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Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

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Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#81

Post by makeramen »

problems I see with what you've said:

>>I've been in the "build->launch->move to next project" loop for some time.

From my experience making a few apps, launching is just the first step, not the last. People will care about products you care about. If you're just building stuff to throw out onto the internetz and hope a few randos latch on... well, that's exactly what you'll get. If you want dedicated users who keep coming back, you'll have to steadily improve your projects, and nurture them into full-fledged awesome products. There are no shortcuts, what you put in is what you get out (usually).

Also, the original idea is almost never perfect. Products evolve over time, flickr didn't start as a photo site. Listen to you customers, but not too much, find the problems that REALLY need solving. Like Henry Ford said, "if I listened to the customers, I would have made a faster horse." What he really means that the customers wanted faster transportation, not necessarily a horse. You need that insight to see what the core problems are, and solve them in novel ways.

>>I lack visual design skills, but yet trying to do my best to provide a usable UI for the products. One of my motives in building a product against my lack of visual skills is knowing that "they started as crap too".

That is not good enough. Knowing you suck at UX is a good start. But justifying it by calling out reddit, twitter, and stumbleupon? That's just naive. You want to know what made them succeed? THEY GOT BETTER. They didn't sit on their ass saying "well, those other guys suck, so I can too." No, they were the ones saying "I'll endlessly strive to make my product better every single day."

Software adopts the personality of the developer(s). Users can tell when the developer actually loves and cares about something enough to follow through with good support and updates. Similarly, users want software that gets to the core of their problems, not just shallow complaints, which brings me to my next point:

>>My projects are mostly based on features that are missing or misimplemented in the existing products.

Do NOT base your software on a feature. Features are shallow, like breast implants. Build VISION and PERSONALITY into your software, and people will love you even if you're flat-chested. Again, this goes back to UX/UI and taking care of your product and helping it evolve a personality AFTER launch.

Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#82

Post by mcrittenden »

makeramen wrote: post #81

problems I see with what you've said: >>I've been in the "build->launch->move to next project" loop for some time. From my experience making a few apps, launching is just the first step, not the last. People will care about products you care about. If you're just building stuff to throw out onto the internetz and hope a few randos latch on... well, that's exactly what you'll get. If you want dedicated users who keep…

> Features are shallow, like breast implants. Build VISION and PERSONALITY into your software, and people will love you even if you're flat-chested.

Just wanted to make sure no one glossed over that gem. Great quote.

Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#83

Post by sjs382 »

colinplamondon wrote: post #63
sjs382 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it's not something they need to go out of their way to use, is it? It's just something you set once and forget about. My API doesn't even require any authentication. :)

You're arguing technical merits, not user benefits. It's the 'set once' part that's the trick. It's really, really fucking hard to get someone to set something new one time, even if it is a good bit better. Personally, I wouldn't start using a new tool for the benefit of the web in general when there's an immediate benefit to me for using a competing product. There's got to be a user benefit besides improving the web…

Whats your immediate benefit, as a Twitter client dev, to register for bitly and get an API key rather than just posting to isshort.com/api.php?

You're confused about who I consider my user. My target audience is a developer, not an end user. The web page is only there as a demo; the product is the API.

Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#84

Post by sjs382 »

aes wrote: post #48
sjs382 wrote: post #10

I built http://isshort.com because I wanted to promote healthy link shortening, and created an API so that Twitter clients can use it. I promoted it on reddit, HN, techstartu.ps, Quora (in response to a question) and by emailing the people who were an inspiration for it (simon wilson, the people responsible for rev=canonical and rel=shortlink). I've been completely unable to gain traction for isshort.com, with 43 vis…

Let me give you some feedback for isshort.com. 1. The landing page does not tell what the service is for and who is it for. On the first look, it looks like just another URL shortener - but why would I use it over something like 3.ly or j.mp? 2. I tried to read the explanation but bored out. I don't care what "healthy link shortening" is or what rev="canonical" does. The blog post is longwinded and filled with jargon…

Thanks for #1 and #2. I'll reconsider my approach. I didn't know that was confusing.

3. Thanks again. I wasn't aware of that. It's bit.;y's error message, not mine.

4. I will implement a submit button soon.

Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#85

Post by sjs382 »

irons wrote: post #72
aes wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me give you some feedback for isshort.com. 1. The landing page does not tell what the service is for and who is it for. On the first look, it looks like just another URL shortener - but why would I use it over something like 3.ly or j.mp? 2. I tried to read the explanation but bored out. I don't care what "healthy link shortening" is or what rev="canonical" does. The blog post is longwinded and filled with jargon…

Amen to all of that. I didn't know until I tried it with an unsupported host that it would turn around and provide a j.mp short URL, which is great, but non-obvious. Until then, I'm wondering why I'd want to use a link shortener with a seven-letter TLD. It's a serious mistake to disallow shortening TLDs like "google.com", because that's what people are likely to type in to test the service. It's deadly to ever let a…

Yeah, the API is the product. The website is a demo.

I will work on explaining this a bit better.

Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#86

Post by ovi256 »

patio11 wrote: post #76
TheSOB88 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Found this sentence confusing: "One of their problems is that other people are cooler than they are because those people have technology that they haven't used yet." You're saying early adopters want try to be impressive by using new technology? That one of early adopters' "problems" (that you are trying to provide a solution to) is jealousy?

Yes, absolutely: they are envious of what other people have, that makes them want it, but only as long as other people can't have it, too. They want to be the people in the secret tree house, on the inside, looking out at the unwashed masses who they are intellectually and morally superior to. Apply practically built an entire company on this notion.

I think you meant Apple :D

I concur, dear Sir, I concur.

Sent from my iMac.

Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#87

Post by metageek »

nadam wrote: post #39

I have learnt a lot on HN over the last years. But after a point I have realized that following the actual good advices and trends will not help me, because everybody will follow those advices/trends so that I will always be competing in an oversaturated market: most likely I will fail. I've realized that I can bravely bet against at least some of the trends. Based on my built things and their failures I started to f…

>> - 'Build what people pay a lot for'

http://www.amureprints.com/img1/doonesbury/2001/db010325.gif

"Boring stuff that people actually need?" "Yup. You'd be surprised how lucrative it is."

Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#89

Post by s3graham »

fragmede wrote: post #56
patio11 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I used Facebook there wasn't a system of badges, karma, minimum karma levels required to access core features, and a community wiki for my wall posts. These are all highly nonobvious . Embedded assumption #475 in Stack Overflow users: it is obvious that replying to a question is not Answering it.

Don't forget the FAQ that demands you acknowledge its existence. I'm fickle enough that the top bar alone drives me away half the time. I'm not alone on this.

Yeah, that thing is so irritating. I actually considered writing an extension to hack it out.

Re: Ask HN: I built it, "they" didn't come...

#90

Post by metageek »

hinoglu wrote: post #33
michael_dorfman wrote: post #7

What problems are your products trying to solve? Why don't you list a few here, and maybe we can help you refine your pitch.

Well i didn't intend to gain attention to advertise my projects, but uhm.. :) one i'm lately struggling with is visitrs.com, i've posted it a few times before, did not get much response, ones i get was helpful though.It has started as a pluggible chat system which allowed visitors of any website to chat with eachother. It would provide interaction between visitors, would create a community around the website, would h…

Though demo was sufficient for simple ops, it needed transaction system implemented, which was really not a big deal. Couldn't sell it.

Transactional integrity across replicas is a big deal--it is, in fact, the hard part. Telling people it's not makes them think you don't know databases and they shouldn't trust your code. Maybe they were wrong (maybe I'm wrong), but it sounds like that's the impression you were giving.

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