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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

#21

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

I think you've built a really worthwhile site. I used it for a bit and got good information from it.

Here are a few things that will help it along. Under the house of reps description there should be more info on the rep's district. Where is/what does "Representative from California 37" mean. Searching by zip code would be good. Switching to a wiki back end might help -that way people can help you update the site. There's just too much info to update for a one person or a small group. Also sign-up should be less emphasized. I know you want to get people involved but these days people get turned off if they have to sigh up for a site without clear benefits. I know you can browse the site but without it but it's not clear from the start.

Good job, much fortune.

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

#26

Post by BoringCode »

amadeuspzs wrote: post #23

Forcing a user to sign up before they've seen the content is a big miss. Strongly suggest you rearchitect this and offer sign up once users want to save progress/sign up for notifications.

https://4us.com/Explore

Seems like I can access the content there just fine?

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

#27

Post by bbrez1 »

echelon wrote: post #22

I bounced the minute I saw the signup form. Why do we have to sign up for this? :(

[copy pasting this comment from my other reply]

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

#28

Post by bbrez1 »

aerioux wrote: post #14
bbrez1 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ?

Will check it out. Thanks

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

#29

Post by extra88 »

HillRat wrote: post #5
thex10 wrote: post #3

I'm trying to find a differentiating factor... it would be really cool if it could somehow intelligently parse the contents of Bills to provide a more useful summary. For example, the summary of HR 5538[0] offers me no insight as to why the vote was such a party split (Dems against, Reps for). So I started reading the actual bill text, and then gave up because it's long and I have things to do... 0: https://4us.com/B…

Sections 431 and 436 are probably some of the key sticking points. The problem is that you really do need humans with domain experience to explain exactly what a bill will actually do in practice, which is why lobbyists and stakeholders will spend tens of thousands of dollars on niche publications and legislative action services. Technology can make analysis easier, but I think we're a long way from replacing analyst…

> lobbyists and stakeholders will spend tens of thousands of dollars on niche publications and legislative action services.

There's better value for money in lobbyists drafting the legislation language themselves and contributing to an official's superPAC so they'll drop it into a bill.

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

#30

Post by condescendence »

WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #21

I think you've built a really worthwhile site. I used it for a bit and got good information from it. Here are a few things that will help it along. Under the house of reps description there should be more info on the rep's district. Where is/what does "Representative from California 37" mean. Searching by zip code would be good. Switching to a wiki back end might help -that way people can help you update the site. Th…

Agreed, I love this project I just dislike how data is presented (although it is a nice interface).

As for the "Representative from California 37" this is your voter sub district or whatever user you selected that was on the map, which brings me to my next point.

Although I think this website is good, it doesn't target any specific users. The immediate information presented to the user such as "Representative from California 37" or popular bills is confusing and I'll make the bet that it scares users away (along with the forced signup if you couldn't find /explore). Instead of a catch all landing page I'd make the /explore more user specific.

Let me paint a picture of how I see this: So you already know where the user is from, when I click "representatives" why aren't I brought to a page with MY representatives, instead I'm brought to a page with a list of people who don't represent me. I should note that the individual representative pages are spot on though I like the collection of twitter, sponsored bills, etc. I think that if people are brought to information about their specific representatives that they are more likely to 'care' about whats happening on this site.

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