If the data was migrated into a database with a really clean and simple multi-user login, with a view available similar to the spreadsheet, and finally having each user verified against an auth string they placed in their user profile on HN -- that'd overcome the issue with people messing with the columns and more than just their row: -- also emails could be obfuscated.
Adrian, thanks for doing this. BTW, I set something up on Ning for this purpose and registed the ___domain mycofounder.com. I'd be happy to transfer both over to you. I've found the Ning pages are a bit easier to edit and search, have nice built in functionality to host pics, etc. If you are interested let me know!
We launched a similar app over the weekend (loved the idea of a cofounder meeting site), it's at http://findmycofounder.com/. We based the design on the comment thread (well, most of it). We added searching by geography, skills, primary focus, etc. It's an evolving thing, so suggestions are more than welcome.
Just a small critique:
I am usually in the camp of "more contrast please!", but seeing the results in pure black on white was jarring, especially with it being bold.
Might I recommend you lighten the black a bit or add some background color to reduce the contrast? (The yellow box at the top is more pleasing to the eye)
"Attention HN users of the "Co-founder wish list" document.
I have manually transferred/formatted entries in the document as of Jan 16, 2010, 11:12am EST. You can find your entry by searching for a keyword in your entry, such as your email. Feel free to rename your page to something more personal, and further refine your entry. More about the transfer here."
I suppose the intention is to use the wiki instead of a Google Doc.
Hey guys, no .. it's not me "Jay Liew", although I'm not sure why that would matter.
I've watched the flurry of activity and up until this moment people are still editing .. hanging out on the Google Docs. I'm sure it's been a real learning experience for everyone who participated, especially those who have been watching closely. I wonder if I should write up a "lessons learned" blog post.
If you step back you'll see that it's amazing how the HN community got together to collaborate and provide feedback, and now people attempting to improve on the initial idea of all the co-founder data in a flat table on Google Docs spreadsheet.
Ultimately we'll see if the market decides if they want something other than a flat tabular data or not.
That's why we're all here, right? We want to "make something people want".
p.s. shoutout to Paul from UCSD who's graduating and is helping out 280 North (I met him for coffee after we found each other, thanks to the Google Docs).
Perhaps a YC account on LinkedIn, which you could then befriend, allowing you to find others all friends with YC on LinkedIn? Just an idea. Seems like the simplest thing that could work well, without building a separate social networking site just for startups.
Yes, I took the data, and refined it just a bit. I had to do it for about 170 of entries.
A semantic wiki is better than a plain Google Doc, by having the ability to run complex queries, such as: Search for a startup located in "Florida", in the "mobile" space, who needs someone with "ruby" skills. This is all "out of the box" thanks to the Semantic Mediawiki extension
Of course this is less fancy than your regular recruiting/social networking site, but the simplicity of it must be a plus. (you don't need an account to add/edit). The success of the Google Doc idea is also due to it's simplicity.
You can't delete pages, and people can still mess with your page: it should be locked to targeted underlying user. Also, there's no spreadsheet view, which makes it almost unusable to me: do you expect users to open 100+ tabs?
The wiki is about startups, but you sourced it from data about people. I am not a startup, I am a person.
Yes, you can delete and move/rename pages, but you need to create an account for that. This is supposed to prevent vandalism. Not sure why would you need a spreadsheet view. You can always use plain search. And than there is semantic search, which I plan to add soon. Having all that data in a structured database (every field/property in a page is query-able in a semantic mediawiki app).
About people vs. startups, you are right, they are no the same. I'm not sure what to call that entity that is something between an idea and a startup. If you create an account you can list your skills in the "Person form". There will be a search for that.
I just created this account (and one on startuplinkup) b/c while I didn't mind having my email on the Google Doc, I don't want it sitting on the wiki. According to the User group rights only Admins can delete. Care to help (Startup 155)?
Out of pure curiosity, as I'm sure all the startup folks are .. would you mind shedding some light into why you would be ok with your email on Google Docs but not a wiki?
Well, I know for a fact that my email on a traditional web site is going to be indexed and cached by search engines, internet archive, etc, while on the Google Doc, I'm a little fuzzier on how permenant and searchable my email address becomes.
In a nutshell, I wanted to avoid spam; from bots, not from users here.
If I had had this account the other day, I probably would have just added that.
How do we change the name of a page? For example, currently I am listed as "Startup 163" but I'd prefer it to be named after my web app, "Preceden".