April 27, 2026
Ship happens, skip the guilt
It's OK to abandon your side-project
Quit that side project without guilt—the internet agrees
TLDR: A developer says it’s okay to walk away from unfinished side projects, even right after launch. Commenters mostly cheer: some say you might return years later, others argue side gigs are for fun, and a few repurpose throwaways for AI practice—plus one hilarious gripe about a fake “loading” spinner.
Confession time: a developer wrote that it’s totally fine to drop a side project, even one you just launched, after burning out while trying to build a Latvian learning tool. He calls out hustle culture’s “always be shipping” pressure and asks for honest post‑mortems, not just fairy‑tale wins. The crowd showed up with receipts and relief: the graveyard of half‑built apps is real, and people are done pretending otherwise.
Top comment energy? A gentle clapback to guilt. One veteran said, “Abandoned doesn’t have to be forever,” arguing that with age and patience, old ideas come back stronger. Another went full artsy, insisting side projects are for joy, not market tests or vanity stats. Then came the AI era twist: one maker uses throwaway builds as practice runs for his tools—and as SEO fuel—so future projects fly faster with help from an AI assistant like Claude. Meanwhile, a perfect bit of comic chaos broke out as someone demanded, “What’s loading during the ‘loading’ time?” roasting mysterious spinners that stall even after content arrives. And the quiet mic drop from another reader: know when to quit. Verdict: self‑care beat hustle, and honesty beat hype.
Key Points
- •The article challenges the pressure to constantly ship side projects in the web industry.
- •It advocates applying retrospectives to personal projects and discussing failures openly.
- •The author cites a personal example of a side project abandoned the day it was deployed.
- •Latvian’s grammatical system is explained, contrasting with English’s reliance on word order and prepositions.
- •Latvian has seven cases, two grammatical genders with three conjugation patterns each, and singular/plural nouns.