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Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

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Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#51

Post by tapland »

romes wrote: post #28
simonskoog wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just a cash grab. Created yesterday, stock photos, a '50% off' deal at $5 since inception with no demo of how it works. A lot of people will pay $5 and just not think more of it, but that can turn out pretty nice in these times. I do like the idea, but I feel that a Discord chat with separate rooms where multiple people can hang out and find eachother again would be cheaper and more useful. Edit: Actually, if so…

I'm interested! Just created a brand new empty one, i'm setting it up, join whenever whoever https://discord.gg/CVgKmaZ

Seems to be taking off, and saving HN users $500. See you there monday.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#52

Post by jchook »

Waterluvian wrote: post #10

A few thoughts: 1. This is a really neat idea. I love the creativity. 2. But for $5 you're not giving me a whole lot more than what I can get for myself on Reddit, HN, Social Media. What do I get exactly that I can't get by just asking on social media? 3. Call me wrong, I'm not actually sure how I feel on this. But it kind of slightly maybe smells like profiteering. Do you really need $5 per person? Does the price re…

Re: $5

Money makes for an interesting barrier. For example, SomethingAwful charged $10 to sign-up and it basically weeded out all the trash and spam.

You could have a tier system. E.g. $5 for general meetings and $100 tier to talk to whatever person will pay $100 for this.

Not even sure how I feel about a free tier, but even a $0.01 fee paid in crypto would instantly transform the type of people you might encounter on the service.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#53

Post by irl_zebra »

pvg wrote: post #47
irl_zebra wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh yeah, especially on the 4. Tineye shows they're stock photos, which seems incredibly shady because you know the quotes are totally fabricated as well. This seems very opportunistic, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but opportunism + shadiness is a bad look.

They're generic usage scenarios and clearly intended as such. I can see how someone might find this off-putting or unappealing but calling it 'shady' is a bit overwrought. There's no intent to deceive here.

The quotes next to them make it strongly seem like they're real people endorsing the product. Coupled with this "Show HN" post, one would think they're genuine people. If this were some corporate blog, I would disagree.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#54

Post by pvg »

irl_zebra wrote: post #53
pvg wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're generic usage scenarios and clearly intended as such. I can see how someone might find this off-putting or unappealing but calling it 'shady' is a bit overwrought. There's no intent to deceive here.

The quotes next to them make it strongly seem like they're real people endorsing the product. Coupled with this "Show HN" post, one would think they're genuine people. If this were some corporate blog, I would disagree.

I don't see quotes, just descriptions. They're quite obviously stock photos. This sort of thing is common on all sorts of product pages, tv advertising, etc. It's not my favourite practice and I do think it gives off a kind of low-rent vibe. But it's not intentional deception and is well in-line with typical phoned-in marketing.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#55

Post by pvg »

alasdair_ wrote: post #50
pvg wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're generic usage scenarios and clearly intended as such. I can see how someone might find this off-putting or unappealing but calling it 'shady' is a bit overwrought. There's no intent to deceive here.

>They're generic usage scenarios and clearly intended as such. Based on what? I assumed they were real users because there was no indication otherwise. This is why we have words like "actor portrayal" displayed at the bottom of our screens when a person makes a claim about using a product and it's actually just a person reading a script.

Based on, I dunno, browsing the web? Seeing an occasional TV ad on an airport TV? I don't think it's quality stuff or anything but if you found these confusing, I suppose we move in entirely different media environments.

Edit: And, of course, it's also a typical way we often talk about generic scenarios outside of advertising. Alice and Bob are not real people trying to establish secure communications. There is no specific Johnny who can't read, etc.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#56

Post by kjaftaedi »

simonskoog wrote: post #19
Waterluvian wrote: post #10

A few thoughts: 1. This is a really neat idea. I love the creativity. 2. But for $5 you're not giving me a whole lot more than what I can get for myself on Reddit, HN, Social Media. What do I get exactly that I can't get by just asking on social media? 3. Call me wrong, I'm not actually sure how I feel on this. But it kind of slightly maybe smells like profiteering. Do you really need $5 per person? Does the price re…

It's just a cash grab. Created yesterday, stock photos, a '50% off' deal at $5 since inception with no demo of how it works. A lot of people will pay $5 and just not think more of it, but that can turn out pretty nice in these times. I do like the idea, but I feel that a Discord chat with separate rooms where multiple people can hang out and find eachother again would be cheaper and more useful. Edit: Actually, if so…

I think they're trying to duplicate the startups in this HN post from 2 weeks ago.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22426063

At least the other sites have scheduling systems and calendars. This is literally paying someone 5$ to have a guy send you someone else's email address.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#57

Post by abalashov »

Don’t know if it’s any good, and there clearly seems to be some controversy about that in this thread, but jibes well with my sentiments over the years, some of which have gathered extensive HN discussion:

https://likewise.am/2018/12/01/seven-tough-lessons-from-ten-...

https://likewise.am/2017/05/19/in-response-to-the-cult-of-re...

Edit: the point isn’t to promote my blog posts, it’s to say that I’m glad this aspect of remote work is finally being recognised in various ways — some good, some bad, but above all else, recognised.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#58

Post by kjaftaedi »

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #7

This thread has so much optimism considering what chatroulette is/was/became.

The author just wants you to think there is a video roulette system to pretend that there is technology behind this.

He's literally just sending you e-mail addresses and expecting you to figure it out from there.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#59

Post by kjaftaedi »

EGreg wrote: post #44
itsangaris wrote: post #6

Our team ended up creating a Discord voice channel that we can each chime in on as needed. It gives us a "ambient chat" as one of my colleges put it and helps simulate working in the same environment.

Can someone recommend some good Discord channels to hang out with on diff intellectual subjects?

What you're asking for is wholly separate from what the person you are responding to is saying.

The point of stuff like what this thread is about is mostly silent companionship to help focus on a work-related task.

Engaging in active discussion, you're never going to get any work done that way.

Re: Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers

#60

Post by DonHopkins »

KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #48
phnofive wrote: post #14

Five dollars? Yuck. If it’s a barrier to entry against creeps, it’s got to be higher. Maybe a deposit of some kind? Also - since you made the bizarre choice to directly reference it below the “50% off till Monday” tag - it’s coronavirus or COVID-19, not corona virus.

> barrier to entry against creeps, If they just put this sentence on their homepage the reaction on this thread would be totally different.

All these creepless chat startups could have a price war to see who can charge the most!
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