Yesterday, one of Cake’s conversations was featured at number one on Hacker News top stories, and as a result, we had quite a few new users sign up to Cake. So I wanted to ask that both regulars, irregulars and new users take a moment to introduce themselves. I’ve been on forums, of one sort or another, for almost forty years and I try to use that knowledge to facilitate great conversations on Cake. I am a moderator on Cake, which means that if you have questions or need help with anything Cake-related, all you have to do is add @StephenL to any post with your question and I’ll respond ASAP with answers or get you the help you need. (You can also email help@cake.co). I consider myself a polymath, which means my interests and the topics I frequent are all over the place. I’m not the only polymath on Cake, which means you’ll have the opportunity to interact with those regulars on a multitude of conversations. I do start a lot of conversations on the technology topic (click the blue link and then the FOLLOW button to add the technology topic to your timeline, if you didn’t during sign up), and I do a lot of interviews and panels on mathematics, and on Sundays I am a pathetic participant and the host of Photos from Your Phone on Sundays.

Welcome to Cake!

Hi @StephenL, greeting from Indonesia! Actually, I came here because of a post from Daring Fireball. So, I set up an account to reserve my (user)name lol.

Which Cake conversation ended up #1 on Hacker News? Just curious!

Hey Good Afternoon to you in the UK, @United78! Please share an introduction so that we know a bit more about you—I’ve enjoyed your photos shared on Photos from Your Phone on Sundays. Chris’s conversation on Andy Grove, Steve Jobs and Next was the conversation that went to the top of Hacker News yesterday: The secret call to Andy Grove that may have helped Apple buy NeXT.

Another story from @Chris from a while back landed on #1 spot on Hacker News again today. There are some interesting comments around it on the Hacker News:

Here is the original story:

The untold origin story of eBay that I lived, and the times that could have killed itPart 1: In 1993, pen computing was a hot trend in Silicon Valley. I had just been hired as Director of Developer Relations at General Magic, an Apple spin-off that was designing a handheld ...www.cake.co

I came in via hackernews - there were 2 stories from cake that made it too the front page. No idea what cake is - but seems kinda like the quality of Quora, in the style of Twitter.

Thanks for signing up! Yeah, we were both surprised and excited to have landed at the top of HackerNews. We didn't see it coming.

You've nailed the comparison of what Cake is: longer form and thoughtfulness of Quora with a fresh and approachable style of Twitter. Cake is about following topics; instead of people. Quora is about topics, Twitter is about people.

To help you get started here is a little bit about us:

FAQ: Welcome to Cake 🎂How do I add additional topics to my timeline? Below every conversation's title are topics. If you'd like to add one to your timeline, click on the topic and then click the FOLLOW button (see below ...www.cake.co

I would love to hear what you think about Cake with fresh eyes. We've been out for almost two years, and still learning from our early adopters like you.

Welcome to all the newcomers! I've been here for quite a while and if you enjoy interesting conversations about interesting topics, this is the place for you. When I first joined Cake my impression of it was that it's a social network for bloggers. It's a social network in a sense that you can form connections with people around shared interests, but unlike a social network, you don't actually follow people, you follow topics. Also unlike social networks, the content here is much more in depth, usually in a longer format. Discussions are more meaningful and more interesting, kinda like how blogs used to be back when they were popular.

Cake: Social media for bloggersHi. I'm a Google+ refugee, as we've been called since Google announced the platform will be shut down next year. Like many other refugees, I too have been in search of a "replacement", but not in ...www.cake.co

Another great thing about Cake is the lack of trolls and negative content on here, something which often plagues social media.

I was recently reminded why Cake is so awesomeOn the Cal site I write for (GoldenBearReport.com), I recently dealt with a nasty troll who derailed a conversation I was trying to create on our message boards. I ended up having to lock up the ...cake.co

As for me, I'm a Malaysian. As such I often post about things unique to my country, like how Google paid tribute to a local delicacy, Nasi Lemak, how e-wallets are on the rise in the country in a move towards a cashless economy, and a trip I took to Penang.

As for interests, I write a lot about technology, about smartphones more specifically. I also love watching movies, so I've written a few movie reviews as well. I also enjoy writing, reading, my interests are quite varied really. Which is another reason why Cake is awesome. You can write about anything you want to and you'll likely find great conversations here.

If you've just joined the platform, explore the topics, start posting, make connections, and I hope you stick around.

To those that are new to this site, welcome to Cake! I'm an active user that writes a lot of content on here. @Chris introduced me to Cake as he is a lifelong friend of my family and I. What got me to stick around for so long and remain an active user is the fact that Cake has a lot of interesting content and thoughtful commentary that I don't find anywhere else online.

While Facebook is great for connecting with friends and Twitter is great for following people and keeping up with news (Twitter is a must for me as a sports reporter), no other social media site/platform generates the same level of interesting dialogue and commentary as Cake! That's why I love it.

Here at Cake, it's about sharing your ideas and engaging with people that have similar interests as you without trolls and people that are just in it to stir the pot. I posted a recent conversation about this, actually.

It's all about having conversations about what you love and are interested in. The expectation is that if you engage with others on Cake, you do so in a polite, thoughtful manner. That tone has been set and has made Cake such an amazing online community that I really enjoy being a part of.

So once again, welcome to Cake! May you have enriching conversations that keep you coming back! I follow a ton of topics on here, so I look forward to reading what you all have to say!

I'm here from HN, too.

I've been online a long time now, and I've been looking for a forum like this. I was on Reddit a while back, having a discussion with someone on a topic of interest to me, and I said that I found Reddit very poor for in-depth discussions. The person I was corresponding with scoffed a bit (nicely, which isn't always the case) and asked me why I found that to be the case.

I found that I didn't have a clear answer for them. I couldn't really nail down what it was that I was missing. Then the person I was talking with stopped responding, and the conversation was lost to me. It slipped away, quietly, into the slow-moving back eddies of Reddit where nobody ever looks.

Then I figured out what it was that made conversation on Reddit difficult: it was the lack of permanence and continuity. It was the lack of time, time to think and respond to something someone has said. That is also something I find missing in my day-to-day life these days, and I have been strongly reminded of that this past week in my Covid-induced isolation. I've an extra two hours a day to contemplate, and it's lovely.

I've been on Cake about thirty minutes now, and I'm hoping that it provides that room to think and respond, to interact, to actually discuss. I miss that from the old blog days. I miss that from the old, old, old days of Fidonet and moderated purely text-based forums. If you gather from that that I am sliding down the back half of life, you are right. I'm nearer to 70 than I am to 50.

My friends call me JD.

Welcome to Cake, JD. I started out on forums with dialing into BBSs with a 300 baud modem. One of our members was an IRC operator in Russia during the coup attempt in the 1990s.

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Here’s a few in-depth conversations from the past and present to further whet your appetite for 🎂

Where should we put nuclear waste?Nuclear power is back in the public consciousness these days as we search for better sources of clean energy to combat climate change. Opponents cite the problem of what to do with nuclear waste ...cake.co

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What's one thing you could realistically do this year to save the planet?Big problems seem enormous to solve to the point where anyone person's efforts seem insignificant. Or, the list of things you could do is so long that you die from inaction due to "paralysis by ...cake.co

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If you were Facebook, what would you do about anti vaccination groups?Would you love to be a fly on the wall inside Facebook as they debate this? I would. I wonder what they say? It must be an incredibly heated debate. On the one hand, these groups are very popular ...cake.co

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2020 Democrat Nominee: Who will win?I know it's way early, but at the moment, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are the front runners to win the Democratic nomination. They are the two that did the best in Iowa and so far, they're ...cake.co

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SUNDAY PANEL: Tell me about a time when you were caught in the middle of Severe WeatherHave you ever ridden with a storm chaser during tornado season in Oklahoma? Been stuck on a mountainside during a lightning storm? Or seen an insane display of Mother Nature's power through your ...www.cake.co

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Should I buy a Fitbit for sleep tracking?My husband gave me a Beddit sleep tracker for Christmas. He discovered it in an Apple store. It has an electronic strip that lays under the sheet but on top of the mattress to detect things like ...cake.co

Looks like we got an influx of new users today thanks to a feature in USA Today. Don't forget to introduce yourselves! Tagging a few new users I've seen already - @BanjoMan77 @otterlyhuman @Turtle540

Cake was featured in USA Today!!!Reporter Jefferson Graham had some incredibly positive things to say in his review of alternatives to Facebook: "One of the smaller social networks, but worth checking out, Cake promises 'better ...cake.co