Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand how you feel but I don't think anything can replace looking into another human's eyes.
Well, video certainly hasn't replaced it. Maybe one day we will all have devices with the multiple cameras and the signal processing to allow actual eye contact over a video call.
Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes
231–238 of 238 posts
Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes
#232Also, I think enforcing camera is bad btw
Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes
#233Hey folks! I built Virus Cafe to help you make a friend in 2 minutes! My goal is to help people stuck indoors because of COVID-19 (or police curfews) to make meaningful connections with strangers. Here's how it works: 1. You are matched with a random partner for a video chat 2. You're given a deep question to discuss. You have 2 minutes! 3. The only rule is: no small talk! Small talk is the worst and I'm on a mission…
Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
Counterpoint: Most smalltalk topics actually get people to give an almost pre-rehearsed response. For example if someone asks “What do you do for a living?” I will give the same answer I have given 1000 times. Ill ask them and they will do the same. There is nothing unique here. Each to their own though.
Without small talk how am i supposed to get to know "the basics" about someone? If i don't know what he does, has he studied, his hobbies and what his interests are, i can't seem to start a deeper conversation. Yes, i can start a generic "what's the meaning of life" conversation, but wouldn't it be better for everyone if i asked specific questions related to that person?
Just talk about anything. Talk about how the seats in the pub you are in aren’t comfy, then just yes and whatever they say and it will form a natural conversation.
You will know the basics about someone because the conversation will inevitably loop back to that naturally during stories.
Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. As a woman working as a major minority in STEM as a software developer, and seeing this being advertised on HN means I'll probably be paired with a male if I used it. Not only are these not appropriate, it's the kind of information you could give to a dangerous man to give them all the cards to know your deepest weaknesses and manipulate you. That trust has to be earned, and it turns vulnerable people into p…
You sound like you have a lot of fear... it's literally just a chat app. No one is forcing you to use it, no one is forcing you to answer questions. No one is stopping you from joining the app, you get a question you don't like, and you hit quit. Objectively, how does this affect you or reality outside of this awesome thing called choice? Not to downplay what you're saying, or sound harsh, but people these days certa…
Your comments are not demeaning to me, they are demeaning to the severity of this issue worldwide.
I will forgive your comments and pure ignorance because I'm sure if you were educated on this topic at all in any kind of statistics based context you would have to be majorly sexist in addition to wrong.
Even zoom has recently used the excuse that they will not end to end encrypt video sessions for non paying users, because paying for it requires validation of identity through certain forms of payment and verification which can be tracked by law enforcement, because unverified accounts are the primary venue for the predatory behavior I speak of.
The previous CISO of Facebook who now works with Zoom on this very issue worked with the government to help catch child predators on Facebook as well and currently is a Professor at Stanford researching safety of specifically these types of chat apps. I'm quite sure these questions would be on the list of recommendations the FBI would encourage you not to ask, but if you feel so strongly I'm wrong about this I would encourage you to reach out to the world leaders on cybersecurity and the FBI and NSA on global efforts to reduce the kind of predatory behavior these questions invites.
I'm going to be ignorant and presumatory assume you're a man, and also ask you to please educate yourself on this topic before/if you have children. You'll be a much better parent.
Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. As a woman working as a major minority in STEM as a software developer, and seeing this being advertised on HN means I'll probably be paired with a male if I used it. Not only are these not appropriate, it's the kind of information you could give to a dangerous man to give them all the cards to know your deepest weaknesses and manipulate you. That trust has to be earned, and it turns vulnerable people into p…
Thanks for sharing your opinion. I think you raise a great point that women are more likely to be targets of harassment than men on the internet. I feel strongly that women should feel safe on the internet. If you try the app right now, you'll find many women from Saudi Arabia currently using it (a Saudi celebrity tweeted it yesterday). I noticed several women who were using the app for hours but hiding their camera…
And I'm really excited to see the demographic using your app and I'm really glad I can help. What you are doing is great, and great leaders surround themselves with diverse people who have constructive feedback, so it's great to see that quality in you. I'm excited to see where this goes.
Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes
#237Hey folks! I built Virus Cafe to help you make a friend in 2 minutes! My goal is to help people stuck indoors because of COVID-19 (or police curfews) to make meaningful connections with strangers. Here's how it works: 1. You are matched with a random partner for a video chat 2. You're given a deep question to discuss. You have 2 minutes! 3. The only rule is: no small talk! Small talk is the worst and I'm on a mission…
Those aren't deep questions; they're deeply personal questions, and something not appropriate to talk about with complete strangers. I strongly recommend you re-evaluate your question set. Personal questions are dangerous with the wrong kind of person.
I never said I had to use the app or wanted to use it. I have been reading hacker news since 2010 and I wouldn't hesitate to say I've read it atleast everyday and used to be mildly addicted to it. I'm very familiar with the demographics of HN and that it is male dominated in addition to some large scale misogyny that exists on the site (i.e. there are open incel groups who chat in comments here often for example/no presumptions being made on my end, they are self proclaimed on the site) and I was highlighting that the creator might want to advertise in places with a more diverse demographic than HN.
I've been an engineer since 2012 and started college in Electrical Engineering in 2008 and went to a school that was 23% female and 6% female in my engineering department (as opposed to the tech school overall) and I can't assume you these statistics donot lend themselves well to an environment where it is easy for women to casually make friends with guys, if anything I go out of my way to live in urban areas where I can have a more diverse set if friends, whether it be males who are more likely to view me as a friend than the first girl they've interacted with in months, or just females or just people who are not so dismissive of women in general, and I was letting the creator know I would not go out of my way to reintroduce myself to a male dominated community to make casual friends with people, and this isn't the best place to bootstrap a userbase where the question set leans towards stacking the already majority make population on here with a set of questions that can easily exploit emotional vulnerabilities of women.
It's not that women can't be crappy as well, it's that crime statistics also lend themselves in the direction of being male dominated, not to mention just not being a very inviting place for females.
If the goal is to make friends, I'd rather do so in an environment that is closer to 50/50 ratio which for me so far in life has basically been anywhere I can get outside of my industry to have friends both make and female, and I'm much better off for it.
Your comments as presumatory. I never felt forced to use it, I was just saying I wouldn't want to and why. To have the attitude of saying oh if you don't like the all white male environment then get out, noone said you had to be here is a very white male hacker news thing to say, but tell me more how there's no women in STEM because of them and not because of that kind of piss poor attitude you have there.
Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
You sound like you have a lot of fear... it's literally just a chat app. No one is forcing you to use it, no one is forcing you to answer questions. No one is stopping you from joining the app, you get a question you don't like, and you hit quit. Objectively, how does this affect you or reality outside of this awesome thing called choice? Not to downplay what you're saying, or sound harsh, but people these days certa…
The FBI wouldnt call it fear as much as they would call it multiple departments dedicated to busting child predators and other predatory behavior which is something the FBI works with almost every major video app to regulate, and take very seriously. Your comments are not demeaning to me, they are demeaning to the severity of this issue worldwide. I will forgive your comments and pure ignorance because I'm sure if yo…