You guys need to build more stupid shit
By: gnarbarianYou guys are way to serious around here. Building stupid pointless shit is fun and it will teach you a lot.
By: WarOnPrivacy
15 hours agoI once built an obit scraper to build a db of local recent decedents. It was just to ease some work I was doing for a probate attorney.
I eventually set it to compare against a church roster. It emailed the leadership on matches and they'd follow up to see if it was the same person.
Sometimes they got notified earlier than they would have otherwise. But there were a few matches every year that would have flown under the radar (snowbirds or less active). It allowed leaders to make assistance and support available to the family.
By: aeonfox
15 hours agoNot stupid or pointless, just difficult (and kinda evil) to monetise. But perhaps that counts as stupid and pointless here?
By: WarOnPrivacy
15 hours agoIt wasn't too hard. Probate firms scan obits to look for their own clients. This made that task less tedious.
By: aeonfox
15 hours ago'Difficult to monetise' is what I said. But maybe I'm wrong about that.
By: pleasedontman
14 hours agoNot that difficult to monetise, dead people are not known for calling the cops for burglary and funeral homes, estate lawyers etc would pay for leads.
Given the audience on hacker news it's not even the worst thing people here do for cash because it's only one or so victim at a time instead of hyperscale. Old school artisan crime.
By: aeonfox
12 hours agoIIUC it's specifically for notifying the clergy, which would be a little sketchy to monetise. But the OP did say that probate firms already do this, so I'm guessing it's already a crowded market, which might make it difficult to monetise for other markets.
By: gnarbarian
13 hours agothat's good.
By: M95D
6 hours agoAs if there isn't enough stupid shit; need to add more...
How about some not-stupid-shit for a change?
By: BOOSTERHIDROGEN
13 hours agoBecause people are becoming more sensitive, everyone is scared of lawsuits.
By: gnarbarian
13 hours agoit never stopped moot!
By: bix6
15 hours agoF you pay me
By: gnarbarian
13 hours agobest I can do is a like.
By: pavelai
15 hours agoWhy is it like so? What would it teach you to?
By: fennec-posix
15 hours agoI wish I had the time to build dumb shit
By: gnarbarian
13 hours agoyou should try working for the federal government and getting shutdown for a month.
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15 hours agoBy: yuckyuck
14 hours ago[dead]