Live data from Hacker News

HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

halloapp.com

21–30 of 64 posts

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#21
post #5

Tip: it's not an official grammar rule, but in colloquial terms, scare quotes [1] are often used to indicate that the speaker is being sarcastic or that the quoted thing isn't actually true. So a typical American reader might infer from your title that this app is not _really_ "private" or "free". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes

I definitely read the title as sarcasm.

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#22
post #14
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BBC news articles are full of scare quotes then.

the bbc usage is scare-quote-adjacent, they mean "this is not us saying this, it is someone else who said it and we are reporting it verbatim" (implied: we make no claims as to its accuracy)

I think OP intended to use them in the same way. I can find a direct reference to "private" and "no ads" on the landing page, "free" is not written anywhere so that's a miss.

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#23
post #5

Tip: it's not an official grammar rule, but in colloquial terms, scare quotes [1] are often used to indicate that the speaker is being sarcastic or that the quoted thing isn't actually true. So a typical American reader might infer from your title that this app is not _really_ "private" or "free". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes

Yeah, if it's private, free, and has no ads why is the title not simply:

Like Facebook, but smaller and private and free with no ads.

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#24
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Language is dynamic and flowing and changing, and it's going to be whatever it is no matter how angry it makes you. Better to go with the flow than to scream into the wind. Is "fuckwits" proper English? Who cares?

There is language changing with the times, and then there is people changing language just because they figure they should/can.

I have no issue with the prior. My issue is with the latter.

And anyone who speaks the language or uses it on a daily basis has all the right in the world to judge the misuse of it. If you have a problem with this, then please stop talking all together, because your opinions are worthless. It is not the random idiot who gets to decide how the rest of the world shall use a language when the rules are already set beforehand by previous people who created those rules via the long process of natural change; not the short process of morons making things up to please themselves.

Have a nice day.

P.S. Before asking stupid questions about words like fuckwit, maybe do yourself a favor and look them up. I wasn't sure what colloquial meant, so I did exactly that before typing my comment. You should have done the same. You would have found out it's a legitimate word, to some extent at least more than the 'rule' of using "" improperly.

Fuckwit: a stupid or contemptible person (often used as a general term of abuse).

You can thank Oxford for this, via google.

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#25
post #6
post #5

Tip: it's not an official grammar rule, but in colloquial terms, scare quotes [1] are often used to indicate that the speaker is being sarcastic or that the quoted thing isn't actually true. So a typical American reader might infer from your title that this app is not _really_ "private" or "free". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes

BBC news articles are full of scare quotes then.

Those are just traditional quotes, used to indicate that the words are something that someone else said, verbatim.

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#26

Just let me stop you right there as I reiterate what Apple App Store has to say about HalloApp and its privacy: Data Linked to You The following data, which may be collected and linked to your identity, may be used for the following purposes: * Contact Info Phone number (your most prized privacy info). This is a FULL-STOP right there in these days and ages. * Contacts Contacts (your entire address book, who would wan…

> We use your phone number to connect you with friends and family. Beyond that, we never collect, store or use any personal information and never show you ads. Never. For real.

From their homepage. Contact Info and Contacts sharing are inherent to this app, it seems. It's worth noting that "beyond that, we never collect [more personal information]" is pretty clearly incorrect, since they do at least also collect contacts.

Their Privacy Policy[0] also does not inspire confidence:

> We may share personal data we get with service providers who help us provide our Services

We're not selling your data, we're sharing it.

Which service providers? What are their policies around my data?

> We may transfer your personal data to service providers, advisors, potential transactional partners, or other third parties in connection with the consideration, negotiation, or completion of a corporate transaction or proceeding in which we are acquired by or merged with another company or we sell, liquidate, or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets

We're not selling your data, we're transferring it.

This clause esp. makes me loath to sign up, since all this good will around privacy protections goes away in a sale. Given that this was made by WhatsApp devs, perhaps they understand the value of data...

[0] https://www.halloapp.com/privacy/

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#27

While I like the idea, AFAICT there's no actual web interface, only access through iPhone/Android apps. Which is a deal-breaker for me. That said, is anyone here actually using HalloApp? If so, what are your impressions so far?

I use it to share certain activity photos with a small group who aren't on Insta/F (like me). For that, it's great. No expectation that it'll be around forever -- it's just real time photos of us on vacation in a way that doesn't bombard Messages.

I get the use case, I don't get why there is a need for yet-another app for it when there group messaging apps can do that.

> in a way that doesn't bombard Messages

I'm pretty sure that you can just mute notifications from WhatsApp/Telegram/Matrix/XMPP/Messenger-du-jour...

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#28

Just let me stop you right there as I reiterate what Apple App Store has to say about HalloApp and its privacy: Data Linked to You The following data, which may be collected and linked to your identity, may be used for the following purposes: * Contact Info Phone number (your most prized privacy info). This is a FULL-STOP right there in these days and ages. * Contacts Contacts (your entire address book, who would wan…

> We use your phone number to connect you with friends and family. Beyond that, we never collect, store or use any personal information and never show you ads. Never. For real. From their homepage. Contact Info and Contacts sharing are inherent to this app, it seems. It's worth noting that "beyond that, we never collect [more personal information]" is pretty clearly incorrect, since they do at least also collect cont…

Yep. I concur.

Not necessary to have a phone support (such as your entire address book/contacts or your identity/MyCard) fot social indexing in these days and ages.

As Signal App have adequately demonstrated that.

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#29
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Language is dynamic and flowing and changing, and it's going to be whatever it is no matter how angry it makes you. Better to go with the flow than to scream into the wind. Is "fuckwits" proper English? Who cares?

There is language changing with the times, and then there is people changing language just because they figure they should/can. I have no issue with the prior. My issue is with the latter. And anyone who speaks the language or uses it on a daily basis has all the right in the world to judge the misuse of it. If you have a problem with this, then please stop talking all together, because your opinions are worthless. I…

Oxford also has a definition of "scare quotes", e.g. "quotation marks that a writer puts around a word or phrase to show that it is used in an unusual way, usually one that the writer does not agree with" (https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/eng...) or "Quotation marks placed round a word or phrase to draw attention to an unusual or arguably inaccurate use." (https://www.lexico.com/definition/scare_quotes). M-W does too. Cambridge Dictionary too. Quotation marks. Not just "air quotes" or "italics" or "/s" (in what universe does one think "/s" is more proper English than "scare quotes"?).

So. What's the problem, again? This is well enough established for Oxford, and seems to have only been a huge surprise to you.

(Edit: per MLA, the term was coined in 1956, but the use of punctuation in such a manner can be traced back to the second century BC. https://style.mla.org/scare-quotes-origins/ Fun fact!)

Re: HalloApp: a digital space for people who you know and want to connect with

#30
post #5

Tip: it's not an official grammar rule, but in colloquial terms, scare quotes [1] are often used to indicate that the speaker is being sarcastic or that the quoted thing isn't actually true. So a typical American reader might infer from your title that this app is not _really_ "private" or "free". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes

Yeah, if it's private, free, and has no ads why is the title not simply: Like Facebook, but smaller and private and free with no ads.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN