EDIT: realising adding a comment here contributes another datapoint.
I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
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Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#12EDIT: doh! Gotta turn on location services for Safari.
Looks great, would like to give it a whirl. But under "Share with the World", I can't get the button to become enabled with something other than "Loading...". Turned off the pi-hole in case there was a DNS query getting blocked, no joy. Safari 16.2, macOS Ventura 13.1.
Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing that always bothered me is how much wasted potential there is in tools like Omegle or chatRoulette. On paper they sound amazing, and a few years ago back when they started and not everyone was aware, I remember having two or three amazing (and entirely SFW) interactions with some random people from around the world. It was genuinely exciting in a super legit way. And then, yeah. It turned into what it is to…
I think you need some moderation technique for any community - mores are not inherent in a society, they are formed through dialogue and enforcement. Digital communities are not immune to this dynamic. The digital tools could help you enforce rules more efficiently but someone still has to formulate the rules and adjudicate tricky situations. The good thing is that the prior experience of lesser-known and more-famous…
You get me. I am torn between releasing cool features to help people feel connected and holding them back until I have established some sort of code of conduct. Move fast and break things along the way, or try to do it right, especially when the people on the platform would bias towards the vulnerable ones. The engagement I am seeing right now feels magical, and I am afraid if I don't move fast enough, people would lose interest and not come back.
Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#14EDIT: realising adding a comment here contributes another datapoint.
the algorithm works this way:
The geolocation acquired by the webpage is in the form of latitude and longitude. Let's say it is lat: 10.123456, long: 30.123456
I want to approximate it to 3 mile accuracy (diagonal of a box, so in one dimension, would be sqrt(3^2 /2) = 2.12 mile in lat or long). 3 mile, in geographical coordinate would be equivalent to : 3 mile / 3960 mile (Earth radius) * 180 deg / pi rad = 0.0434 degree. I divide each dimension by 0.0434, and round it to a whole number (essentially, mod 0.0434). Then, I multiply that number by 0.0434 and save that as the location.
This means that a user's location can lie anywhere inside a box with 3 mile diagonal length at that geolocation.
If you see inconsistency in my logic, please let me know.
Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#15EDIT: doh! Gotta turn on location services for Safari. Looks great, would like to give it a whirl. But under "Share with the World", I can't get the button to become enabled with something other than "Loading...". Turned off the pi-hole in case there was a DNS query getting blocked, no joy. Safari 16.2, macOS Ventura 13.1.
Do you see the green message after you submit your location? If you keep seeing the red message, then it means the location has not been submitted, so the survey would not be available.
Please keep me posted here if you keep experiencing it so I can solve it for you and future users :)
Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#16I'm reminded of tired.com for some reason. There's not much there, but there's been some really interesting stories about them over the years https://slate.com/culture/2004/07/the-perplexing-success-of-...
For anyone else who missed Group Hug at the time and is curious, here's a sample:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120207131807/http://grouphug.u...
Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#17EDIT: realising adding a comment here contributes another datapoint.
> Pinpoints down to the nearest street
This information isn't personally identifiable by itself. Even combined with your original HN comment, the information leakage cross section and associated risk is minutely small.
I understand the concern about your privacy, but in practical terms what outcome are you afraid of in this instance?
Getting less lonely inherently requires some degree of trust in and vulnerability to other human beings.
It's tragically sad when privacy fears prevent someone from living a colorful, stimulating, and deeply fulfilling life.
In case you're open to unsolicited advice: Develop the skill of Discernment. When the "privacy threat" part of your brain activates, take a moment to analyze the degree of the threat and intentionally choose your response accordingly.
Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#18EDIT: realising adding a comment here contributes another datapoint.
the algorithm works this way: The geolocation acquired by the webpage is in the form of latitude and longitude. Let's say it is lat: 10.123456, long: 30.123456 I want to approximate it to 3 mile accuracy (diagonal of a box, so in one dimension, would be sqrt(3^2 /2) = 2.12 mile in lat or long). 3 mile, in geographical coordinate would be equivalent to : 3 mile / 3960 mile (Earth radius) * 180 deg / pi rad = 0.0434 de…
That would leak if there are multiple data points. In the extreme case, two points just either side of the 3 mile circle resolution would locate precisely (where the two circles touch).
Given N points within M meters or so, which is roughly what you get for multiple measurements of "home" with an error on the measurement, I think you could have a reasonable stab at deriving the location from an estimate of the error on the geolocation plus which circles they fell into. All in same circle makes near centre more likely than near edge.
edit: daily check in, so all the above needs is a tendency to check in from roughly the same location each day.
Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#19You may want to dynamically change the radius and or add skew. Not that I care, but my entry (in Preston, WA) draws a neat circle around... a short private road, centered on my house. There's about 100 people in that circle, which is not a lot, and I'm not even in the real boonies.
Re: I made a website for lonely people, and got >100 people to log their locations
#20I'm reminded of tired.com for some reason. There's not much there, but there's been some really interesting stories about them over the years https://slate.com/culture/2004/07/the-perplexing-success-of-...
For anyone else who missed Group Hug at the time and is curious, here's a sample: https://web.archive.org/web/20120207131807/http://grouphug.u...
I don't know these people at all, obviously, but I really hope they got the help they needed (and it likely wasn't from an internet site).