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Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

monicahq.com

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Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the idea. How would you rate the strength of the relationship? A star mechanism?

Yes, I'm imagining 1-5 stars with text descriptions to help ratings be consistent, similar to how software like http://mnemosyne-proj.org/features handles ratings.

Isn't it weird though to put stars on people?

Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#92
post #35

Call me cynical, but I find the term CRM pretty wrong. Yes, I understand what it does, people have been keeping track of this stuff (if I read the intro page correctly) for ages, and still I find this borderline creepy and overengineered. Disclaimer: I am using e.g. Facebook's "On this day" feature to reminisce about old stuff with friends, I also keep birthdays in a calendar. Maybe just the professional spin puts me…

I understand what you mean. I don't like it either, but I've yet to find another way of explaining quickly what it does. A CRM for friends is very explanatory. But I dislike the creepiness of it.

The problem is it explains to the wrong audience -- the overlap in the Venn diagram of "people who know what CRM means" and "people looking for a lightweight, open-source personal tracking application" feels like it'd be pretty small.

Since the app has a person's name anyway, I'd suggest abandoning acronyms entirely and making up something that sounds like a job title: e.g. "Monica, your Personal Assistant." (Which is an actual job title, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_assistant)

Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#93
post #2

Looks neat. As an aside, why is it named after a woman? I'm genuinely curious.

Thanks. Well, I built this website because I didn't have a spouse at that time, and I suffered socially from this, not being able to remember important things about my friends (call it selective memory or what not). My partner used to be the one who always reminded me these kind of things. It's an hommage to her.

Huh. I was sure it was a, uh, racially-tinged joke from knowyourmeme.

Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#94

Founder here. Here to answer any questions you might have. The site is not perfect, it's not mobile optimized, there are probably bugs, there is a gazillion features missing, no APIs but it's a labour of love, open-source and I hope it will help people other than me. I want to grow this product but I need to know what you need, people. Edit: sorry for the bugs I see on my server popping here and there. Didnt expect t…

Awesome work, have been looking for something like this for a while. I would love to see tags for people and a search bar. If I'm trying to organize a casual chess match or pickup soccer game, it would be super convenient to search all my friends with said interest.

Search bar - to search by criteria for instance, or tags?

Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#95
post #2

Looks neat. As an aside, why is it named after a woman? I'm genuinely curious.

Thanks. Well, I built this website because I didn't have a spouse at that time, and I suffered socially from this, not being able to remember important things about my friends (call it selective memory or what not). My partner used to be the one who always reminded me these kind of things. It's an hommage to her.

Not relevant to your product, but that's the sweetest thing I've read since a long time on HN. Good luck!

Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#96

Is anyone else getting a dystopian vibe from the idea of "managing" friends and family? I can definitely see this service being useful, but that branding makes me feel very uncomfortable.

I know how you feel, it's my first thought as well. But then I realise that I'm doing this anyway - I put appointments in my diary to call my grandparents, I have todo lists for things to do with my wife, and I record promises I've made to friends so I don't forget. Having it all in one place sounds like a nice idea.

Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#97
Isnt this what facebook does? Except facebook is actually way more fun to use. Sure - they take all my information and sell it to the highest bidder. But I get cool "personalized videos" in return, for example. And all my friends are already on there - so they can do most of the CRM data input for me.

Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#99
post #97

Isnt this what facebook does? Except facebook is actually way more fun to use. Sure - they take all my information and sell it to the highest bidder. But I get cool "personalized videos" in return, for example. And all my friends are already on there - so they can do most of the CRM data input for me.

This is exactly what I don't want this product to become: Facebook. Facebook is social. Monica is NOT social. It's only for you. It's like your personal diary, except online. It's made to store things that shouldn't be seen by anyone. It's to manage YOUR personal relationships. It has nothing to do with a social community.

Re: Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family

#100
post #82

I built one of these for myself in 1995 and have been happily using it ever since. Here's the source code: 0 0 19 7 * /usr/bin/mail -s "REMINDER: john T. birthday" me@mydomain.com 0 0 1 8 * /usr/bin/mail -s "REMINDER: MAKE xmas hotel reservations NOW for good pricing..." me@mydomain.com

You make your xmas hotel reservations on January 8? :) That's thinking ahead...
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