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Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

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Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

#1

Post by bcambel »

This morning I've submitted our project to HN. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4099054

Got pretty helpful feedback. But that wasn't the only thing.

478 people requested invite out of 755. 63% conversion rate. Almost 9K unique visitor visited our website. At some point in the morning I was seeing 400+ active users on the website. Unbelievable. 35 people registered without telling them how to register. ( You cannot register directly, there is only a login form - but they figured out a way :) http://imgur.com/Kbf9J

6K people visited directly from Hacker News, 1K from Twitter ( I guess Popular Hacker News post )

I was afraid that Nginx might not hold up, but that was not the problem. I wasn't ready for it! Stuck on my chair from 08:00 am till 02:00 pm. I am still feeling anxious.

People tweeted about us without using our application. https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/followords (even in Spanish)

Today another lesson learnt: So if you are working on a project. Release it. Ship it. Let people tell you how much your project, website or tagline sucks. Embrace it. Think about it, thank them and move on.

I need some sleep, tomorrow is another great day. Thank you all for your contributions.

Re: Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

#2

Post by bmelton »

I didn't see it this morning, but seeing this now and just signed up for the beta. I'm still not entirely sure what it does, even after reading the linked thread, but I try to do whatever I can to support all the 'Show HN' threads, so even if it sucks, you've got my registration (and I'm not presuming that it will suck.)

Nginx is almost certainly not going to be your failing piont, and can certainly scale to beyond 400+ active users, assuming that it's configured correctly and on decent hardware. Your database could crash, or one questionable join could tear the whole thing down, but Nginx is probably the least likely component in your stack to fail.

As for the lesson learned, that's spot on, and one that I waffle on every now and again, even though I've done it and know it to be canon.

Best of luck. It's a space I've got a lot of experience in, and 'interestingness' vs. 'importance' isn't really gotten right anywhere yet. Hopefully you've nailed it.

Re: Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

#3

Post by maxhacker »

That is an awesome response from a Show HN! Gives me some motivation to finish my project and show it to the world. Also, I just requested an invite to the your service (didn't catch the actual HN post earlier, but I saw this and was intrigued with your project).

Thanks for a good post!!

Re: Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

#6

Post by bcambel »

bmelton wrote: post #2

I didn't see it this morning, but seeing this now and just signed up for the beta. I'm still not entirely sure what it does, even after reading the linked thread, but I try to do whatever I can to support all the 'Show HN' threads, so even if it sucks, you've got my registration (and I'm not presuming that it will suck.) Nginx is almost certainly not going to be your failing piont, and can certainly scale to beyond 4…

Thanks Barry, interesting vs importance highly personal and it's a hard topic.

Re: Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

#7

Post by leejw00t354 »

bcambel wrote: post #5
nuhm wrote: post #4

"478 people requested invite out of 755." Does this mean 755 requested an invite and 478 got one?

755 opened the registration form, 478 completed it.

All you really need is an email.

Asking for first name and last name too, even if it's optional, will probably discourage some people when they see the form.

Re: Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

#8

Post by nuhm »

bcambel wrote: post #5
nuhm wrote: post #4

"478 people requested invite out of 755." Does this mean 755 requested an invite and 478 got one?

755 opened the registration form, 478 completed it.

Are you still sending out invites? I registered, said a few words even and am yet to receive one.

Re: Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

#9

Post by bcambel »

nuhm wrote: post #8
bcambel wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

755 opened the registration form, 478 completed it.

Are you still sending out invites? I registered, said a few words even and am yet to receive one.

We're not sending out invites yet. Can you send me an email to bahadir@followords.com ?

Re: Show HN Aftermath: Releasing Followords.com this morning

#10

Post by bcambel »

leejw00t354 wrote: post #7
bcambel wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

755 opened the registration form, 478 completed it.

All you really need is an email. Asking for first name and last name too, even if it's optional, will probably discourage some people when they see the form.

If they're discouraged because I'm asking their names, than it's fine. There is nothing I can do about that.
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