The key question is why are you writing code in your free time? Entertainment? Profit? Personal Development?
I'd rather write code to solve an interesting thing that is entertaining to me than to work on things that nobody (including me) will use. Because I'd only do it as entertainment.
Drew Houston's Show HN post (Dropbox) that, you guessed it, got a ton of hate (on HN of all places). I don't believe for one second that money brings happiness, but a decade later, Drew's the one laughing all the way to the bank :)
Its the cornerstone ideology of most failed startups.
I released voiceaudiocheck.com a month ago and haven’t seen a single user.
I guess it helps them with the pain of sounding shitty on video calls, by telling them how to improve. I don't see a market for it at the moment because the problem it solves is so incremental.
Damn, I had totally forgotten that that's a thing!
> Second, contact some sites where this product might be useful for their users.
Yes, I had planned that but then got distracted with other projects... :)
But, i don't want anyone getting the wrong idea. The vast majority of stuff released on the web these days, never ever sees any users at all. You'll be lucky if your web server even gets hit by actual users a couple times a week. and the vast majority that do, will churn.
Most of a what I code in my free time is 'useless'. Project Euler and the like.
When I think of building something and actually releasing it, my immediate impulse is that no one would use it so it'd be a waste of time. It bothers me a bit.