[German] Google buys the German Groupon competitor DailyDeal

[paulkoer]

Does it really make sense to have German posts on the HN frontpage? I am German and understand this one, but I think the value of the HN frontpage would be greatly reduced if half of the articles were in a language I can't understand (granted, there is google translate, but still).

[hollerith]

I suppose people are upvoting the title, which is in English ("Google buys the German Groupon competitor DailyDeal") rather than the linked web page. If I had submitted this, I would have been tempted not to submit the URL but rather to put the URL somewhere "underneath" the title (e.g., in a comment) with a note saying that the purpose of the URL is to provide evidence of the truth of the title -- much like the purpose of a citation in a scholarly article -- in an attempt to signal to the reader that I was not advising that the average reader to read the linked page. However such a submission seems to go against the implication in the instructions on http://news.ycombinator.com/submit that the purpose of a URL-less submission is "to submit a question for discussion".

[badclient]

if half of the articles were in a language I can't understand

My guess is that HN will worry more when that turns true.

[mhd]

Great. Now that's even more encouragement for German copycat startups…

[ethnomusicolog]

that is something that I always found intriguing, with all their technical chops why germans are so good at producing copycats. Any Idea?

[stewbrew]

May I kindly ask why you put "German" in there? Do you actually think there are no US (or whatever nation you are from copycat) startups? Is there anything special about German copycat startups? Do you have evidence that in Germany there are more copycat startups than in other countries?

[sfoguy]

Like... there are no Groupon clones in the US?

[rmoriz]

copy cat.

[sid0]

I can't wait for this bubble to burst.

[jensnockert]

It seems like a reasonable thing for Google to do, while I agree that Groupon and friends are probably a bubble, I think Google could turn it into a feature that their advertisement customers want.

[silverbax88]

The bad thing (to me, at least) in all of this is that the basic concept is great - but it cannot sustain the silliness of what's going on with investment in this rather limited space.

[gyardley]

Just like the internet advertising bubble in the late 90s.

You might see a temporary contraction in the industry, but the model's not going anywhere.