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Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

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Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#381

Post by Minor49er »

prawn wrote: post #352
Minor49er wrote: post #213

- No friends or follows - The feed can be organized by top/new stories or threads - Posts and submissions can be upvoted/downvoted with a karma-like system - The more someone's posts are downvoted, the more transparent their entire profile page becomes - dang is the only moderator

I get your joke, but I actually find that the faint posts draw the eye more. I tested something similar on a forum of mine, where unverified/anonymous posts were collapsed by default, but found that I and others were just expanding them to check for drama. Reddit collapses threads too, but I actually find that what's left is "enough" to get a read on a thread (in a subreddit like r/NBA for example, probably less so i…

I wonder if a toggle to show/hide posts from unverified accounts would work better for most users. Have you tried something similar with your forums?

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#382

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

kyleyeats wrote: post #373
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, ok, so it's just a pain to get back into the social network. Isn't this just adding friction for friction's sake?

No, it's adding friction for honesty's sake. You don't have six thousand friends. You have five friends, tops, and like two hundred acquaintances tops[0]. There's nothing to "get back into"-- it was all just a lie to flatter you. The network effect stops working for you in the low three digits. You're just part of a people directory owned by some corporation. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number

For Facebook I keep my friends list light - less than 50 people, but there are people who I live a far ways away from - my parents for instance are 5 hours away. I don't want to have to drive to them just to prove they should be part of my social network.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#383

Post by SpeedilyDamage »

holler wrote: post #378
SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you're not providing a "gain" for the user, if people are saying it's "incomplete". You need to figure out what problem your users are having and solve that . Random feature bloat in search of a magical fit is Hope as a Strategy (TM), and it's not typically effective.

I do agree with you. I've had more positive feedback than negative and there's been a cohort of supporters who seem to enjoy it. Def have to be careful about building features, throwing darts, etc. For this project the genesis was that I wanted to use the product myself and didn't see it in the market; I wanted to scratch my own itch, so I did indeed just build it. But when I initially did a Show HN[1], the client wa…

Oh yeah I'm in the same boat right now; it's easier to throw features at the wall to see what sticks, but the success rate and is lower and "worthless" effort is higher. Hard to resist though, as someone technical!

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#384

Post by holler »

SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #383
holler wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do agree with you. I've had more positive feedback than negative and there's been a cohort of supporters who seem to enjoy it. Def have to be careful about building features, throwing darts, etc. For this project the genesis was that I wanted to use the product myself and didn't see it in the market; I wanted to scratch my own itch, so I did indeed just build it. But when I initially did a Show HN[1], the client wa…

Oh yeah I'm in the same boat right now; it's easier to throw features at the wall to see what sticks, but the success rate and is lower and "worthless" effort is higher. Hard to resist though, as someone technical!

100%, it's something I do struggle with because I enjoy building, and not marketing lol. But the latter is absolutely critical to even be able to continue building.

What you working on?

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#385

Post by kyleyeats »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #382
kyleyeats wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's adding friction for honesty's sake. You don't have six thousand friends. You have five friends, tops, and like two hundred acquaintances tops[0]. There's nothing to "get back into"-- it was all just a lie to flatter you. The network effect stops working for you in the low three digits. You're just part of a people directory owned by some corporation. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number

For Facebook I keep my friends list light - less than 50 people, but there are people who I live a far ways away from - my parents for instance are 5 hours away. I don't want to have to drive to them just to prove they should be part of my social network.

I mean, if you want, you could choose to not use this nonexistent product. You don't have to hypothetically use it.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#386

Post by shanebellone »

svnt wrote: post #380
shanebellone wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not. Why do you ask? You have certainly piqued my interest.

This level of optimization away from other humans in my experience tends to come from specific forms of introverted high intelligence (interaction with others is a net loss) but also specialization functionally/professionally away from interaction with humans (typically toward machines, or at least into more constrained work environments).

I haven't yet found something I feel passionately about. I recently finished refactoring a pid-free analytics application but now find myself without motivation. I love solving problems but dislike the rest.

I'll look into the niches you mentioned. Thanks for the reply and your time.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#387

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

kyleyeats wrote: post #385
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For Facebook I keep my friends list light - less than 50 people, but there are people who I live a far ways away from - my parents for instance are 5 hours away. I don't want to have to drive to them just to prove they should be part of my social network.

I mean, if you want, you could choose to not use this nonexistent product. You don't have to hypothetically use it.

True, and I probably wouldn't. Just throwing out what I see is a potential issue.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#388

Post by prawn »

Minor49er wrote: post #381
prawn wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get your joke, but I actually find that the faint posts draw the eye more. I tested something similar on a forum of mine, where unverified/anonymous posts were collapsed by default, but found that I and others were just expanding them to check for drama. Reddit collapses threads too, but I actually find that what's left is "enough" to get a read on a thread (in a subreddit like r/NBA for example, probably less so i…

I wonder if a toggle to show/hide posts from unverified accounts would work better for most users. Have you tried something similar with your forums?

Not a button to do it for the thread en masse. I haven't experimented enough but suspect the key is rewarding positive contributions rather than focus on penalising the negative. e.g., have a threshold based on liveliness of a thread, and render visible anything above that. The rest is collapsed or worse.

I think then if you expand looking for drama, and half the time just find something mundane that didn't make the grade, you'll settle on just reading the abbreviated best-of content.

To be honest, not much online is critical reference material or vital how-to. I think most of us need to be helped in staying out of the gossip and button-pushing grime. Streamlined threads surely help. Do we really need to read every one of 1,000+ comments on Musk doing x or y? Any time I hit a hurdle on Reddit (e.g., trying to force me to login to read something contentious) I use it as a reminder that I'm probably wasting time and should do something else. It's a hurdle at the time but seconds later I'm appreciative!

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#389

Post by prawn »

jmfnyc96 wrote: post #365
prawn wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if having to manually set your interest/disinterest in each topic would get a bit annoying, but I do like the end result of seeing your common ground with other people. Ditching the slider and having discrete 1-5 buttons (face emoji) could make it quicker. Combines the slider and the buttons in one.

Thanks for the thoughtful comment. We have been discussing this internally and eventually will end up where users want it to be. But imho the slider will prove to be fun and provide more of an emotional connection with the topic and the app. But we will certainly have shortcuts so most likely will be the best of both a slider and a quick 5 choices.

We have a successful app where an early key was a satisfying button, so I get the interest in that. But if you're up against the current boom social app not requiring interaction beyond quick swipes/taps, you'll want to absolutely minimise friction in your own effort. And cover less content. No need for a modal with the slider and ugly buttons. Just have 5 face emoji circles hovering over the content. Think about how Reels look for Instagram - fullscreen content with floating interface.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#390

Post by ineptech »

some_furry wrote: post #364
ineptech wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of vouching for someone is so they can prove they are who they say they are. If you don't want to do that, then don't do that. Or, if you have two identities, I suppose you'd have two accounts. Anyway, things don't have to be for everyone. In the unlikely scenario in which this gets built, there would still be other websites too.

> Anyway, things don't have to be for everyone. In the unlikely scenario in which this gets built, there would still be other websites too. Just so we're clear: Do you realize this is how systemic prejudice gets built? "Our policies disproportionately exclude [insert minority group] in particular? Well it isn't because we're [insert -ist word here]! We love [group]. We're baffled why they would believe otherwise."

You've misunderstood me, no one is being excluded and there's no real name policy. Use a pseudonym, make two accounts, make ten or a hundred if you like. What you can't do is use the app to prove that you really are John Smith, if you didn't sign up as John Smith. And to the extent that one of the main features of the app is to prove your identity, the app would not be useful to someone who doesn't want to do that.
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