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Show HN: I built a website that simplifies Congress and its activities

4us.com

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Re: Show HN: I built a website that simplifies Congress and its activities

#11

Post by bbrez1 »

alttab wrote: post #9

Why do I have to sign up to use it at all? You want people to get involved in the process but you add friction. My guess is, your bounce rate is high. I'm sure there are plenty of features that require an account - but I'd imagine there are still ways of displaying and sharing the public information you've gathered within your tool without getting people to give you their e-mail address and generate yet another passw…

Actually you can browse the site fully without ever logging in.

Same as with other social sites. You will be able to freely browse it without logging in but taking any action will require you to create an account. You'll be able to find all the bills, reps, comments by users, etc. You only have to signup if you want to follow bills (get updates when they change) or reps (when they sponsor new bills), vote on bills and build your approval rating.

It might be a bit unclear but the top navigation bar will help you browse through the site. Example link for bills https://4us.com/Bills

We just wanted to have the homepage as a landing page and list what the site does.

Re: Show HN: I built a website that simplifies Congress and its activities

#12

Post by CoolGuySteve »

alttab wrote: post #9

Why do I have to sign up to use it at all? You want people to get involved in the process but you add friction. My guess is, your bounce rate is high. I'm sure there are plenty of features that require an account - but I'd imagine there are still ways of displaying and sharing the public information you've gathered within your tool without getting people to give you their e-mail address and generate yet another passw…

I think the problem is the "Get Started" button leads directly to a sign up page.

I'd find it more useful if it used my geolocation to go straight to my representatives. After getting engaged and wanting to follow them, I would then be more inclined to sign up in order to follow updates.

Re: Show HN: I built a website that simplifies Congress and its activities

#14

Post by aerioux »

bbrez1 wrote: post #6
Overtonwindow wrote: post #2

I'm the Legislative Director for a nonprofit and my first observation of this tool is that I have no clue what it does. I just spent five minutes poking around and it's not obvious what this does, or why I would need it. The map populated with dots that did not seem to have function, and the state issues seemed a little off as most state legislatures are now out of sessions. How does it compare to the free service Go…

First of all 4us.com is completely free. We've been working on this site for the last 2 years and have been funding this entirely from our pockets. If you have some free time on your hands please signup to check out some of the stuff you've been missing out. The basic idea behind 4us is that you can: - Browse all bills, voting records and members of Congress (kind of what GovTrack does) - Get notified (email and site…

have you seen fiscalnote.com ?

Re: Show HN: I built a website that simplifies Congress and its activities

#17

Post by AndrewKemendo »

What is the target demographic?

IMO the UI is too complicated for someone who isn't really dedicated to doing research. Seems like a great research tool for someone who wants to dedicate time to it, but I am unclear if that is the target.

If you're trying to reach the average voter, the UI has to be devastatingly simple - like , no possibility of them putting any real effort in simple.

Re: Show HN: I built a website that simplifies Congress and its activities

#18

Post by tfgg »

bbrez1 wrote: post #6
Overtonwindow wrote: post #2

I'm the Legislative Director for a nonprofit and my first observation of this tool is that I have no clue what it does. I just spent five minutes poking around and it's not obvious what this does, or why I would need it. The map populated with dots that did not seem to have function, and the state issues seemed a little off as most state legislatures are now out of sessions. How does it compare to the free service Go…

First of all 4us.com is completely free. We've been working on this site for the last 2 years and have been funding this entirely from our pockets. If you have some free time on your hands please signup to check out some of the stuff you've been missing out. The basic idea behind 4us is that you can: - Browse all bills, voting records and members of Congress (kind of what GovTrack does) - Get notified (email and site…

> - Discuss each bill in the discussion section

> - Join the discussion boards to discuss the latest events and news

> - Vote on bills (similar to Countable)

Based on my experience of other similar sites in other countries, these features will largely be a ghost town. Even if they aren't a ghost town, they can never be representative samples of the US population.

I'd really encourage you to focus on features that are useful even if you only have one user. It's too easy for this sort of site to try to do everything, successful ones tend to be narrowly focused -- I like your notification approach.

Re: Show HN: I built a website that simplifies Congress and its activities

#20

Post by dustinmoorenet »

This is a great site. I don't mind setting up an account. It was easy enough to link to my Google account and set a less random username. I gave it my address and it linked me to my local elected officials. I went to the bill section and started reading. I have voted on 4 bills. It works better than yelling at the darkness, which is what I was doing before. I thought the gamification angle was pointless but then I earned some points for voting and now I want to be president...
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