Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal" • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#21

Post by sixtofour » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:12 PM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #7

I appreciate a good hack, but just can't get past the idea that this is a solution in search of a problem. 2 Reasons I would never consider using this: 1. I don't want anyone to have any idea "how busy I am". Maybe I'm old fashioned, but the size of my inbox, like many other things, is no one's business but mine. 2. This effectively makes the sender the gatekeeper for deciding what's important. I want to be my own ga…

"I appreciate a good hack, but just can't get past the idea that this is a solution in search of a problem."

I had exactly the same reaction: good hack, where's the problem?

The solution to the problem of too much email already exists, and that solution is ... email. Email is asynchronous, and you get to decide when and what to do with it.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#22

Post by huhtenberg » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:12 PM UTC

Another take on the same problem is to send an automatic reply saying

  Your email has been received.
  There are %N emails in my Inbox before yours. 
  Your email is important to me.
  The estimated wait time for the response is %M days.
  Thank you for your patience.

:)

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#23

Post by mtgentry » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:15 PM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #7

I appreciate a good hack, but just can't get past the idea that this is a solution in search of a problem. 2 Reasons I would never consider using this: 1. I don't want anyone to have any idea "how busy I am". Maybe I'm old fashioned, but the size of my inbox, like many other things, is no one's business but mine. 2. This effectively makes the sender the gatekeeper for deciding what's important. I want to be my own ga…

2) I can understand why you would want to see each and every email. Although I think some people get so much email that they would happily place some of the burden on the sender in exchange for the time savings.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#24

Post by mguarascio » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:17 PM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #13

I can't say much about the service; I wouldn't use it having little email use. But the site itself is broken and severely overlapping for me, even when zoomed out. (mobile opera)

This is a completely serious question: does mobile opera have a large enough user base to include support for at the MVP stage?

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#25

Post by simonsarris » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:23 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #22

Another take on the same problem is to send an automatic reply saying Your email has been received. There are %N emails in my Inbox before yours. Your email is important to me. The estimated wait time for the response is %M days. Thank you for your patience. :)

If two people both used that automatic reply, and one of them emailed the other, it would result in the world's funniest arms race.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#26

Post by snorkel » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:25 PM UTC

Despite whether of not I'd use this service I must say your site explains it very clearly, directly, and in terms anyone can understand so I'd say job well done.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#27

Post by Geee » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:26 PM UTC

Completely unrelated, but how does that Museo Sans render so nicely on Win/Chrome? Usually font rendering on Chrome is horrible. Now, checking Typekit, it seems some fonts have nice anti-alias, while some not. Where's the difference?

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#28

Post by anshum4n » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:27 PM UTC

Isn't it already solved, at least in gmail with the priority inbox thing. And perhaps it is a problem meant to be solved at the receiver's end and not sender's end.

BTW, as a sender, I would love to have a way to incentivize someone to read my email even if he is busy. I can totally see that being monitized.

And you you already haven't, check this discussion on avc http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/10/the-impact-of-priority-inbox.... The comments thread is especially educational on how people use this. avc.com is a good resource for user research if you are into product development, provided Fred writes about it :)

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#29

Post by mtgentry » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:29 PM UTC

sixtofour wrote: post #21

edw519 wrote: post #7

I appreciate a good hack, but just can't get past the idea that this is a solution in search of a problem. 2 Reasons I would never consider using this: 1. I don't want anyone to have any idea "how busy I am". Maybe I'm old fashioned, but the size of my inbox, like many other things, is no one's business but mine. 2. This effectively makes the sender the gatekeeper for deciding what's important. I want to be my own ga…

"I appreciate a good hack, but just can't get past the idea that this is a solution in search of a problem." I had exactly the same reaction: good hack, where's the problem? The solution to the problem of too much email already exists, and that solution is ... email. Email is asynchronous, and you get to decide when and what to do with it.

Overflowing inboxes are the problem. Perhaps we should have provided more context about what we're trying to fix : )

These guys do a good job: http://emailcharter.org

We're trying to provide a framework around that first rule of respecting the recipient's time.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my site "Smoke Signal"

#30

Post by dpcan » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 8:29 PM UTC

Geee wrote: post #27

Completely unrelated, but how does that Museo Sans render so nicely on Win/Chrome? Usually font rendering on Chrome is horrible. Now, checking Typekit, it seems some fonts have nice anti-alias, while some not. Where's the difference?

You may want to consider asking this on Stackoverlfow.com