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Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

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Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#331

Post by holler »

dasil003 wrote: post #290
SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #284

Step 1: BUILD IT! Ideas are addicting; the longer you have them the more you idolize them and become over time immune to the idea's criticism. The general principle in startups is that you know remarkably little about what actually is valued in the market until you do some very specific validation research, which involves putting some kind of real, meaningful solution to a person's pain in front of them to see how th…

I wish I could upvote this more than once. The first rule of social network is that it's useless without many people on it, and there has to be some hook to get them in. But you won't figure that out just by thinking about it and imagining how people will behave. In practice it's a billion subtle factors which you can't reason about without a tangible product that people are interacting with.

100%. I've been going through this exact concept in building https://sqwok.im. I got a ton of positive feedback but also "it's not fully baked yet", "not quite there", "missing X feature". It's a challenge but you have to believe in it and keep pushing, try new things, and constantly collect feedback.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#332

Post by toomanydoubts »

snowwrestler wrote: post #328

Social networks, as a concept, are dead in my opinion. People used them to do two things: to communicate with people they know, and to publish info to those they don’t know. Modern messaging apps like WhatsApp or iMessage work way better for communicating with people you know. And algorithm-driven platforms like TikTok and Instagram work way better for building an audience. Twitter, BTW, fits much more in the latter…

Aren't TikTok and Instagram and social networks?

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#333

Post by 100001_100011 »

ineptech wrote: post #129

Fleeting idea that could be combined with that: a web-of-trust social network where you can only "friend" people in real life, by tapping phones. When you do so, the app might say, "The person you just met claims to be Joe Schmoe, do you want to vouch for them?" If you approve them, they can message you and vice versa. A friend of Joe's can see you in his friend list, and try to message you, and you can accept it if…

> I think it could be implemented in a distributed way, with no central server,

Fixed by Bison Relay released yesterday.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#334

Post by UncleEntity »

some_furry wrote: post #288
benji-york wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This idea may not fulfill every use case.

It's fine if it doesn't fulfill all use cases, but demonstrating any thought to some of them would help flesh out the details of what's being proposed. Are you building a social network, or a chain of trust? Are identities fungible, or irrevocably linked to a person's legal name and physicality? Etc.

Your example just shows the perils of monopoly social networks.

Today you have Facebook and Twitter (and whatever the kids use these days) with not much in between. If you’re not on those you don’t exist as a person.

If there were more options to choose from you could have a place with all your furry friends that is completely separate from the other aspects of your life like coworkers and family. No need to link between the two, nobody needs to know what you get up to on the other places unless you wanted them to.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#335

Post by DougEiffel »

SoftTalker wrote: post #253
kayodelycaon wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first problem I see is separating my online identity with my real identity. I really don't want anyone at my job finding out which dog I am on the internet. My coworkers and family really wouldn't appreciate my shit posting. :) The second is friends of friends can get really awkward. There are some people who are friends with me that are also friends with people who never want to see me again.

> My coworkers and family really wouldn't appreciate my shit posting. Shit posting is one of the biggest forms of toxicity online. It would be nice if it went away by tying posts to real people. Some people don't care and would shitpost anyway, but most people only shitpost because nobody knows who they really are.

I think maybe it depends how you define shit posting. If you mean trolling or posting extremely negative and low-effort content, then I suppose I agree with you about it being toxic.

But if shitposting is just off-color jokes or talking about topics you might want to keep private, I don't see that as a problem. I think a lot of great internet content wouldn't exist without some form of anonymity. I certainly wouldn't share genuine insights into my job without anonymity. People wouldn't share sexual content or secrets. Many people wouldn't share anything at all no matter how tame or appropriate. My wife over thinks when she writes and is always afraid she isn't wording things well. She posts absolutely nothing outside of Reddit.

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#337

Post by kayodelycaon »

happyopossum wrote: post #318
kayodelycaon wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first problem I see is separating my online identity with my real identity. I really don't want anyone at my job finding out which dog I am on the internet. My coworkers and family really wouldn't appreciate my shit posting. :) The second is friends of friends can get really awkward. There are some people who are friends with me that are also friends with people who never want to see me again.

> My coworkers and family really wouldn't appreciate my shit posting. :) Hey, here’s a thought. Maybe if there were any locally observable consequences to that behavior you’d stop and the Internet would be a better place…

The “shit posting” referring to my dark, sarcastic humor. It gets upvotes on Reddit but I try to keep it off Hacker News. :)

I worry more about my parents reading about how I see my childhood or a future employer knowing I’m bipolar.

And there are consequences to my behavior online.

Kayodé Lycaon is my identity in the furry fandom. People know me in real life under this name. I’m published under this name.

In a lot of ways, my legal identity is the pseudonym. I think of myself as Kayodé more than [legal name].

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#338

Post by svnt »

shanebellone wrote: post #232
tayo42 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a quality that turns people off to you but you don't think is worth changing?

I am extremely direct, often play devil's advocate, and rarely react with emotional equivalence.

Excuse me for being direct, but do you mean to say you don’t care about other people, only whether what they say is accurate and whether they can communicate it without emotional reaction?

Re: Ask HN: How might HN build a social network together?

#339

Post by isaacremuant »

There's already a myriad of ways in which people can communicate and, it seems, when people go against certain narratives set forth by media or the mods or the apparent majority in a given space people get really mad and simply want to eliminate others from "having a platform".

At the end of the day, social networks can and will be done with reasonable people who can hear opposing views without trying to censor or hide them, and they won't need any specific tool but patience.

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