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Re: undefined

#31

Post by niko001 »

gjmacd wrote: post #8

simply stated: go back to the old format, it was better. Nothing says that you have to stay this direction. Sometimes things don't work.

Agreed. I can fully understand Courtland's motivation to grow a community (to keep people coming back more frequently / to create engagement) and the best way to do this is putting the forum front and center, but at the moment, the community is much too immature to be valuable. Lots of people asking for feedback (often with zero replies), self-promotional articles disguised as advice from first-time side-project creators, and even if there happens to be a lively discussion once in a while, it often feels like 'the blind leading the blind'. The value (for me, at least) of IH was the amazing interviews and podcasts - Courtland consistently pushed out great content that was a joy to read/listen to. Sure, these are still available and I still visit the site at least once a week to check for new podcast episodes, but I stopped reading interviews because they're so hard to get to and it takes 3+ clicks to see which ones are new.

Re: undefined

#32

Post by niko001 »

poweredprocess wrote: post #4

I feel the same. IH was a site I visited on a daily basis but now I rarely remember of checking it even once a week. I thought being acquired by stripe would be a great thing for Indie Hackers but apparently it wasn't the case.

I've had exactly the same experience, but I'm not sure whether the acquisition by Stripe played a role in this. There might be an advantage in having a lively community of people asking for advice if some of them are asking "which payment processor should I use for my project", but I haven't seen that happen frequently. For me, reading about successful startups using Stripe was much more powerful than an off-hand recommendation by an anonymous forum participant.

It would be interesting to read a blog post by Courtland where he shares engagement/views statistics pre and post the decision to make the forum the home page. Maybe there already is such a blog post, but if there is, I wasn't able to find it ;)... But even if engagement increased significantly, I wonder whether that's a good metric to optimize for, for a site such as IH? As it stands, I don't understand the need to pivot if a site is successful.

Re: undefined

#33

Post by amirathi »

As indie entrepreneur IH is super valuable to me. I find podcasts most useful amongst all the content. You get lot of genuine, practical advice from people who have done it before. I don't even have to visit the IH website to consume this content (PlayerFM app works).

I agree with your observation that the maker community is little immature and forum discussion are not super high quality. I look at it as an opportunity to encourage and help people who are just starting out. In return hopefully somebody much ahead in the game would help me out. Karma. That's what community is, ain't it? Plus I like the positive vibe in the conversation there (vs. HN where people seem to want to bite each other).

Re: undefined

#34

Post by drcurrywilliams »

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Re: undefined

#35

Post by borplk »

The problem with all these communities is they quickly turn into "marketers growth-hacking to other marketers". Just like ProductHunt which is truly a joke now.

The irony is the discussions always stress so much about solving a problem and all that. Then the submissions are all garbage sites.

I think in 2018 there is room for a much more private community without upvote/downvote/ranking and with stricter limitations about posting links and stuff.

Basically take away the problematic incentives and create a discussion focused community.

You could just list the submissions based on time like the old school forums.

Re: undefined

#36

Post by RikNieu »

oisdjfdsf wrote: post #30
csallen wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although it's a bit harder to find at the moment than it should be, the early content on Indie Hackers still exists and we're still conducting interviews at the same pace as in the past: https://www.indiehackers.com/interviews

Thanks for responding. OP's post actually inspired me to browse the site for content and now I'm listening to one of your recent founder interviews =) My advice is put your interviews and podcasts back on the homepage. Attention is in short supply. Especially amongst entrepreneurs. When I see your reddit-esque homepage, it makes me feel like I'm wasting time and should get back to more productive tasks.

Agreed. I just listen to the podcasts lately because my podcast app makes it easy to find new content.

The IH site is not that great anymore, its hard to find new interviews and the forum is just noise - for me personally at least.

I think the focus should return to the interviews and podcasts, with the community aspects being secondary. People were initially drawn to learning from successful product builders, not chatting in an /r/entrepreneur type forum.

Maybe it's time to focus on the central value prop again?

Re: undefined

#37

Post by cmorgan8506 »

Maybe the original idea behind IH was to provide success stories to learn from. It seems to have evolved though.

To me, IH is a community of people going through the same struggle. Some are just starting, some are in the thick of it, and some have made it to the other side. All of which have their own role in a community.

I see a lot of blind leading the blind comments, but I don't think it's about leading and following. It's about doing something together with people doing something similar.

For that reason, I still find value from IH.

Re: undefined

#38

Post by louisswiss »

niko001 wrote: post #32
poweredprocess wrote: post #4

I feel the same. IH was a site I visited on a daily basis but now I rarely remember of checking it even once a week. I thought being acquired by stripe would be a great thing for Indie Hackers but apparently it wasn't the case.

I've had exactly the same experience, but I'm not sure whether the acquisition by Stripe played a role in this. There might be an advantage in having a lively community of people asking for advice if some of them are asking "which payment processor should I use for my project", but I haven't seen that happen frequently. For me, reading about successful startups using Stripe was much more powerful than an off-hand rec…

>> For me, reading about successful startups using Stripe was much more powerful than an off-hand recommendation by an anonymous forum participant.

1. What works for others won't necessarily work for you 2. Forum participants are rarely anonymous. Normally, you'll find a profile, comment history and product (with verified revenues) attached to that participant.

>> As it stands, I don't understand the need to pivot if a site is successful.

I see this sentiment (and the rest of your comment) expressed often on HN regarding Indie Hackers. Maybe you (and others) should take a step back and ask/work out what Courtland is trying to achieve with Indie Hackers, before criticising how he goes about it.

Re: undefined

#39

Post by louisswiss »

niko001 wrote: post #31
gjmacd wrote: post #8

simply stated: go back to the old format, it was better. Nothing says that you have to stay this direction. Sometimes things don't work.

Agreed. I can fully understand Courtland's motivation to grow a community (to keep people coming back more frequently / to create engagement) and the best way to do this is putting the forum front and center, but at the moment, the community is much too immature to be valuable. Lots of people asking for feedback (often with zero replies), self-promotional articles disguised as advice from first-time side-project crea…

> I can fully understand Courtland's motivation to grow a community (to keep people coming back more frequently / to create engagement)

I don't think that's why Courtland is growing a community. I think he is growing the community because he believe's it is the best way he can help indie founders be more successful right now.

Also, please stop spreading untruths. It takes one click to get from the homepage to a list of all interviews ranked in descending chronological order. With some pretty awesome filters as well.

FWIW, if you're reading this comment and were thinking about checking out Indie Hackers then don't let these comments put you off. There is a pretty large group of us on Indie Hackers who have built (and are building) successful software businesses, the average quality of discussions and answers is higher than on HN (albeit more focussed on the topic of bootstrapping and with a narrower quality range), and it is honestly the most positive, supportive community I've ever found online.

Re: undefined

#40

Post by louisswiss »

csallen wrote: post #28
oisdjfdsf wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. IH used to be well curated and information-dense. Now it's essentially indistinguishable from /r/startups

Although it's a bit harder to find at the moment than it should be, the early content on Indie Hackers still exists and we're still conducting interviews at the same pace as in the past: https://www.indiehackers.com/interviews

I mean, it takes literally one click to get from the homepage to a list of interviews, ranked chronologically, with pretty awesome filters.

Get your sh*t together Courtland :)

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