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Show HN: Alias – Google Alerts for your favorite people

alias.co

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Re: Show HN: Alias – Google Alerts for your favorite people

#31

Post by sneak »

iMuzz wrote: post #21
xena wrote: post #17

I have mixed feelings about this as someone that creates a bunch of content across different platforms. I intentionally spread it out across platforms as different platforms have different groups of people that follow me and engage with things differently. This is a nice idea but feels like it could be used for stalking. It would be nice if there was an explicit opt-in for creators having their feeds associated here…

Appreciate the feedback here /u/xena — > This is a nice idea but feels like it could be used for stalking. So we make sure to only aggregate publicly available information that the creator released and never include pieces about them or from someone else. We also make sure not to aggregate any gated/paywalled content. The problem with having every creator opt-in is that that we'd never be able to launch the profiles…

I think most stalking is simply aggregation of totally public data.

As such, I think "stalking" is a bit of an overblown term for it, but it remains the fact that in the common usage one could engage in this so-called "stalking" consuming only publicly available data.

Re: Show HN: Alias – Google Alerts for your favorite people

#32

Post by steventey »

Have been following Alias for over a year now and am truly impressed by the amount of progress that you guys have made in such a short period of time!

One quick feedback that I have is on the homepage when you click on "Show More", maybe display more than just 1 row (3-4 would be idea) so I don't have to click it multiple times! :D

Re: Show HN: Alias – Google Alerts for your favorite people

#33

Post by iMuzz »

egberts wrote: post #19

Useful for tracking citations of your favorite white papers. Or in one extreme case of mine, to monitor for that obituary of a certain folk who refuse to sell their rusted classic car on their property. (Because, I covet it).

we sincerely hope you get that car of yours!

Re: Show HN: Alias – Google Alerts for your favorite people

#34

Post by iMuzz »

sneak wrote: post #31
iMuzz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate the feedback here /u/xena — > This is a nice idea but feels like it could be used for stalking. So we make sure to only aggregate publicly available information that the creator released and never include pieces about them or from someone else. We also make sure not to aggregate any gated/paywalled content. The problem with having every creator opt-in is that that we'd never be able to launch the profiles…

I think most stalking is simply aggregation of totally public data. As such, I think "stalking" is a bit of an overblown term for it, but it remains the fact that in the common usage one could engage in this so-called "stalking" consuming only publicly available data.

Well that's a fair point!

We're trying pretty hard to not come off as professional stalkers while still building something useful :)

Re: Show HN: Alias – Google Alerts for your favorite people

#36

Post by pastrami_panda »

jonathancai wrote: post #29
rahimnathwani wrote: post #28

I wanted to follow two people who are not super-famous. They have written blog articles and been interviewed on podcasts. But I could not find them in your search. The folks who you recommend are pretty famous, so their stuff comes across my Twitter feed from multiple sources anyway.

Who are the two people if you don't mind me asking?

I was surprised Jim Keller and similar giants in hardware wasn't on there. Cool idea though!

Re: Show HN: Alias – Google Alerts for your favorite people

#37

Post by JoshTriplett »

I like the concept. But I found myself thinking "who that I follow is prominent enough to be listed". I'd love to say "this is my Twitter account, tell me who of the people I follow is listed on your service". Note that you shouldn't need to make me link my Twitter account or give you any permissions to do that; the list of people I follow is available to anyone with a Twitter account.

Re: Show HN: Alias – Google Alerts for your favorite people

#38

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

jonathancai wrote: post #26
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #22

Are you ..... me? This is such a dream product. I hope that it can be useful and a big success outside our tiny corner of the internet. Like will this be useful for someone who is following thought leaders in MMA fighting, Pornstars, DIY Guns and Drugs?

> Like will this be useful for someone who is following thought leaders in MMA fighting, Pornstars, DIY Guns and Drugs? We haven't quite been considering the latter folk for obvious reasons, but we have been pondering the general question of "which types of people should we index?" I think this is an interesting question to consider. One framework we've been using to try to answer this question is the old vitamins vs…

So I followed over 1,000 people on Twitter because I valued them for "some field" or other, but that may have been years ago. And I did a terrible job organizing my follows into lists.

So now my Twitter is full of somewhat useful people, but I can't really use it quickly populate a list on your site.

I'd like it if your signup process included easy access to suggested lists on topics like "longevity" or "virtual reality". I see a lot of the people I want on your home page, but I can't really use that during signup without two windows open.

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