Comments on: A Web 2.0 Quote

By: EugenS

EugenS — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:56:16 +0000

oh, you’re the CEO of 9rules. Silly me :)

By: EugenS

EugenS — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:55:24 +0000

Sometimes even if you don’t copy you still make mistakes. If we ignore the ethical part of copying, we still have this question: “Why should we be afraid of mistakes?” In my opinion, mistakes is what makes us grow, learn, get better, evolve. If there were no mistakes there wouldn’t be evolution.

I came to this blog via 9rules.

By: emarts

emarts — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 23:32:06 +0000

Mistakes are errors :P

By: Joseph Damano

Joseph Damano — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 04:36:59 +0000

Copying others is often cited as the wild wild west of the Internet especially regarding it’s growth. Copying others leads to many website or code samples but not original & diversified ones. Learning from others copied mistakes is often the bulk of most technical forums. It is those who with determination and research cause change and make new areas of code derivatives which provide the new wave of web 2.0 applications to grow.

By: Eddie Sowden

Eddie Sowden — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:13:45 +0000

The main problem with copying other peoples mistakes is that you don’t realise they are mistakes as the other person did them.

Some mistakes need to be made in life though for you to work out why you shouldn’t do something. Its like when you see the do not push this button. You know not to push it and the person who put it there knows what it does but you want to make that mistake so you learn from it.

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:02:26 +0000

You shouldn’t copy unless you have a decent reason (like taking an idea that does not have open source alternatives, and making an open source version).
But we do learn from mistakes.

By: liquid06

liquid06 — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:29:33 +0000

I agree with Jeff and Kyle. Mistakes are wonderful if you learn from them!

“Take chances, make mistakes and get messy!”
–Miss Frizzle

That’s why I liked to watch The Magic School Bus when I was a kid.

By: baldur

baldur — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:00:58 +0000

The great thing about other people’s mistakes is that you get to avoid them.

The issue with copying depends on what is being copied.

Are they patterns? User interface, UI models, interaction design, or the style of user-facing functionality? In which case you’re basing your project on models which increase the likelihood of your prospects having a familiarity with your interface.

Are they business models or other foundation principles behind the project (a.k.a. “Just Another Youtube”).

Then you’re in trouble because the project is offering no new value.

A new project that uses, copies, steals and imitates existing interfaces and interaction patterns (social and otherwise) but offers new value to the user is a winner.

It doesn’t even have to provide new functionality, just add a new value to pre-existing functionality and models (tumblr.net being an excellent example).

By: Thomas Baekdal

Thomas Baekdal — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 00:13:15 +0000

I think what Seth Godin writes about is more to the point.

If all you do is copy, it has already been done. You are now in second place.

Note: Seth Godin have not said this, but it is more or less what his book “Purple Cow” is about.

The greatest mistake is not that they copy other people’s mistakes, it is that they chose that path to begin with. People do not want to follow other followers, they want to follow the leader.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 23:22:47 +0000

I guess it depends how precisely you copy them. I doubt Darwin had Web 2.0 in mind but the principle is the same.

Making mistakes is the best way to learn; that I agree with. I have learned so much more from fixing my mistakes than I ever did from copying others’ successes.