enough to realize friendship's occasionally fall apart in confrontational ways, and that in acrimonious separations, pieces of paper with your signature will be used against you.
My answer in both cases would be the same - "We're signing a contract that gets you free advice. What does it get me?". (In the first case, both sides getting something out of it is a requirement to make it enforceable. In the second one, why am I getting useless paperwork for helping you?)
dokem 699 days ago [-]
Friends don't make friends sign contacts. Find a business partner or a better friend. Also, your idea isn't good or valuable.
nvrspyx 699 days ago [-]
I think you took it too seriously, not to mention there's nothing to sign.
dokem 699 days ago [-]
I hate that this thing exists and I hate the painfully unfunny SV dork architype that spent their free time making this instead of doing literally anything else. There's a lot going on here that just rubs me the wrong way. I must understand why I hate it so, and I must share that hatred.
smeej 699 days ago [-]
I don't think it needs to be formalized to this extent, but I would LOVE it if people would make a habit of saying, before they share anything they would like kept private, "Please do not share this with [audience, like "Jane" or "anyone"], at least until [date/other thing that needs to happen first]." I'd be delighted if someone sent me this FriendDA.
I can't tell you how many times I've inadvertently blown a secret just because I didn't know it was a secret. It's to the point where as soon as anyone asks me, "Hey, can I tell you something?" I ask for these details.
People think other people should always be able to tell. Some of us can't. I don't just not read minds. I also don't (usually) read social cues.
There's definitely an audience for this. It just isn't you!
prbs23 698 days ago [-]
It feels like there is a cultural difference here.
If someone tells me something in a one on one or small group conversation, my default assumption is that I should not share that with anyone else. The idea that I would have to tell someone to not share details of a private conversation is crazy to me. Unless stated otherwise, respect people's privacy.
Obviously there are people that gossip, which is kind of the same thing, but also is very much frowned upon.
smeej 695 days ago [-]
People tell me what seem like mundane things in conversation all the time, though, like that they're going on a vacation or have started taking dance lessons, and it never occurs to me that this is meant to be a surprise to someone for some reason, or that there's someone that person wouldn't want to know it.
For example, once a friend told me they were going on vacation to a particular city, but didn't mention it was for another friend's anniversary surprise. When the other friend mentioned they had a trip planned to the same place around the same time, "Oh! [First friend] just told me she's going to be there too! Maybe you guys can meet up together or something! That'd be so fun!" was out of my mouth almost immediately. It never even entered into my mind that there was a reason not to say anything.
I inadvertently ruined a fun surprise just because nobody told me it was a secret. If they had, I wouldn't have said anything!
maliker 699 days ago [-]
Healthiest response in the thread.
Xeoncross 699 days ago [-]
Sharing ideas is hard.
Having enough close relationships with people who you want to share ideas with (desirable skills, knowledge, connections) is probably part of the problem.
I have lots of close friends in totally different industries.
operon 698 days ago [-]
That is awesome. Great insights can born from cross pollination.
alsobrsp 698 days ago [-]
I have used FriendDA many times with friends, we will throw it into the middle of a sentence while explaining an idea.
I have always thought there should be an execution clause. If I share an idea and have not spoken about it for X time then it becomes friend(publicish) domain. At that point anyone I have shared it with could implement it without recourse, it would be nice if they shared the wealth if they made millions.
etaioinshrdlu 699 days ago [-]
Will never cease to amaze me how overprotective people with no traction are of their ideas.
DenisM 699 days ago [-]
On other hand every idea that has traction started out as idea without traction. If we assume that traction-less ideas are not worth of protection we're placing a landmine under every single productive idea that is yet to be had.
699 days ago [-]
social_quotient 699 days ago [-]
It’s fun to see the long history of this being shared
Also: “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.”
— Thomas Jefferson, 1813 (https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s12...)
FriendDA is a cool concept. As a concept, rather than as a name for any specific terms, I suspect it’s done a ton of good in the industry. It can be a quick way to make folks aware when a causal convo takes a potentially unexpected business turn.
Of course, it’s also fundamentally (mockingly) different in kind from what industry folks mean by “NDA”. As long as all involved get that, it can be useful.
I am just an American lawyer. Working with colleagues from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada on Waypoint and Guestbook, I was surprised how well one set of terms could serve clients under all those systems.
As an actual NDA, it's too informal. Enforcement, if any, would be a pain.
As a joke between friends, it'd mostly annoy people who have lived long enough to realize friendship's occasionally fall apart in confrontational ways, and that in acrimonious separations, pieces of paper with your signature will be used against you.
My answer in both cases would be the same - "We're signing a contract that gets you free advice. What does it get me?". (In the first case, both sides getting something out of it is a requirement to make it enforceable. In the second one, why am I getting useless paperwork for helping you?)
I can't tell you how many times I've inadvertently blown a secret just because I didn't know it was a secret. It's to the point where as soon as anyone asks me, "Hey, can I tell you something?" I ask for these details.
People think other people should always be able to tell. Some of us can't. I don't just not read minds. I also don't (usually) read social cues.
There's definitely an audience for this. It just isn't you!
If someone tells me something in a one on one or small group conversation, my default assumption is that I should not share that with anyone else. The idea that I would have to tell someone to not share details of a private conversation is crazy to me. Unless stated otherwise, respect people's privacy.
Obviously there are people that gossip, which is kind of the same thing, but also is very much frowned upon.
For example, once a friend told me they were going on vacation to a particular city, but didn't mention it was for another friend's anniversary surprise. When the other friend mentioned they had a trip planned to the same place around the same time, "Oh! [First friend] just told me she's going to be there too! Maybe you guys can meet up together or something! That'd be so fun!" was out of my mouth almost immediately. It never even entered into my mind that there was a reason not to say anything.
I inadvertently ruined a fun surprise just because nobody told me it was a secret. If they had, I wouldn't have said anything!
Having enough close relationships with people who you want to share ideas with (desirable skills, knowledge, connections) is probably part of the problem.
I have lots of close friends in totally different industries.
I have always thought there should be an execution clause. If I share an idea and have not spoken about it for X time then it becomes friend(publicish) domain. At that point anyone I have shared it with could implement it without recourse, it would be nice if they shared the wealth if they made millions.
https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=friendda.org
* “mutual” in this case means both parties agree to that he same terms.