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Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

heapanalytics.com

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Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#151

Post by icebraining »

mchusma wrote: post #74
huhtenberg wrote: post #48

Welcome to the blacklist. I, for one, very much object to all my clicks and "activity" on a page being captured and streamed down some black hole for god knows what purposes. Not to worry though - you are in a good company with all other analytics services out there. The only difference is that you are far more open (and proud?) about how obscenely intrusive your service is, so you get an honorary 2nd spot, right aft…

To be clear, your on page is basically tracked regardless of whether you even use an analytics service, at least any on page activity that interacts with a webserver. In other words, if you are object to website owners tracking you on their site, then basically you can't use the internet. And to be clear, if you object to in store tracking in physical locations, you are going to be able to shop at fewer and fewer loc…

There are levels of tracking. JavaScript enables much more intrusive tracking than server logs. Ever pasted a password into the wrong textfield by mistake? With JS tracking, it may be already in someone's server.

if you object to in store tracking in physical locations, you are going to be able to shop at fewer and fewer locations (anyplace with a security camera).

Maybe, but at least here in the EU you can't use that footage for analytics or share it with any company. Even our government got CCTV project shut down because they didn't comply with Data Protection laws.

I don't advocate for Internet legislation, but I too will block it and wish people were more respectful of others' privacy.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#154

Post by nostromo »

jdlshore wrote: post #143
codegeek wrote: post #10

The demo page ( https://heapanalytics.com/dashboard/demo ) fails in IE8. Is it just me or IE8 is just not considered by web startups anymore ? Sorry to deviate a little but every time I try to look at a "Show HN" in IE8 (work computer), it fails for about 85% of the time. I could understand that some startups heavily depend on latest browsers but what about others ?

This is a deal-breaker for me. I'm very interested in Heap, but an analytics tool that ignores (or breaks) a non-trivial percentage of my users is a non-starter. I mention this because it looks like Heap devs are monitoring this thread--Heap addresses real problem for me that I'm willing to pay money to solve. Codegeek's post literally stopped the sale.

It doesn't break for the end user, it just doesn't render in IE 8 for administrators.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#155

Post by acgourley »

raviparikh wrote: post #28
acgourley wrote: post #6

I'm positive there is a market for it. Unfortunately "capturing everything" has an unsolvable problem beyond capture performance, storage cost and query performance (which are hard but solvable) - it let's you find the outcome you were looking for all along.

This is a really good point - blind data analysis without any notion of multiple hypothesis testing leads to false positives. This XKCD is a great illustration of that: http://xkcd.com/882/ This is something we're thinking about and are definitely conscious of.

I encourage you to commission or find web-comic style explanations of common fallacies people could reach by having too much data. Then try and direct them to better strategies. I think that could have a good impact not just on your business but on general perceptions of how to do business analytics.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#156

Post by jdlshore »

nostromo wrote: post #154
jdlshore wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a deal-breaker for me. I'm very interested in Heap, but an analytics tool that ignores (or breaks) a non-trivial percentage of my users is a non-starter. I mention this because it looks like Heap devs are monitoring this thread--Heap addresses real problem for me that I'm willing to pay money to solve. Codegeek's post literally stopped the sale.

It doesn't break for the end user, it just doesn't render in IE 8 for administrators.

Oh, thanks for the clarification. I have to admit I didn't try it. I don't see any issue, then.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#157

Post by anonfunction »

matm wrote: post #118
khromov wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would also like to know this. Also, I assume anonymous visitors are also users?

Correct.

As a site owner you could easily only attach the JS snippet to people who have logged in.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#159

Post by Samuel_Michon »

orangethirty wrote: post #99
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Get a FREE account" Note that free account != free product. Just give then login details. Wow, that's really sleazy. I really hope nobody actually uses that idea.

That is one of the highest converting messages you can put on a button.

I think that depends on what kind of conversion you're after. If you just want to harvest email addresses, then sure. If you're looking for satisfied paying customers, this kind of trickery won't work.

If you build a button that promises something for free, you need to give something for free — free tier, 30 day trial, ebook, screencast, etc. Having visitors fill out an account form is not a gift to them, it's a gift to YOU.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#160

Post by huhtenberg »

emmett wrote: post #128
huhtenberg wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why should you have the choice to object? What? Are you asking me to justify having an option of being able to object? That's a bit too meta, with today being Friday and all.

You can't opt-out of server-side tracking. They could easily architect the app to require a round-trip to the server on every call (this is how typical early web apps worked). In that case you really don't have an option to object. Does that bother you too? (A service recording your usage of it) Why is measuring on the client-side different from measuring on the server-side?

The privacy trade-offs of pulling the info off a website are simple and well-understood.

The trade-offs of a page that keeps pinging a mothership with every mouse wiggle are less comfortable.

The trade-offs of a page streaming out user's activity to a dedicated service are even more troublesome.

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