I can name quite a few low score threads in the "New" section that are more interesting and relevant to the hackers amongst us than this. IMHO there is something rotten about the outcomes of the HN frontpage promotion mechanism nowadays.
The last sentence hints at some kind of conspiracy or upvoting-ring, but of all stories this one seems least likely to be due to something like that. It may just be the case that your interests and what you find relevant are not actually generalizable to the HN community at large.
I actually like stories like this. Stories of people being driven to better themselves and their lives and using the internet to open doors that never would have been possible even 10 years ago. If HN just became story after story like this then, yes, it would be tiresome, but I don't think we are in any near-term danger of that happening.
Having a broad range of stories, even some that are not strictly about tech in some way that would personally benefit you, is good for a community, unless we want to develop some sort of echo-chamber where all we ever read/think/talk about is <insert pet technology topic here>. I have met people who are like that, I choose not to associate with them for a reason.
or perhaps the silent majority of the "HN community at large" mostly agrees with me, but a small, entrenched, vocal minority successfully bullies its way to impose its own view of what is and is not "inspiring" on everybody else. "Gimme money" Nigerian letters are not inspiring, not even when done by a Kenyan who allegedly knows (or wants to learn?) how to program.
michaell2, I respect your opinion, but to remove the doubts from your mind, I will give you a few links to show you a bit of what I have done. You can Google "Martha Chumo", or "Njeri Chelimo" (This is the name I use for github, twitter, etc) and check out the results. I have been featured on various sites cause of my learning. Checkout http://www.codecademy.com/stories/code-from-kenya . You can contact codecademy, and will tell you I'm a moderator there and I helped out creating the Ruby lessons. You can also contact teamtreeshouse.com, and ask about their student @NjeriChelimo. I have been very active in the community, and I am soon to be featured in the Treehouse Dean's list. Here's the link to my profile there -> http://teamtreehouse.com/njerichelimo. I have been contributing to the Apache deltacloud project -> http://deltacloud.apache.org/. You can contact the deltacloud devs and confirm that I exist, and that I can actually program. I was accepted as a speaker at DevCon Tel Aviv -> http://devcon-june2013.events.co.il/people/847-martha-chumo . You can contact the conf organizer and confirm this. I am the Nairobi MongoDB user group organizer. This you can confirm from the 10gen community manager. I try to blog - http://nchelimo.blogspot.com/ , http://njeri-chelimo.blogspot.com/ , http://njerichelimo.blogspot.com/.
You can also checkout my github account -> https://github.com/NjeriChelimo
I know there are a lot of cons out there, but I am definitely not one of them. I hope this clears your mind a little.
Martha, I think I speak for a lot of us on HN that we weren't concerned this was a con, as evidenced by the fact that you're currently number #4 on the home page.
From one self-taught programmer to another, congratulations on reaching your goal, godspeed to New York, and keep us in the loop on how things play out. We're cheering for you.
I think Michael has some personal problems to work out. I can confidently say that I (and most of the hackers here) don't see what you're doing as "gimme money", or see you as a scam.
I personally think what you have done is great, and can really relate to your experiences so far in tech from my own early experiences.
Martha, regardless whether this is or isn't a con, I honestly think the only right thing to do would be to take that money and invest it in a local, honest and well-run charity to help the people starving and going blind and dying because they are lacking even the most basic vital medical care - not far from where you are.
Because I have no idea how you justify asking people for donations for a nice NYC trip when you could actually pick up all the skills for your "cause" right from where you are over the internet and for free - while people are dying right where you live. Do your high-up-the-Maslow-hierarchy needs take precedence over them starving? And if they do, it is yet another small drop in the ocean of tears that unfortunately left big parts of Africa in the desolate state they currently are in.
I know this isn't an easy decision because hey, everybody wants to go to NYC like that, and I am sure you are going to say with all that knowledge you can make Africa a little better then in the future. Well, you can do that now and you can pick up all those skills for free without going anywhere and you could be making Africa a little better right this very moment while learning how to make things even better in the future. Be a hero like that.
Or you take your own slightly egoistic dreams over the needs of others and you would just be another proverbial "brick in the wall". Others see you doing that, they are going to ask themselves why they should do anything for others when they can just further their own personal needs under the blanket of "charitable" actions.
If anything, you should never have asked for money but asked the hacker community to help you out with skills and knowledge or e.g. (used) hardware donations. That would have gotten you much more towards your proclaimed "goal" and with more ethical integrity.
kahawe, you seem to have heard a single story about Africa. I was born and have lived in Kenya all my life. I am another story of Africa.
You had one story of Africa, I have given you another. I suggest googling some more. Read my campaign again. You'll realize I'm not telling people to pity me, but see how awesome I am - because I am - and help me get even better!
I'm part of the Ruby community in Nairobi and I can confirm Martha's a very active member and I'm really impressed by what she's achieved so far. I've been in the tech space longer but haven't been as enthusiastic as she is when it comes to open source work.
Are you kidding me? This is what being a hacker is all about... Getting access to a computer for the first time, immediately trying to figure everything out. Add on the fact that she's in a country that strongly encourages going into other fields and the fact that there probably isn't much support to go into this field and you've got a very inspiring story.
Then getting the "obsession" to figure everything out, trying out linux (or other open source OS's), and going from there to become proficient with programming.
I think this is very relevant to me as well as other hackers.
The older I get, the less I care about technology and hacking as ends to themselves and the more I care about empowering people to create great things. It's so much more rewarding.
There's something inspiring about seeing someone hustle to create an opportunity to improve themselves, and about how the internet is empowering individuals to do that on a global scale.
